Hosting & Deployment
SST vs Vercel
Side by side
- Pricing model
- SSTUsage-based
- VercelPer seat
- Starting price
- SST$0 (pay AWS)
- Vercel$20/user/mo
- Free tier
- SSTYes — Free framework; pay AWS for resources
- VercelYes — 100GB bandwidth, 100 hours serverless, 6000 minutes build time per month
- Maturity
- SSTEstablished
- Vercel—
- Availability
- SSTGenerally available
- VercelGenerally available
- Last checked
- SSTOct 16, 2026
- VercelOct 12, 2026
| Fact | SST | Vercel |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Usage-based | Per seat |
| Starting price | $0 (pay AWS) | $20/user/mo |
| Free tier | Yes — Free framework; pay AWS for resources | Yes — 100GB bandwidth, 100 hours serverless, 6000 minutes build time per month |
| Maturity | Established | — |
| Availability | Generally available | Generally available |
| Last checked | Oct 16, 2026 | Oct 12, 2026 |
When each one fits
Choose SST when…
Teams wanting full-stack on their own AWS
Avoid PaaS markup, keep data in-account
IaC-first deployments
Define infra and app together
SST strengths
Deploy to your own AWS account
Great local dev experience
Full-stack IaC
Choose Vercel when…
Next.js and React application deployment
First-party platform with exclusive optimizations for Next.js apps
Teams that want zero-config CI/CD from Git
Push to deploy with preview URLs requires no pipeline setup
Marketing and content sites needing global performance
Edge network and ISR deliver fast page loads worldwide
Look past Vercel if…
Full-stack applications with heavy backend processing
Serverless function limits and no persistent compute make it unsuitable for CPU-intensive backends
Cost-sensitive projects with unpredictable traffic
Usage-based pricing can lead to surprise bills during traffic spikes
Vercel strengths
Fastest path from code to production for frontend apps
First-party Next.js support with exclusive optimizations
Global edge network with 100+ points of presence
Excellent developer experience with Git-based workflow
Trade-offs
Known weaknesses from each tool’s record. Sourced ones link to where they came from.
SST
Requires AWS knowledge
No source on file
Steeper than managed PaaS
No source on file
Vercel
Microfrontend support is limited to two projects on standard plans, with high costs for additional projects.