[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":139},["ShallowReactive",2],{"use-case-\u002Fuse-cases\u002Fvercel-password-protection":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"comparison":74,"cta":105,"description":108,"extension":109,"faqs":110,"h1":120,"meta":121,"navigation":122,"path":123,"pillar":124,"platform":78,"seo":127,"siblings":128,"stem":135,"updated":136,"valueProp":137,"__hash__":138},"useCases\u002Fuse-cases\u002Fvercel-password-protection.md","Vercel Password Protection: the Simple Alternative | Hostsmith",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":67},"minimark",[9,13,18,21,38,41,45,57,60,64],[10,11,12],"p",{},"If you have shipped to Vercel, you already know it is excellent at what it is built for: git-connected deployments, instant previews on every pull request, and a developer experience that is hard to fault. None of that is in question here. The friction shows up in one narrow job - sending a private, password-protected preview to a client who does not, and should not, have a Vercel account.",[14,15,17],"h2",{"id":16},"where-vercel-actually-stands","Where Vercel actually stands",[10,19,20],{},"Vercel does gate deployments. It is worth being precise about how, because a lot of comparison pages get this wrong:",[22,23,24,32],"ul",{},[25,26,27,31],"li",{},[28,29,30],"strong",{},"Vercel Authentication"," signs visitors in against your Vercel team. That is great for internal stakeholders, less great for an outside client - they end up authenticating against your team rather than typing a shared password.",[25,33,34,37],{},[28,35,36],{},"Password Protection"," is the shared-password option, and it has historically been a paid add-on tied to higher plans. Pricing and packaging move around, so confirm the current state on Vercel's own pricing page rather than trusting a number on a page like this.",[10,39,40],{},"So the honest framing is not \"Vercel can't password protect a site\". It can. The gap is that, for a quick external client preview, the shared-password path sits behind paid Deployment Protection and the default auth ties access to your team.",[14,42,44],{"id":43},"how-hostsmith-handles-the-same-job","How Hostsmith handles the same job",[46,47,48,51,54],"ol",{},[25,49,50],{},"Drag your built site, ZIP, PDF or images onto Hostsmith. You get a free public link straight away.",[25,52,53],{},"On the Pro plan, open the site settings and turn on Private Sites.",[25,55,56],{},"Choose a shared password, or paste in the client's email addresses for whitelist access - only those people get in, and you can remove a reviewer without rotating anything.",[10,58,59],{},"Password protection, custom domains and EU data partitions are Pro features. The free tier gives you a public link, not a gate - we will not tell you gating is free, because it is not.",[14,61,63],{"id":62},"a-note-on-javascript-password-gates","A note on JavaScript \"password\" gates",[10,65,66],{},"If you are tempted to drop a static export onto any host and add a client-side JavaScript password check, don't. The password and the protected URL are both in the page source; anyone can read them in the dev tools. That is obscurity, not protection. A real gate checks the password on the server before sending a single byte.",{"title":68,"searchDepth":69,"depth":69,"links":70},"",2,[71,72,73],{"id":16,"depth":69,"text":17},{"id":43,"depth":69,"text":44},{"id":62,"depth":69,"text":63},{"caption":75,"columns":76,"rows":80},"Gating a client preview: Vercel vs Hostsmith (capabilities, not prices)",[77,78,79],"Capability","Vercel","Hostsmith",[81,85,89,93,97,101],{"feature":82,"them":83,"us":84},"Shared-password link for a client","Via Deployment Protection (paid add-on \u002F higher tiers)","Built in on Pro - one toggle",{"feature":86,"them":87,"us":88},"Email-whitelist access","Vercel Authentication gates to your team \u002F SSO, not arbitrary client emails","Yes, list the client's emails (Pro)",{"feature":90,"them":91,"us":92},"Deploy method","Git push or CLI","Drag and drop a file or ZIP",{"feature":94,"them":95,"us":96},"Custom domain on the gated link","Yes","Yes, on Pro",{"feature":98,"them":99,"us":100},"EU data partition","Global edge; region control is limited on lower tiers","EU partition on Pro",{"feature":102,"them":103,"us":104},"Free public link","Yes (preview and production URLs)","Yes - free tier, public link",{"heading":106,"sub":107},"Send a gated preview in two minutes","Drop a file for a free public link, then add a password or email whitelist on Pro.","Vercel password protection lives behind paid deployment protection and ties access to your Vercel team. Drop a file on Hostsmith and add a shared-password or email-whitelist gate on Pro instead.","md",[111,114,117],{"q":112,"a":113},"Does Vercel have password protection?","Yes, through Deployment Protection - Vercel Authentication (which signs visitors in against your Vercel team) and Password Protection. Password Protection has historically been a paid add-on available on higher plans, so check Vercel's current pricing and docs before assuming your plan includes it. The point of this page is not that Vercel can't gate a site - it's that for a one-off client preview the simplest path is often a host where a shared password is a built-in toggle.",{"q":115,"a":116},"Can I send a Vercel preview to a client without giving them a Vercel account?","With Vercel Authentication the visitor signs in against your Vercel team, which suits internal reviewers more than an outside client. A shared password (Vercel's Password Protection, or a host like Hostsmith) avoids making the client authenticate at all.",{"q":118,"a":119},"How do I password protect a site on Hostsmith?","Drop your file or ZIP, then on the Pro plan turn on Private Sites and pick a shared password or an email whitelist. The public link is free; the gate is the paid part - we never pretend otherwise.","Vercel password protection, without the enterprise add-on",{},true,"\u002Fuse-cases\u002Fvercel-password-protection",{"label":125,"to":126},"Full guide: how to password protect a website","\u002Fblog\u002Fpassword-protect-website",{"title":5,"description":108},[129,132],{"label":130,"to":131},"Netlify password protection","\u002Fuse-cases\u002Fnetlify-password-protection",{"label":133,"to":134},"Password protect an HTML page","\u002Fuse-cases\u002Fpassword-protect-html-page","use-cases\u002Fvercel-password-protection","2026-06-16","Vercel can gate a deployment, but it routes through paid Deployment Protection and your Vercel team. Hostsmith puts a shared-password or email-whitelist wall in front of any upload - drop a file, flip one toggle on Pro.","eeVeaB_7gkShbhAtaXTLjtYf7AhXP6xEfkWFxYTWg64",1781808843899]