AWS is a comprehensive, pay-as-you-go cloud infrastructure platform serving enterprise-scale applications, while Vercel is a specialized, developer-focused platform optimized for deploying and scaling frontend applications with built-in Git integration and edge deployment. AWS requires more configuration and DevOps expertise, whereas Vercel prioritizes simplicity for modern web frameworks like Next.js.
AWS vs Vercel — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Market-leading cloud platform with 200+ services and 32% global market share
Next.js-native platform by the framework creators with industry-leading deployment speed and serverless performance.
Primary Use Case. Setup Complexity. Pricing Model. Global Edge Network. Database Integration. Learning Curve. Serverless Functions
Choose AWS if you need enterprise-scale infrastructure, multiple services (databases, ML, streaming), complex multi-region deployments, or cost optimization at high traffic volumes (1M+ requests/month). Choose Vercel if you're deploying modern frontend applications, prioritize developer velocity, want zero-config Git-based workflows, or are building Next.js/React projects with serverless functions for under 10M requests/month.
Amazon Web Services (AWS): $0.023 | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): $0.004 | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): Multiple models via Bedrock | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): AWS Outposts (limited) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): Fargate (feature-rich) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 32% | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 200+ | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 33 | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 5/10 | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 8/10 | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): Moderate (Outposts) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 4/10 | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): Largest | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): Strong (ECS/EKS) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): Via Athena/Redshift | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): AWS only | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): Pay-per-use only | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 33 regions | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 105+ zones | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 190+ native services | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 30-45 (via Console/CLI) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): AWS CloudFormation requires manual GitHub setup | Vercel: N/A
Monthly Cost (1 vCPU, 1GB RAM, Standard Instance)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): $9.50 (t3.micro on-demand) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): $0.0116 | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): $0.0416 | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): $0.02 | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 8-12 hours (SageMaker) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 15-30 seconds (Athena, 1TB scan) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): $15,000 | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 18-25 steps (EKS setup) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 12 months + always-free services | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 1 hour (Business Support) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): SageMaker, Bedrock, Forecast, Lookout, Kendra | Vercel: N/A
Monthly Cost for 10TB Egress Data Transfer
Amazon Web Services (AWS): $116 (after 1GB free) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 120 minutes | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 125ms (Lambda standard) | Vercel: 85ms (with edge caching)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 45-60 (configure VPC, IAM, EC2, security groups) | Vercel: 2 (connect GitHub, auto-deploy)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 8+ (RDS, DynamoDB, Aurora, ElastiCache, Neptune, DocumentDB, Keyspaces, Timestream) | Vercel: 0 (integrations only)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 99.99% (us-east-1 region) | Vercel: 99.95% (global)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 50,000+ (t3.large EC2) | Vercel: Unlimited (auto-scales serverless)
Estimated Learning Time for New Developer
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 80-100 hours | Vercel: 5-8 hours
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A (not a single GitHub repo) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 3 languages (YAML, JSON, TypeScript/Python/Java via CDK) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 200+ AWS-specific services (largest portfolio in cloud) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): Free (1 year, then pay-as-you-go infrastructure costs) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 33+ geographic regions with 105+ availability zones | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 1M+ AWS Certified professionals | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): $0 (free tier + pay-per-use) | Vercel: $0 (Free) or $20/month (Pro)
Cost for Standard Production App (2 dynos + add-ons)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): $100-150 (EC2 Reserved + RDS) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 24,576 | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 100-3000 | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): No, requires CodePipeline ($0.02/active pipeline) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 32 regions | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 31 regions | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 200+ services | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): $0.01 (variable by service) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): No (Shield Advanced: $3,000/month) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 120+ minutes (full configuration) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 15+ (RDS, DynamoDB, Redshift, etc.) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): ~80ms (median global) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): ~700 Gbps (AWS Shield Advanced) | Vercel: N/A
Compute Instance Starting Price (hourly)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): $0.0116/hour (t3.micro) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): up to 72% | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): RDS for SQL Server (third-party) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): SageMaker (launched 2017) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 50-150ms | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): Layer 3/4 only (Advanced costs $3,000+/mo) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): Pay-as-you-go from $0 | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 30-60+ minutes (account setup, IAM, networking) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 32% of public cloud (2024) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 120-240 minutes | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 0.75GB RDS micro (750 hours/month) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): $3,000-8,000 (optimized EC2 + RDS) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): Extensive—full SQL, custom queries, advanced analytics | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 8-12 weeks | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 32% of developers use AWS | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 600+ | Vercel: 300+
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 15 minutes | Vercel: 12 minutes
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 10 GB | Vercel: 3 GB
