Netlify is a deployment and hosting platform oriented toward modern frontend workflows, connecting Git repositories to automated builds, global CDN delivery, and preview environments for every change.
The site documents build configuration, redirects, environment variables, serverless functions, edge functions, forms, and identity services, plus integrations with common static site generators and frameworks.
It suits frontend teams and solo developers shipping Jamstack sites, documentation portals, and marketing pages who want CI, HTTPS, and rollbacks without managing servers directly.
Compared with traditional virtual hosting it removes most infrastructure work, and compared with raw object storage it adds build pipelines and deploy previews, though complex backend workloads may need other services.
Pin build commands and runtime versions in configuration, keep secrets in environment variables rather than the repository, and review bandwidth and function limits before a high-traffic launch.