Backlit vs Netlify for sharing an app you built with AI
Netlify and Backlit both put your app on a URL, but they solve different problems. Here's a clear comparison for when you've built a single-page app with AI and just want to share it with a login and saved data.
If you built a single-page app with Claude or ChatGPT and you’re deciding where to put it, you’ll quickly run into Netlify. It’s one of the most popular ways to host a website. It’s a great product. But for sharing an AI-built app with a login and saved data, it and Backlit are aimed at different jobs. Here’s the honest comparison.
The short answer
Use Netlify if you’re a developer with a multi-file project and a build step, and you want a fast, flexible place to deploy a site or front-end. Use Backlit if you’ve finished a single-page app with AI and you just want to share it, with sign-in and per-user data, without wiring up a backend yourself. Netlify hosts your files; Backlit hosts your app, plus the login and storage it needs.
Side by side
| Netlify | Backlit | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Developers deploying sites & front-ends | Anyone sharing a single-page app built with AI |
| Hosting | Yes, excellent static + edge hosting | Yes, single-page apps on a backlit.run link |
| Build step | Common (connects to your Git repo, runs a build) | None, drop a finished HTML file |
| Sign-in / auth | Add-on you configure (Identity / third-party) | Built in, magic link, Google, Microsoft, allowlist |
| Per-user data | You bring your own backend/database | Built in, per-user silos + shared store |
| Set up by your AI assistant | No | Yes, deploy from Claude/ChatGPT via MCP |
| Best for | Custom web projects | Forms, trackers, tools, dashboards |
Where Netlify shines
Netlify is built for developers. If you have a repository, a framework, and a build process, Netlify deploys it beautifully, with previews, redirects, edge functions, and all the control a front-end engineer wants. If that’s your situation, use it.
The catch is everything around the files. The moment your app needs people to sign in, or needs to remember what someone typed, Netlify expects you to bring those pieces yourself: an identity provider, a database, some serverless functions to glue them together. For a developer that’s a reasonable afternoon. For someone who just asked Claude to build a booking form, it’s a wall. It also means securing that sign-in and access control is on you, which is where apps built with AI most often get hacked; Backlit handles that part for you (here’s how to keep an app you built with AI from getting hacked).
Where Backlit shines
Backlit starts from a different assumption: the app is finished, and the person sharing it isn’t trying to run a backend. So the two things Netlify makes you add, sign-in and per-user data, are simply built in.
- No build step. You (or your assistant) hand Backlit a single-page app and it’s live. There’s no repo to connect, no build to configure.
- Sign-in is included. Every private app gets magic-link, Google, and Microsoft sign-in, gated to the emails or domain you choose.
- Data is included. Each user gets an isolated data silo; the app gets shared storage; form captures get a write-only store. Nothing to provision.
- Your assistant does it. Because Backlit connects to Claude and ChatGPT over MCP, you can publish straight from the chat where you built the app.
The trade-off is scope: Backlit is deliberately for single-page apps, not large multi-file projects or anything needing a custom server runtime. That focus is what lets it skip the build step and the backend setup.
A note on AI
One more difference worth naming: a Backlit app has no AI running inside it. That’s intentional: it keeps hosting fast, predictable, and cheap. Netlify doesn’t put AI in your app either, of course; the point is that neither of these is an “AI app platform” that bills you per request. With Backlit you build with AI and then host something plain and durable.
How to choose
Ask one question: do I want to run a project, or share a finished app?
- Running a project with a build pipeline and your own backend → Netlify.
- Sharing a single-page app you built with AI, and you want a login and saved data without the plumbing → Backlit.
If you’re in the second camp, you can be live in the same chat where you built the thing. See how it works →
Built an app with Claude or ChatGPT? Get early access to Backlit and share it in seconds.