QAlaunch

Vercel site asks visitors to log in: why and how to make it public

Visitors see a Vercel login page because Vercel Authentication, part of Deployment Protection, is switched on and the link you shared is a protected URL. With the default Standard Protection, preview deployments and the long per-deployment production URLs require a Vercel login, while your production domains stay public. Share your custom domain or the main project domain from Settings > Domains, or change the protection setting if you really want deployment URLs public.

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What you'll see

You send someone the link from v0 or from the Vercel deployment page. They land on a vercel.com screen asking them to log in, or, if they already have a Vercel account, a page saying they need to request access. You never see it yourself because you are logged in to Vercel, so the site looks fine on your machine.

Why it happens

1. You shared a deployment URL, not the production domain

Every deployment gets a unique address such as project-abc123-team.vercel.app. Under Standard Protection those addresses are protected even when they belong to a production deployment; only the domains assigned to production, like yourproject.vercel.app or your own domain, are open to everyone.

2. Vercel Authentication covers more than you expected

The setting is chosen per project in Settings > Deployment Protection. If it is set to All Deployments, your production domains require login too, and every visitor and search engine sees the login wall.

3. Your browser hides the problem from you

Vercel sets a cookie when you authenticate to a deployment, so it lets you straight through. Testing in your normal browser window will never show what a stranger sees.

How to fix it

  1. Open the exact link you shared in a private window where you are not logged in to Vercel. If you see the login or request-access screen, you have confirmed the cause.
  2. In the Vercel dashboard, open the project and go to Settings > Domains. Copy the production domain listed there, either your custom domain or the short yourproject.vercel.app address, and share that instead.
  3. If you only need one person to see a preview, open the deployment, use Share and create a Shareable Link. It lets anyone with that link past the protection for that deployment without changing the project setting.
  4. If you want deployment URLs public as well, go to Settings > Deployment Protection, find Vercel Authentication, and choose a narrower scope or turn it off, then save.
  5. Remember that turning Vercel Authentication off makes every existing deployment of the project public, including old previews that may contain unfinished work or test data.
  6. Re-test the shared link in a private window on your phone over mobile data before sending it again.

How to check it's fixed

  • The production domain opens your homepage, not vercel.com, in a private window that has never logged in to Vercel.
  • A colleague without a Vercel account can open the link on their own device.

What a QAlaunch scan shows for this

  • A login wall or redirect to vercel.com on the scanned URL instead of your homepage, shown in the screenshots.
  • A 401 response on the page the scan was asked to load.
  • Missing title and description on the scanned page, because the scan is reading the Vercel login screen rather than your site.

See exactly what a full report contains in the sample report.

Frequently asked questions

Can Google index my site if it shows a Vercel login?

No. Search engines are anonymous visitors, so they see the login page too. Your production domains must be public before Google can crawl them.

Is it safe to turn Deployment Protection off?

It makes every deployment of the project public, including previews built from unfinished branches. If you only need the live site public, keep Standard Protection and share the production domain.

Why does the v0 share link behave differently from the deployed site?

A link into v0 itself opens the v0 chat or preview, which follows v0’s own sharing settings. Your website is the deployment on Vercel, so share its production domain rather than an editor link.

Can I keep the site private but let a client review it?

Yes. Leave protection on and send the client a Shareable Link for the deployment, or approve their access request if they have a Vercel account. On the Hobby plan only one external user can be granted access, so a Shareable Link is often simpler.

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Related fixes

More for v0: all v0 fixes · v0 testing

Written by Waqas Ahmad, QA engineer with 10 years of professional testing experience. Last checked October 26, 2026.

Sources: Vercel docs: Vercel Authentication · Vercel Community: can a deployed website only be visible to me · Vercel KB: locking down deployments