The short answer
- Pick here.now if you want custom domains, team workspaces, built-in storage for forms (Site Data), private file storage (Drives) or site analytics.
- Pick beacon.host if the agent also needs backend code (APIs, webhook receivers), an MCP server that works with no account, or sites with more than 2,500 files.
- Pick Netlify for git deploys and framework builds, as long as you'll claim the site within the hour.
- Pick Vercel for Next.js with an account. Its free Hobby plan is for non-commercial use only.
beacon.host vs here.now at a glance
Checked against here.now's public docs and pricing (last updated 11 September 2026) on 1 October 2026.
| Feature | beacon.host | here.now |
|---|---|---|
| Static sites | your-site.beacon.host | your-site.here.now |
| Publish without an account | Yes, link lasts 24 hours | Yes, link lasts 24 hours |
| Claim link to keep an anonymous site | Yes | Yes |
| Publishes per hour without an account | 5 per IP | 60 per IP |
| Publishes per hour with an account | 60 | 60 on Free, 200 on Hobby and Developer |
| Max file size (no account / account) | 250 MB / 5 GB | 250 MB / 5 GB |
| Files per site | 10,000 | 2,500 |
| Password protection | Yes, also before a site is claimed | Yes, on account-owned sites |
| Version history and rollback | Yes | Yes |
| Run your own server code | Yes, Workers at your-api.worker.beacon.host | No |
| Secrets | Per-Worker secrets | Account variables added to proxy-route calls |
| Drag-and-drop publishing in the browser | Yes | Not in its docs |
| MCP server | Yes, at beacon.host/mcp | No official server (its agent card says MCP isn't supported); a community wrapper, here-now-pp-cli, exists |
| CLI | beacon binary for macOS, Linux and Windows | Skill scripts (publish.sh); the community here-now-pp-cli |
| One-request publish | POST /v1/publish with the file | No; three calls |
| Skill install | npx skills add beacon-host/skill -g | npx skills add heredotnow/skill --skill here-now -g (16,075 installs on skills.sh) |
SPA fallback (unknown paths serve index.html) | No | Yes |
| Custom domains | No | Yes, 1 on the free plan |
| Team workspaces | No | Yes |
| Built-in storage for forms and polls | No | Yes (Site Data) |
| Private file storage | No | Yes (Drives) |
| Invite-only access by email | No | Yes |
| Site analytics | No (Workers have request analytics) | Yes |
| Price | Free, no paid plans yet | Free plan; Hobby $4/month; Developer $20/month |
here.now vs Netlify Drop vs Vercel for agent publishing
Checked 1 October 2026 against each vendor's docs, linked below the table. Cells we couldn't confirm say "not documented".
| beacon.host | here.now | Netlify | Vercel | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Publish with no account | Yes: 24 hours, then claim | Yes: 24 hours, then claim | CLI --allow-anonymous or Netlify Drop; claim within 1 hour | Drop and the CLI need an account; the deploy-to-vercel skill's no-auth fallback returns a claim URL |
| Anonymous site visibility | Public; a password can be set with the claim token | Public | Drop: a temporary password until claimed | n/a |
| How an agent publishes | One request, three HTTP calls, MCP, beacon CLI or publish.py | Three HTTP calls or the skill script | Netlify CLI (Node) or MCP | Vercel CLI or MCP (OAuth) |
| Browser drag and drop | Yes, no account | Not documented | app.netlify.com/drop, no account | vercel.com/drop, account |
| Framework builds | The beacon CLI runs npm run build | Built files only | The CLI builds; Drop serves files as they are | Yes |
| Backend code | Workers | No (proxy routes only) | Netlify Functions | Vercel Functions |
| Official MCP server | Yes, no account | No | Yes | Yes |
| Free tier | Free, no paid plans | Free; paid from $4/month | Free $0; Pro on credit tiers | Hobby free, non-commercial |
| Size guidance | 250 MB per file without an account, 5 GB with one; 10,000 files | 250 MB / 5 GB per file; 2,500 files | Drop: under 50 MB works best | Not documented |
Sources: here.now pricing, here.now docs, Netlify CLI anonymous deploys, Netlify Drop quickstart, Netlify MCP server, Vercel Drop vs Netlify Drop, deploy-to-vercel skill, Vercel MCP, Vercel Hobby plan.
Where here.now is better
- More for static sites. Custom domains (you can even buy one through it), SPA routing, team workspaces, invite-only access, site analytics, folders and an in-dashboard editor. beacon.host has none of these.
- Storage without a server. Site Data lets a static page save form entries, polls and checklists from browser JavaScript. beacon.host has no built-in storage; a beacon.host Worker can send data to a database or service you already use.
- A higher anonymous limit. 60 publishes per hour per IP, against 5 on beacon.host.
- Reach. 16,075 installs of its skill on skills.sh and broad directory presence. beacon.host's skill isn't listed in skill or MCP directories yet.
