Hosting Platform Data v1.2.0 Updated 2025-12-28

Vercel

The platform for frontend developers

N/A 2M/week No known vulns N/A
87 /100
Strong pick High confidence (95%)

Quick Verdict

Best For

  • Next.js applications
  • Frontend-focused teams
  • Projects requiring preview deployments
  • Startups wanting fast deployment

Consider Alternatives If

  • Cost-sensitive high-traffic sites
  • Applications requiring full backend control
  • Teams needing bare metal performance

Top Alternatives

Cloudflare Pages 86Railway 82

Score Breakdown

6 dimensions evaluated with transparent methodology

Performance
92 −8

Industry-leading edge performance

  • Global edge network
  • Automatic image optimization
  • Edge Functions for dynamic content
Why not 100%:
  • −4 Cold starts on serverless functions
  • −4 Edge Functions have size limits
Developer Experience
98 −2

Gold standard for frontend deployment DX

  • Zero-config deployments
  • Preview deployments on every push
  • Excellent Git integration
Why not 100%:
  • −1 Complex projects may need customization
  • −1 Some features require Pro tier
Ecosystem
85 −15

Rich integration ecosystem

  • Marketplace with many integrations
  • Framework auto-detection
  • Edge Config, KV, Postgres offerings
Why not 100%:
  • −7 Lock-in to Vercel-specific features
  • −7 Some integrations add significant cost
Maintainability
95 −5

Fully managed with zero ops overhead

  • No infrastructure to manage
  • Automatic scaling
  • Built-in monitoring
Why not 100%:
  • −2 Less control than self-hosted
  • −2 Debugging can be harder in production
Cost Efficiency
60 −40

Generous free tier but costs scale quickly

  • Generous Hobby tier
  • Pro tier reasonable for small teams
  • Predictable pricing
Why not 100%:
  • −10 Expensive at scale
  • −10 Bandwidth costs add up
  • −10 Function execution costs grow quickly
Compliance
88 −12

SOC 2 compliant with enterprise options

  • SOC 2 Type II certified
  • GDPR compliant
  • Enterprise security features
Why not 100%:
  • −6 HIPAA requires Enterprise
  • −6 Some features need higher tiers

Compare Alternatives

How Vercel stacks up against similar technologies

TechnologyOverallPerfDXEcosystem
Current Vercel87929885
Cloudflare Pages Better pricing, edge-first86———Compare →
Railway Full-stack focused, more flexible82———Compare →
Full comparison with Cloudflare Pages

Sources & Methodology

How we calculate these scores — transparent and reproducible

Deterministic Scoring

Same inputs always produce the same outputs. We use versioned lookup tables, not LLM opinions. Every score is explainable and reproducible.

Learn how it works →
primary

GitHub

Repository activity, stars, contributors, issue resolution time

primary

NPM Registry

Weekly downloads, package dependencies, version history

secondary

OSV Database

Known vulnerabilities, security advisories, CVE tracking

contextual

Community Signals

Stack Overflow activity, Discord engagement, developer surveys

Data version: 1.2.0 Last updated: 2025-12-28 Confidence: 95%

Frequently Asked

Why doesn't Vercel score 100%?

No technology is perfect for every use case. Our scoring reflects real-world trade-offs. Vercel's main gaps are in cost efficiency, where expensive at scale.

What does confidence percentage mean?

Confidence (95%) indicates how much data we have to support the score. Higher confidence means more data points from multiple sources (GitHub activity, NPM downloads, security audits, community surveys).

How often are scores updated?

Scores are recalculated weekly using automated data pipelines. Major version updates trigger immediate recalculation. Last update: 2025-12-28.