Traditional hosting solutions often require manual scaling, complex server configurations, or additional caching layers to maintain consistent performance. For framework-based applications like Next.js, React, or Angular, this can lead to longer load times, inefficient development processes, and unpredictable infrastructure costs.
As an agency, we build web applications that need to be scalable, high-performing, and efficiently deployed. Time-consuming infrastructure management, unexpected scaling costs, and manual performance optimizations are unnecessary overhead that can be eliminated with the right setup. Instead of investing resources in operational complexity, we sought a solution that seamlessly integrates into our workflows, scales effortlessly, and optimizes performance automatically - without additional development effort. In the end, a deployment should be as simple as a Git push.
What is Vercel?
Vercel provides exactly this optimized solution. The platform combines automated deployments, a globally distributed CDN, and serverless scaling within a fully managed system. While it is particularly well-suited for Next.js projects, it also offers a high-performance and easy-to-manage hosting solution for frameworks like React, Angular, Vue, Svelte, and Astro.
What Makes Vercel Stand Out?
Benefits
With a global edge network and a serverless architecture, Vercel applications automatically scale to meet demand - seamlessly and effortlessly.
Vercel streamlines the entire deployment process, allowing developers to focus on writing code instead of managing infrastructure or servers.
With intelligent rollbacks and redundant infrastructure, everything stays stable - even when things go wrong. No long downtimes, no panic fixes.
With an edge network and built-in CDNs, content is delivered close to end users - minimizing latency and maximizing speed. The result? Blazing-fast load times, an outstanding user experience, and top-tier Google scores.
Built-in testing features enhance team collaboration by detecting errors in deployed versions before merging. Change requests can be implemented immediately, ensuring a smooth development process.
Drawbacks
Vercel handles everything, from hosting and scaling to deployment, reducing infrastructure concerns. However, this also means a certain reliance on the Vercel ecosystem.
The free tier is great for small projects, but as traffic grows, costs can escalate quickly.
Long-running processes and WebSockets can’t be executed directly on Vercel. Additionally, Vercel lacks the infrastructure flexibility of major cloud providers, making it less adaptable for complex backend needs.
Our Conclusion as an Agency
Vercel is an outstanding platform for Next.js applications and offers one of the best developer experiences in the hosting space. It is an ideal choice for teams that want to iterate quickly without dealing with infrastructure management. The platform handles scaling, caching, and deployment automation, allowing developers to focus entirely on building their applications.
However, this optimization comes with a trade-off in flexibility. While serverless architectures provide many benefits, they are not the right fit for every use case. Organizations with high scaling demands, complex backend processes, or specific infrastructure requirements should carefully assess whether a managed platform like Vercel fully meets their needs.
For teams that require full control over network architecture, database management, or custom server processes, Vercel may present certain limitations. In such cases, a dedicated cloud environment on Google Cloud, Azure, or AWS might be the better option.