Where beacon.host is better
- It runs code. A Worker at
your-api.worker.beacon.hostanswers API calls and receives webhooks, with secrets, live logs and request stats. here.now's docs say not to use it for "server-side compute" or "backend code execution". Its proxy routes add secrets to calls to an upstream API, but they don't run your code. See Workers. - Frontend and backend in one account. Publish the site to
my-app.beacon.hostand its API tomy-app-api.worker.beacon.hostwith the same API key. - MCP with no account. Add
https://beacon.host/mcpto Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or claude.ai and the agent publishes with one tool call; no OAuth and no sign-up. Netlify and Vercel have MCP servers too, but they need an account. - One request.
curl -sS https://beacon.host/v1/publish -F file=@index.htmlpublishes a file without computing hashes. - Drag and drop. Drop an HTML file, a folder or a .zip on beacon.host and get a link, no agent needed.
- A CLI that builds and deploys.
beacon deployworks out whether a folder is a static site or a Worker, runsnpm run buildwhen there is one, and uploads the result. - Passwords without an account. The claim token from an anonymous publish can put a password on the site. On here.now, passwords need an account-owned site.
- More files per site. 10,000 against 2,500.
When Netlify or Vercel is the better pick
- A long-lived production site with git: connect the repo to Netlify or Vercel and every push deploys, with previews per branch.
- Framework builds: both build Next.js, Astro, SvelteKit and others on their servers. beacon.host and here.now host files you've already built.
- A custom domain on a free plan: Netlify and Vercel include one; beacon.host doesn't offer custom domains.
Publish the same folder on each
Copy-paste commands for a folder called ./site, as each vendor documents them:
# beacon.host: no account, 24 hours, claim link
curl -fsSL https://beacon.host/publish.py | python3 - ./site
# or, from an MCP client
claude mcp add --transport http beacon https://beacon.host/mcp
# here.now: no account, 24 hours (its documented quick start, per file)
curl -sS https://here.now/api/v1/publish \
-H "X-HereNow-Client: <harness>/<detail>" \
-H "content-type: application/json" \
-d '{"files":[{"path":"index.html","size":1234,"contentType":"text/html; charset=utf-8"}]}'
# PUT each file's bytes to upload.uploads[].url (Content-Type as listed), then:
curl -sS -X POST https://here.now/api/v1/publish/<slug>/finalize \
-H "X-HereNow-Client: <harness>/<detail>" \
-H "content-type: application/json" \
-d '{"versionId":"<upload.versionId>"}'
# Netlify: no account, claim within 1 hour, password-protected until then
npx -y netlify-cli deploy --allow-anonymous --dir ./site --no-build
# Vercel: needs an account
npx -y vercel login && npx -y vercel deploy ./site
Moving from here.now
| here.now | beacon.host |
|---|---|
POST /api/v1/publish | POST https://beacon.host/v1/sites, with "hash": "sha256:<hex>" on each file; or POST /v1/publish with the files themselves |
PUT each file to its upload URL | Same, using uploads.pending[].uploadUrl |
POST <finalizeUrl> | POST https://beacon.host<version.finalizeUrl> with X-Claim-Token (anonymous) or Authorization: Bearer chk_... |
claimUrl | claimUrl |
Copy-paste versions of these calls are in host a static site with no signup. Full API reference: beacon.host/docs.
here.now pricing and limits
From here.now/pricing.md, last updated 11 September 2026, checked 1 October 2026:
| Anonymous | Free | Hobby | Developer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 | $0 | $4/month | $20/month |
| Lifetime | 24 hours | Permanent | Permanent | Permanent |
| Storage | 10 GB | 500 GB | 2 TB | |
| Sites | 500 | 1,000 | Unlimited | |
| Custom domains | 0 | 1 | 5 | 20 |
| Publishes per hour | 60 per IP | 60 | 200 | 200 |
| Largest file | 250 MB | 5 GB | 5 GB | 5 GB |
| Files per site | 2,500 | 2,500 | 2,500 | 2,500 |
Questions
What is the best alternative to here.now?
For agent publishing, beacon.host is the closest: the same no-account 24-hour publish and claim link, plus Workers for backend code and an MCP server that needs no account. For long-lived sites built from git, Netlify, Vercel and Cloudflare Pages are the usual picks.
How much does here.now cost?
here.now has a free plan; Hobby is $4 a month and Developer $20 a month (pricing last updated 11 September 2026). Publishing without an account is free and lasts 24 hours.
Does here.now have an MCP server?
Not an official one: its agent card says MCP isn't supported. There is a community wrapper called here-now-pp-cli. beacon.host has an official remote MCP server at https://beacon.host/mcp.
here.now or Netlify Drop: which is faster for an agent?
here.now's API publishes in three HTTP calls with no install. Netlify's no-account path is a CLI (netlify deploy --allow-anonymous), which needs Node and an npm download on first run, and its link stays password-protected until claimed. We haven't benchmarked the two against each other yet.
How long does a Netlify Drop site last without an account?
One hour. Unclaimed sites are removed after that, and until they're claimed they're behind a temporary password.
Which hosts let an agent publish without an account and a person claim it later?
beacon.host and here.now (24 hours to claim), Netlify (1 hour), Cloudflare's temporary deploys (60 minutes), and Vercel through its deploy skill's no-auth fallback (claim window not documented).
Can here.now run backend code?
No. Its docs say not to use it for server-side compute or backend code; proxy routes forward requests to an upstream API with your secrets added. beacon.host runs backend code as Workers.
Related: Netlify Drop, tiiny.host and surge.sh alternatives and MCP server setup.