Private previews, free on every plan
Choose who opens your branch previews: anyone with the link, only your team, or your team plus a password you share with your client. Enforced at the edge and never indexed.
Three choices, one setting per project.
Who can open previews covers every branch preview of a project, including branches you push later. Private previews carry a lock in the dashboard, Team only or Team + password.
Checked at the edge
The check runs on our CDN before a single file is served. A private preview is never cached publicly, and every preview is noindex. Saving clears the copies cached while it was public.
A default for the whole team
Pick what new projects start at: your team, or anyone with the link. Apply to all existing projects makes every public one team only, in one step.
A passphrase shown once.
Generate four plain words joined by hyphens, or set your own of at least 12 characters. We keep only a hash, so nobody can show it to you again, us included.
Sign everyone out
One button per project. Your team and your guests sign in again, and the password stays the same. Changing or removing the password signs everyone out too.
Guessing is paused
After 100 wrong passwords in a row, password sign-in pauses for 15 minutes and your team's owners get an email. Your team can still sign in.
Show a client the redesign before launch.
An agency's week, start to finish. The client sees exactly the branch you meant, the rest of the internet sees a sign-in page.
- 1 Push the redesign branch It builds and gets its own address. Production stays on the current site.
- 2 Pick team and password Generate a passphrase, copy it, press Done. Your studio signs in with deploybase.
- 3 Send the link, then the passphrase Your client types four words and stays in for 24 hours. No account to create.
- 4 Close it after sign-off Promote the build to production, then change or remove the password. Everyone who opened the preview is signed out.
One password, every branch
The passphrase opens every branch preview of the project, so a second round of changes on a new branch needs no new message.
The sign-in page names nothing
A visitor sees the address they opened and nothing else: never your project, your team or your client's name.
Your company login opens them too.
When your team has single sign-on, the sign-in page offers it beside deploybase. Colleagues get in with the login they already use every day.
The button appears only on previews whose team has a working connection. Set one up under Settings, Single sign-on.
How single sign-on worksNew colleagues join on the role you pick
If your connection lets a first sign-in create the member, someone new to deploybase joins your team as a Member or a Viewer, whichever you set. Never as an admin.
Your own OpenID Connect provider
Keycloak and Authentik are tested, and other providers that follow OpenID Connect can work. Single sign-on is in beta and included on every plan.
Okta, Microsoft Entra ID and SAML are not supported yet.
What a private preview costs elsewhere.
Team sign-in on previews is free on Vercel too, and Netlify keeps new previews private by default on its credit-based plans. The difference is the password, and who fits on the free plan.
| What | deploybase | Vercel | Netlify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Previews for your team only | Every plan | Every plan, with Vercel Authentication | Every plan; on Free and Personal only the Team Owner can see them |
| A shared password | Every plan, free | Pro only, $20 a month per protected project | Pro only |
| Company login (SSO) on previews | Every plan, OpenID Connect, beta | Enterprise (Passport) | Enterprise |
| People on the free plan | 1 member and 3 viewers, plus anyone with the password | Hobby: 1 seat, 1 external user, non-commercial use | Free: 1 seat, the Team Owner |
| First paid plan | Starter, €9 a month with VAT, 1 member and unlimited viewers | Pro, $20 a month per deploying seat, before tax | Pro, $20 a month, unlimited members |
Sources, checked October 2026: Vercel: Deployment Protection, Vercel: Vercel Authentication, Vercel: pricing, Netlify: project visibility, Netlify: password protection, Netlify: pricing.
Cloudflare deserves a mention
Cloudflare Access can put a login in front of Pages previews, free for up to 50 users. It is a second product, Zero Trust, with its own policies to set up.
Checked at the source
Every cell comes from that host's own documentation or pricing page, checked in October 2026. Vercel prices exclude tax; ours include VAT.
What private previews do not cover.
- Your production site Production and your custom domains stay public. This setting covers branch previews only.
- A password per branch A project has one password, and it opens every branch preview of that project, including branches you push later.
- SAML, Okta and Microsoft Entra ID Company login uses OpenID Connect. We test against Keycloak and Authentik, and other providers that follow the specification can connect. Okta and Microsoft Entra ID are not supported yet, and a provider that only speaks SAML can't connect.
Questions about private previews.
Something else? Write to support@deploybase.eu. A person answers.
Is password protection for previews really free?
Yes, on every plan, Free included, with no add-on. When we checked in October 2026, Vercel offered a preview password on Pro only, at $20 a month for each protected project, and Netlify on its Pro plan only.
Every planDoes my client need a deploybase account?
No. Choose your team and people with the password, and your client types the passphrase you gave them. Guests stay signed in for 24 hours, your team for 8.
Who can open previewsWho counts as my team on the free plan?
On Free, your team is one member, you, plus up to 3 viewers. Viewers sign in to open previews and can't change anything. Starter (€9 a month) has unlimited viewers, and Pro (€19 a month) and Scale (€49 a month) unlimited members too. The password lets anyone else in, on every plan, with no limit.
Plan limitsCan colleagues use our company login?
Yes, when your team has single sign-on set up. The sign-in page then also offers Continue with your company login. If your connection allows it, a colleague new to deploybase joins your team on the role you chose, Member or Viewer.
Single sign-onCan new projects start private?
Yes. A team admin picks what new projects start at: your team, or anyone with the link. Apply to all existing projects makes every project with public previews team only, in one step.
How is this different from a share link?
A share link opens one deployment, with its own optional password and expiry, and this setting does not apply to it. Preview access covers every branch preview of a project, including branches you push later.
Previews and share linksCan search engines find a private preview?
No. Every preview is sent with noindex, nofollow, and a private preview is never cached publicly: the check runs at the edge before anything is served. When you make previews private, we clear the copies cached while they were public.
Keep your next preview for your team and your client.
Create a team on the free plan, connect a repository, and choose who can open its previews.