Serverless Function Cost per 1M Requests
Amazon Web Services (AWS): $0.20 | Vercel: $0.50
Amazon Web Services (AWS): $0 (pay-per-use only) | Vercel: $20 (Pro plan minimum)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 300-900 (5-15 minutes) | Vercel: 60-120 (1-2 minutes)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 24+ (RDS, DynamoDB, Aurora, Redshift, etc.) | Vercel: 0 (integration-only)
Setup Complexity (Learning Hours Required)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 40+ hours for foundational AWS certification | Vercel: <2 hours for first Next.js deployment
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 99.99% (multi-region) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): $0.0535 | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A (Redshift: 8-12s) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 65% | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): SageMaker (good, broad) | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): 12 months | Vercel: N/A
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: $9.3B
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: $340M
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: $863M
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 2015
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Series F
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 86%
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Covina, California, USA
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Enterprise market leader
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: $20
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 200+
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 50-100ms
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 10GB
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Native Vercel Postgres
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Basic (paid plans enhanced)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Detailed Web Analytics
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Unlimited free tier
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Unlimited
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 3-4 options
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 200+ edge locations
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: <100ms average
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Limited (via Docker)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Automatic per git branch
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: SOC 2, DDoS, WAF included
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 100-300ms
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: None (external only)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Native integrations limited (Git-based)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: $20 (Pro plan)
Supported Languages (via Framework/Docker)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 35+ frameworks
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 1 GB (Vercel Postgres)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Free tier (limited)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 15-20 services
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 150+ (edge)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Limited (Node.js focus)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Unlimited Functions (100GB bandwidth)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: API integrations only
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: $0.10-0.50 per Serverless Function GB-hr
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Automatic (280 edge locations)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 1/10 (git push automatic deployment)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: $20/month
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: ~50 ms
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 200-400ms
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 180+ edge locations
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: PostgreSQL only (Vercel Postgres)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Not included (external service required)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Next.js optimized (Node.js compatible)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Limited deployments, 12 serverless function invocations/day
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 0.5-1.2
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 100GB/month
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 0
Serverless Function Cost (per 1M invocations)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: $2.00
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: OAuth providers only
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Native (created by Vercel team)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Beginner-friendly
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 2.5M+
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 45 seconds
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 3
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Yes (Node.js, Python, Go)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Native first-class support
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 150+
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 30-50ms faster than origin
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: $0.50
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 1 million
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: ~180 regions
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 2.3 seconds
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: $20 (Web Analytics)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 100
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 15-25% faster
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: No, Pro+ required
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: < 1 (git push)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Limited (requires external platform)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 35 sec
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 30+ (optimized for Next.js)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 6,000 min
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: $0 (usage-based)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 280+ cities
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 2 (Node.js, Python)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Native integration with auto-optimization
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Free
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: JavaScript/TypeScript, limited Python support
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 180+ cities worldwide
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 10-20 seconds
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Third-party integrations required
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Limited preview deployments only
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: ~45ms
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: ~28 seconds
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: 8+ (Next.js optimized)
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Not included
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: $10
Amazon Web Services (AWS): N/A | Vercel: Edge Functions (native)
How to choose between Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Vercel
Compare Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs Vercel
AWS vs Vercel — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for AWS vs Vercel. Contains 204 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
AWS vs Vercel — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for AWS vs Vercel.
Should I use AWS or Vercel for my Next.js startup?
