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Why does my Vercel preview link ask people to log in?

Ship ItChecked against the official source

Source checked 9 Oct 2026 · Published 23 Oct 2026 · Last reviewed 23 Oct 2026 · By Ctrl+Z Therapy (how we test)

The short answer

That's Vercel Authentication: users attempting to access the deployment get a Vercel login redirect. With Standard Protection, Vercel protects all domains except production domains, so a preview link asks for a Vercel login. To share one preview, create a shareable link or add the preview domain to Deployment Protection Exceptions.

What to do

  1. To share one preview: open the deployment, click Share, and select Anyone with the link from the dropdown.
  2. On the Hobby plan, you can create only one shareable link in total per account.
  3. Or add the preview domain to Deployment Protection Exceptions. It then becomes publicly accessible.

Good to know

  • With Standard Protection, the production generated deployment URL is restricted too.

Source

Checked on 9 Oct 2026. Prices, limits and settings change, so check the source before you rely on them.