Hosting review
Vercel
The hosting platform built by the Next.js team. Deploys are git push, the free tier is generous, and the developer experience is the gold standard.
At a glance
- Pricing
- Hobby free; Pro $20/seat/mo; Enterprise custom
- Category
- Hosting
- Last reviewed
- Best for
- Solo developers, indie founders, and teams shipping modern web apps who want zero-config deploys and fast preview workflows.
Disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links. I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools I've used and would happily suggest to a friend.
Benchmarks
How Vercel actually scores.
Five axes that matter for a one-person business. Each score is editorial, 1–10, higher is better. A tool that maxes every axis doesn't exist; the shape of the chart is the signal.
- Price
- Value for a one-person budget
- Solo fit
- Built with solo operators in mind
- Learning curve
- How fast a beginner gets useful work done
- Lock-in
- How easy it is to leave (high = easy)
- Support
- Quality and responsiveness of help
Scores are set by the editor after hands-on use and revised as the tool evolves. They're not paid for and don't change based on affiliate partnerships.
The case for
- Git push to deploy with preview URLs for every branch and pull request
- Hobby tier is generous: 100GB bandwidth, custom domains, SSL all free
- Edge network is genuinely fast globally without configuration
- Best-in-class support for Next.js, Astro, SvelteKit, and other modern frameworks
The case against
- Pro at $20/seat/mo is the floor for any commercial use beyond a hobby
- Bandwidth and function execution overage charges can be surprising at scale
- Heavily Next.js-shaped: other frameworks work but feel like second-class citizens
- Edge functions and the serverless model push some architectural choices on you
Why Vercel is the default
If you build modern web apps as a one-person shop, Vercel removes the entire "how do I deploy this" decision. Connect your GitHub repo, push to a branch, get a preview URL. Push to main, your production site updates. There is no other host that gets that loop as right.
For Next.js specifically (which Vercel makes), the integration is so tight that most features ship Vercel-tested first. Image optimisation, ISR, edge functions, middleware all work out of the box without any configuration.
What you actually use
- Preview URLs. Every branch and every pull request gets its own deployment URL. Showing a client a draft means "click this link", not "let me set up staging". This single feature is worth real money.
- Custom domains and SSL. Free on the Hobby tier, including subdomains. DNS instructions are clear, certificates renew automatically.
- Build logs. Clean, searchable, with proper error highlighting. Beats hand-rolling a CI pipeline for solo work.
- Analytics. Real-user metrics (Web Vitals) with no extra setup. Hobby tier gets a sample, Pro gets full data.
- Edge functions. Run code at the CDN edge instead of from a fixed origin. Good for personalisation, A/B tests, geo-routing.
Where it costs you
The Hobby tier is for "non-commercial" use, and Vercel's definition of that is stricter than most realise. Affiliate links, monetised content, paid SaaS all push you to Pro. Pro is $20/seat/mo and covers a single solo founder fine.
The trickier cost is overage. Hobby has soft limits: 100GB bandwidth, 100GB-hours of serverless execution, 10k image optimisations. Cross those and you are pushed to upgrade. Pro has higher limits but the same model: function invocations, bandwidth, and edge requests all metered, and a viral post can spike you into overage charges fast.
For most one-person businesses, the Pro tier covers normal use without overage. Just know the meter is running.
Alternatives
- Netlify: very similar product, slightly less Next.js-specific, slightly less polished overall.
- Cloudflare Pages: cheaper bandwidth, simpler pricing, weaker DX for full-stack apps.
- Self-host on a VPS: cheaper and full control, but you are now also a sysadmin.
Verdict
If you ship modern web apps, Vercel is the cleanest path from idea to deployed in 2026. Hobby tier is enough to validate, Pro at $20/mo covers most solo commercial use, and the deploy-on-push experience is genuinely best-in-class.
Related reading: the minimum viable software stack for your first year.
Bottom line
Ready to try Vercel?
Solo developers, indie founders, and teams shipping modern web apps who want zero-config deploys and fast preview workflows.
Disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links. I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools I've used and would happily suggest to a friend.
Living document
What did we miss about Vercel?
Every review evolves. Spot something wrong, missing, or out of date — drop a note. The most useful ones land in our monthly "Reader corrections" post, with credit if you're up for it.
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