Is Vercel Authentication really free on all plans?

Yes. As of September 9, 2026, protecting all deployments in a project — including production — with Vercel Authentication costs nothing on Hobby, Pro, and Enterprise. Previously this required the $150/month Advanced Deployment Protection add-on.

What's the difference between Vercel Authentication and Password Protection?

Vercel Authentication requires visitors to sign in with a Vercel account that has access to the project — free on every plan. Password Protection lets you share a password with anyone (no Vercel account needed) and now costs $20/month per protected project on Pro.

Do I still need the Advanced Deployment Protection add-on?

For Vercel Authentication and Deployment Protection Exceptions, no — both are free now. You only need paid protection if visitors without Vercel accounts need access, which is the $20/month per-project Password Protection tier.

Vercel Makes Production Deployment Protection Free on Every Plan (Was $150/Mo)

Vercel now lets every plan — including Hobby — protect production deployments with Vercel Authentication at no cost, killing the $150/month Advanced Deployment Protection add-on that was previously required.

What shipped

Vercel Authentication can now gate all deployments in a project, production included. Visitors must sign in with a Vercel account that has access to the project. Deployment Protection Exceptions (making one preview URL public while the rest stays locked) are also free now, and team-level defaults let every new project start protected. Setting: project → Security → Deployment Protection → All Deployments.

What changed

The math is the story. Protecting a production domain previously required the $150/month Advanced Deployment Protection add-on — $1,800/year for a feature that is now $0 on every plan. Yesterday Vercel also repriced Password Protection to $20/month per project on Pro (previously team-wide), and made per-project scoping available. So the pricing ladder collapsed: $150/mo add-on → $0 (Vercel-account sign-in) or $20/project/month (password protection for arbitrary visitors). A Pro team protecting ten projects with passwords pays $2,400/year; the same team using Vercel Authentication pays nothing.

Why a builder cares

The catch is in who can get in. Vercel Authentication requires every visitor to hold a Vercel account with project access — fine for internal dashboards and staging, useless for a private beta with external testers or a client who shouldn't own a seat in your team. That's exactly who the $20/project Password Protection is now for. Read together, the two moves are a repricing, not a giveaway: Vercel converted a flat $150/mo enterprise gate into a free tier with a deliberate limitation and a $20/project upsell for the gap. If you were paying the add-on just to lock staging URLs, cancel it today — but check whether your protected visitors all have Vercel accounts before you do.