Scale to Zero AWS vs Vercel
Almost all Next.js boilerplates are designed to be deployed to Vercel. But is Vercel really the best choice for your production app? Let me show you why I chose AWS serverless instead.
Quick comparison
A quick comparison between Scale to Zero AWS and Vercel. Scroll down for more details.
| Aspect | Scale to Zero AWS | Vercel |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment | Simple configuration and one-command deployment | Easy deployment with git push |
| Customization | Language/framework agnostic, fully customizable | Limited to Next.js and JavaScript/TypeScript |
| Cost | Generous free tier from AWS. Pay as you go. Budget alarms to avoid surprises | Complicated pricing model. Expensive. Can get surprise bills |
| Infrastructure Control | You own your infrastructure. Full control | Limited control over infrastructure |
| Knowledge | Learn AWS resources using best practices | Learn how to deploy to Vercel |
| Popularity | AWS is the most popular cloud provider. Better for career and acquisitions | Vercel is less popular. It's built on top of AWS anyway |
The problems with Vercel
Honestly, Vercel is not a bad platform, unless you're planning to only host your side projects or burn money (and time).
1. Vercel is expensive
It's not a secret. They have a quite complicated pricing model. And always be ready to get a surprise email or bill. After all, it's an AWS wrapper. Of course, they need to make money.
Let me show you some real numbers. Here's Vercel Pro pricing:
- Base: $20/month
- Includes: 1TB bandwidth, 10M edge requests, 1M function invocations
- Overages: $0.15 per GB bandwidth, $2 per 1M edge requests, $0.60 per 1M function invocations
For a small site with 35K visitors and 180GB bandwidth:
On Vercel (Pro plan):
- $20/month (within included limits)
On AWS:
- CloudFront: $3-5
- S3: $1-2
- Lambda: $0.50
- Total: $5-8/month
That's a 60-75% cost reduction even at low traffic.
But the real savings show up when you scale. Vercel's overages add up fast:
Example: 100K visitors, 2TB bandwidth, 50M edge requests
Vercel Pro:
- Base: $20
- Bandwidth overage (1TB): $150
- Edge requests overage (40M): $80
- Total: $250/month
AWS:
- CloudFront (2TB): $170
- S3: $5
- Lambda: $10
- Total: $185/month
You save: $65/month or 26%
AWS has a very generous free tier. With serverless architecture, you only pay for what you use. The bigger your app gets, the more the savings matter.
2. Limited control over your infrastructure
Vercel has a nice UX. No one denies that. It's well integrated with Next.js and easy to deploy. Fair enough! But what if you need to modify the infra? How much control do you have over your app?
Well, not much.
What you can't do on Vercel:
- Can't customize the CDN configuration beyond basic settings
- Can't add custom AWS services (like SQS, EventBridge, Step Functions)
- Can't write backend code in languages other than JavaScript/TypeScript
- Can't implement complex caching strategies
- Limited control over environment setup
With Scale to Zero AWS:
- Full control over your infrastructure
- Written in AWS CDK as Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
- Easily modify, add, or remove resources
- Use any AWS service you need
- Comes with GitHub CI/CD pipeline
- If you miss a feature, request it and it will be added
Want to add a queue system? Easy. Need a worker process? Done. Want to use Python for ML tasks and Go for performance-critical APIs? No problem.
3. Framework and language limitations
This is a big one. With Vercel, you're locked into Next.js and JavaScript/TypeScript.
Can I write part of my backend in Rust? No.
What about Python or Go? No, you're stuck with Node.js.
What if I want to use a different frontend framework like Astro or Svelte? Well, you can deploy them to Vercel, but you lose a lot of the integration benefits.
Scale to Zero AWS is framework agnostic:
- Use any static site generator (Next.js, Gatsby, Astro, Hugo)
- Use any frontend framework (React, Vue, Svelte, Angular)
- Write backend in any language (Node.js, Python, Go, Rust, Java)
- Mix and match languages per Lambda function
For example, in one of my projects (DroneBundle), I use:
- Python for image processing
- Go for high-performance APIs
- C++ for drone log parsing
- Node.js for business logic
All in the same project. Try doing that on Vercel.
4. The knowledge factor
No one gets hired or promoted because they know how to deploy a boilerplate to Vercel. On the other hand, knowing how to work with AWS resources can definitely land you a big gig!
Scale to Zero AWS is not only about deploying your serverless app to AWS. It teaches you how to work with AWS resources using best practices.
