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
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.
Compare Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs Vercel
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.
Structured comparison data for AWS vs Vercel with 204 attributes.
Monthly Cost (1 vCPU, 1GB RAM, Standard Instance)
Monthly Cost for 10TB Egress Data Transfer
Estimated Learning Time for New Developer
Cost for Standard Production App (2 dynos + add-ons)
Compute Instance Starting Price (hourly)
Serverless Function Cost per 1M Requests
Setup Complexity (Learning Hours Required)
Supported Languages (via Framework/Docker)
Serverless Function Cost (per 1M invocations)
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.