Use Vercel if you're primarily deploying a Next.js frontend application and want to launch in hours with Git-based deployments, automatic preview branches, and zero DevOps setup. Use AWS if you need additional backend services (databases, machine learning, complex APIs), expect traffic over 10M requests/month where AWS Lambda becomes cost-competitive, or require highly specialized infrastructure like data warehouses or streaming services. Many teams use both: Vercel for frontend and Next.js API routes, AWS for backend services via API integration.
Which is cheaper: AWS or Vercel at scale?
AWS becomes cheaper at very high scale (1M+ daily requests) due to lower per-request costs ($0.20 per 1M Lambda requests vs Vercel's $0.50) and pay-per-use pricing with no monthly minimums. Vercel's $20/month Pro plan is cheaper for small projects, but AWS's free tier (750 EC2 hours + 1M Lambda invocations monthly) is more generous. At 100K daily requests (~3M/month), AWS typically costs $15-30/month while Vercel costs $20-40/month depending on compute usage.
Can I use Vercel as a complete backend replacement for AWS?
No. Vercel is optimized for frontend deployment and serverless functions, but lacks native databases, caching layers, message queues, and complex backend services. You can build APIs with Vercel Functions, but for production applications needing persistent storage, you must integrate external databases (Postgres, MongoDB) via third-party providers like Neon, MongoDB Atlas, or PlanetScale. AWS provides all these services natively, making it suitable for complete application architectures without external dependencies.
What's the latency difference between AWS CloudFront and Vercel Edge Network?
AWS CloudFront (600+ edge locations) typically delivers sub-50ms latency globally, while Vercel Edge Network (300+ regions optimized for serverless rendering) achieves sub-100ms for most regions. For static assets, both are comparable. For dynamic serverless rendering (Next.js ISR, SSR), Vercel's edge network is purpose-built and may perform slightly faster due to optimization for server-side rendering. Actual latency depends on your origin server location and traffic distribution; AWS's broader geographic coverage often provides better edge redundancy.
What are the biggest reasons to NOT use Vercel?
Avoid Vercel if you need: (1) Long-running background jobs >12 minutes (use AWS Lambda, Celery, or Bull Queue), (2) native database storage without external services, (3) complex infrastructure like Kubernetes, load balancers, or VPCs, (4) heavy machine learning workloads, (5) on-premise or private cloud deployments, or (6) GraphQL subscriptions over WebSocket connections (Vercel functions are stateless and don't support persistent connections). For these use cases, AWS or self-managed infrastructure is more appropriate.
How to Choose Between Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Vercel
Primary Use Case: Amazon Web Services (AWS) has Full-stack infrastructure (compute, storage, databases, ML, analytics), while Vercel has Frontend deployment and edge computing (Next.js, React, Vue optimized).
Setup Complexity: Amazon Web Services (AWS) has High - requires AWS console navigation, IAM setup, security configuration, while Vercel has Low - Git push triggers automatic deployment in <2 minutes.
Pricing Model: Amazon Web Services (AWS) has $0 upfront with per-second metering (EC2: $0.0116/hour for t3.micro), while Vercel has Freemium with usage-based Pro tier ($20/month or $20+ per project).
Global Edge Network: Amazon Web Services (AWS) has CloudFront with 600+ edge locations worldwide, while Vercel has Vercel Edge Network with 300+ regions, optimized for static assets and serverless.
Database Integration: Amazon Web Services (AWS) has RDS, DynamoDB, Aurora, Redshift (24+ database options), while Vercel has No native database; integrates with Postgres/MongoDB via third-party APIs.
Learning Curve: Amazon Web Services (AWS) has Steep - 200+ AWS services, requires certification training (avg 40+ hours), while Vercel has Minimal - optimized for developers familiar with Git workflows.
Serverless Functions: Amazon Web Services (AWS) has AWS Lambda (15-minute timeout, 10GB memory max, $0.20 per 1M requests), while Vercel has Vercel Functions (12-minute timeout, 3GB memory, $0.50 per 1M requests).