You learn:
- AWS Lambda and serverless architecture
- DynamoDB for databases
- S3 and CloudFront for static hosting
- API Gateway for REST APIs
- AWS Cognito for authentication
- Infrastructure as Code with AWS CDK
- CI/CD with GitHub Actions
These are real skills that companies value. AWS is the most popular cloud provider. Learning AWS properly increases your chances of getting hired or even getting your app acquired by companies.
Why the cost difference matters
The cost difference might not seem huge for a single small site. But here's why it matters:
For multiple projects
I run 6 production SaaS apps. Here's the real cost comparison:
On Vercel, you need Pro plan ($20/month) for each app with decent traffic:
- 6 apps × $20/month = $120/month minimum
On AWS, the free tiers are so generous that:
- My total bill for all 6 apps: Less than $20/month
- That's DynamoDB, Lambda, S3, CloudFront, SES, Cognito - everything included
- Savings: $100+/month or $1,200+/year
That's real money you can use for marketing, hiring, or your own salary.
For SaaS apps with external services
Vercel doesn't include everything you need. For a typical SaaS, you also need:
- Database (external): $25-100/month (PlanetScale, Supabase, etc.)
- Email service (external): $15-50/month (SendGrid, Postmark)
- Auth service (optional): $0-25/month (NextAuth is free, but Auth0/Clerk cost money)
Total Vercel stack: $60-195/month
With AWS, free tiers are incredibly generous:
- DynamoDB: Free for up to 200M requests/month
- Lambda: Free for 1M requests/month
- SES for email: Free for 3K emails/month, then $0.10 per 1K
- Cognito for auth: Free for 19K MAU
For most startups, you stay in free tier. I run 6 production SaaS apps and my total AWS bill is less than $20/month.
For apps that scale
The real difference shows when you scale. Vercel's overage pricing adds up:
- Bandwidth: $0.15 per GB (AWS: $0.085 per GB)
- Edge requests: $2 per 1M (AWS Lambda: $0.20 per 1M)
- Function invocations: $0.60 per 1M (AWS Lambda: $0.20 per 1M)
At 10M function invocations/month:
- Vercel: $20 + (9M × $0.60/M) = $25.40
- AWS: (9M × $0.20/M) = $1.80
- Difference: $23.60/month
The vendor lock-in question
Unpopular opinion: Most companies will not acquire your app if it's a Next.js boilerplate deployed to Vercel. This requires a separate blog post, but in short, be aware of the lock-in effect.
Yes, with Scale to Zero AWS, you are also locked into AWS. But AWS is already the most popular cloud provider. Companies understand AWS. They have AWS expertise. They don't necessarily have Vercel expertise.
Also, migrating off Vercel to AWS is painful. You need to:
- Refactor your Next.js API routes
- Set up all infrastructure from scratch
- Move databases
- Reconfigure authentication
- Update CI/CD pipelines
It's a lot of work. Better to start with AWS from the beginning.
When does Vercel make sense?
To be fair, there are cases where Vercel might make sense:
Use Vercel if:
- You're prototyping and need zero setup
- You're building a simple portfolio or blog with minimal traffic
- You have funding and don't care about costs
- You need Vercel-specific features (though AWS has equivalents)
- You're absolutely locked into Next.js and SSR
Use AWS if:
- You're building a production SaaS
- You care about costs
- You want infrastructure control
- You need multi-language backend support
- You plan to scale (traffic or team)
- You want to learn valuable cloud skills
For most serious projects, AWS is the better choice.
How to get started with AWS
I get it. AWS has a learning curve. That's why I built the Scale to Zero AWS kit.
What you get:
- One-command deployment
- Everything pre-configured
- AWS best practices built-in
- Multi-framework support
- Production-ready infrastructure
- 6 real production app examples
- Full infrastructure control
Cost:
- Basic: $180 (unlimited developers)
- Gold: $220 (priority support)
Compare that to Vercel's monthly costs. The kit pays for itself in 1-3 months just from the savings.
Conclusion
Vercel is a nice platform for simple projects and prototypes. But for production SaaS apps, AWS serverless is the better choice:
You save 25-75% on costs compared to Vercel, depending on your scale.
You get full infrastructure control instead of being limited by Vercel's constraints.
You can use any language or framework instead of being locked into Next.js.
You learn valuable AWS skills that help your career.
For small sites, the savings might not be huge. But for multiple projects or apps that scale, AWS is clearly cheaper. Plus you get way more flexibility and control.
Next steps
👉 Check out the Scale to Zero AWS kit if you want to deploy to AWS without the learning curve.
👉 Read about AWS serverless best practices on this blog.
👉 See real production examples of AWS serverless apps.