Vercel

Vercel is a cloud platform for deploying web applications, and the company that maintains the open-source Next.js framework. Its chief executive is Guillermo Rauch. You connect a Git repository, and Vercel builds and deploys every push, giving each branch its own preview URL and serving production traffic from its CDN.

Vercel supports Next.js with zero configuration and more than 40 other frameworks. Beyond hosting, it offers server-side Functions, a firewall, observability, and AI tools including the AI SDK and AI Gateway, which routes calls to many AI models through one endpoint.

Key features

• Deploy from Git. Connect GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket to deploy on every push, with a preview URL for every branch.
• Functions with Fluid compute. Run server-side code on demand, with concurrency scaling aimed at AI and I/O-heavy work.
• CDN and Image Optimization. Cache responses close to users and resize images on demand in modern formats.
• Instant Rollback and Rolling Releases. Revert production without rebuilding; on Pro and Enterprise, send new deployments to a share of traffic first.
• Security. DDoS mitigation is on by default, with a web application firewall, bot management and deployment protection.
• AI SDK and AI Gateway. Build chat and agent features in TypeScript and call many models through one API key with budgets and fallbacks.
• Domains. Add custom domains with DNS management and automatic SSL certificates.

Who it is for

Vercel suits frontend and full-stack developers, especially teams using Next.js or other JavaScript frameworks, who want fast preview deployments and little server management. Freelancers and small teams can start on Pro, while larger companies use Enterprise for SSO, audit logs and service agreements. It is not designed for running traditional long-lived servers or self-managed databases.

Pricing at a glance

Hobby is free for personal, non-commercial projects, with monthly allowances such as 100 GB of fast data transfer, one million function invocations and 4 CPU-hours of active CPU, and up to 100 deployments a day. Pro costs a $20/month platform fee that includes one deploying seat and $20 of monthly usage credit; extra deploying seats are $20/month each, viewer seats are free, and usage above the credit is billed on demand. Paid add-ons include SAML SSO at $300/month. Enterprise pricing is custom. Prices as checked on 7 October 2026; confirm on the vendor's pricing page.

Things to consider

• Hobby is non-commercial. Business projects need Pro or Enterprise, and Hobby usage cannot be extended by paying more.
• Usage-based costs on Pro. Traffic, function time and add-ons can raise the bill beyond $20; for new customers, spend notifications are on by default at $200 per billing cycle.
• Platform features tie you in. Features such as middleware, image optimisation and AI Gateway are specific to Vercel and may need rework to move elsewhere.
• Short log retention. Runtime logs are kept for one hour on Hobby and one day on Pro unless you add drains or observability add-ons.

Getting started

1. Compare plans on the pricing page and sign up with your Git provider.
2. Import a repository, or install the CLI and run vercel in your project folder.
3. Check the preview deployment, then add a custom domain and environment variables.
4. Set spend alerts and review the documentation for Functions and the firewall.