Comparison
A Netlify Drop alternative for documents that shouldn’t be public
Updated 30 October 2026
Netlify Drop puts a folder of static files on a URL in seconds, and Netlify is the better home for a website: builds, a custom domain, deploys from Git. A drop made without an account sits behind a temporary password and is deleted within an hour unless you claim it, and a password for visitors needs Netlify Pro at $20 a month. Pick ashare.net when the file is a report or a document for certain people: your company’s email domain, specific emails or a password, on every plan, for readers who need no account.
How Netlify Drop works today
- Drag a folder onto app.netlify.com/drop and it goes live. No account is required.
- Without signing in, Netlify publishes the files as they are. Signed in, it detects the framework and runs the build first.
- A drop without an account is protected with a temporary password until you claim it. Netlify deletes an unclaimed drop within an hour.
- To keep it, claim it by logging in or signing up. Then it is a normal Netlify project: redeploy it, connect a custom domain, set who sees it.
- Netlify says deploys under 50 MB work best and files over 10 MB may get stuck; use the Netlify CLI for larger projects.
- To update a claimed drop, drag the new folder onto the project’s Production deploys.
Who can open a Netlify site
A Netlify project is public, private or password protected:
- Public. Anyone with the URL.
- Private. Enforced with Netlify login: only your team and people you invite. On the Free and Personal plans only the Team Owner sees a private project; on Pro you add any number of team members. Teams created since 28 July 2026 start with new projects private.
- Password. One shared password per project, on Pro only.
Team login protection is an Enterprise option. SSO through an identity provider needs Organization or Team SSO.
Side by side
| Feature | Netlify Drop and Netlify | ashare.net |
|---|---|---|
| Account to publish | None for a drop; claim it within an hour to keep it | Yes: sign in with a code from your email |
| What it hosts | A static folder; with an account, a project with a build step | HTML, Markdown, a ZIP site of up to 200 files and 25 MB; no builds |
| New link | Behind a temporary password until claimed; then public or private by your team’s default | Private: only you, until you share it |
| Specific people | Private project: your team and people you invite, with a Netlify login | Up to 100 emails per document; readers sign in with a 6-digit code, no account to create |
| Your whole company | Members of your Netlify team, unlimited on Pro | Everyone who signs in with an email on your company domain |
| Password | Pro, $20 a month | Every plan |
| Expiring link | — | Per document |
| Custom domain | Yes, after you claim the drop | No |
| Comments | The Netlify Drawer on Deploy Previews: comments, screenshots, video | On every document: readers select text and comment; the agent reads, replies and resolves |
| AI agents | Netlify MCP server for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, VS Code; a Claude connector and a ChatGPT app | MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI and others; CLI; REST API; GitHub Action |
| Price | Free $0, Personal $9 a month, Pro $20 a month with unlimited members | Free for personal email, 50 MB. Pro $5 a month, 10 GB. Company $30 a month for the whole domain, 30 GB |
A dash means we did not find it in Netlify’s docs on 30 October 2026.
When Netlify is the better pick
- A website, not a document. A framework project that needs a build, a site you deploy from Git, a page that grows into an app.
- Your own domain. ashare.net serves every document from ashare.net.
- A quick public demo. Drop a folder with no account, look at it, and claim it if you want to keep it.
- Everyone who should see it is on your Netlify team. On Pro, a private project is open to every team member with no extra cost per member.
When ashare.net is the better pick
- The reader has no Netlify account. A client, a manager, a colleague in another team: they type their email and the code from it. Nobody joins a team or creates a password.
- Access per document. One report goes to the company, the next to two people at a client, a third to anyone with a password until Friday. The agent sets it in the same call that publishes.
- No dashboard in the loop. Claude Code, Codex or Cursor publishes the report over MCP and gets the link back; a CI job uses the CLI or the GitHub Action with an API key.
- Feedback on the text. Readers select a sentence and comment. The agent lists the open threads, publishes a fixed version at the same link, replies and resolves them.
- You need to know who read it. For a private or company document you see each signed-in reader and when they opened it.
Publish the same folder on ashare.net
Create a key at ashare.net/me/api, then publish the folder you would have dropped. The CLI packs it as a ZIP, so zip must be on your PATH, and index.html goes at the top of the folder.
$ npx ashare-cli login
$ npx ashare-cli publish site/ --visibility company
$ npx ashare-cli publish report.html --visibility public --password s3cret --expires 7dA new document is private. --visibility company opens it to your company’s email domain; npx ashare-cli share <id> anna@example.com adds one person. npx ashare-cli update <id> site/ publishes a new version at the same link, so the URL you sent keeps working. Or skip the terminal: connect your agent (Connect your agent) and ask it to publish and share.
ashare.net: your agent publishes HTML or Markdown and you choose who opens it: your company, specific emails or a password. Readers comment, the agent fixes the document.
Connect your agent