Vercel built one of the best developer experiences in the industry. If you're deploying a Next.js frontend or a JAMstack site, it's genuinely hard to beat. But when your application needs a backend API, a managed database, a Go microservice, or a Python worker, Vercel's model starts to show its limits.
This post is for developers who've hit those limits and are evaluating a Vercel alternative for their full-stack workload. We'll compare pricing honestly, outline what each platform does well, and help you decide which is the right fit for your architecture.
Why Developers Look for Vercel Alternatives
Vercel is a category-defining platform for frontend deployment. That strength is also a constraint. Here's what drives developers to look for alternatives.
Next.js and frontend optimization is the core product. Vercel built its platform around the Next.js ecosystem — which makes sense, since Vercel created Next.js. The result is a platform deeply optimized for React-based frontends and Edge Functions. Applications outside that model receive less native support.
Bandwidth overages create billing surprises. Vercel's Pro plan starts at $20 per month per user, but bandwidth is billed separately at $40 per 100GB over the included limit. Applications with significant API traffic, file downloads, or media delivery can see invoices that are multiples of the base plan cost. This is one of the most common complaints from teams migrating away.
Edge Runtime creates vendor lock-in. Vercel's Edge Runtime is not standard Node.js. Code written for it — with its restricted API surface — doesn't run on other platforms without modification. Teams that invest heavily in Edge Functions find migration difficult if they ever need to leave.
Full-stack economics are poor. Serverless function pricing scales by invocation and execution time. Long-running processes, streaming APIs, and compute-intensive workloads cost significantly more per unit of work compared to container-based billing. Teams building real backends notice this quickly.
No managed databases. Vercel does not offer databases natively. It integrates with third-party providers like Neon, PlanetScale, and Upstash. Each integration adds another vendor, another billing relationship, and another potential point of failure in your stack.
These are real trade-offs, not flaws. Understanding them helps you choose the right platform for your workload.
Quick Comparison Table
| Feature | Vercel | Out Plane |
|---|---|---|
| Free Tier | Generous for frontend | $20 free credit, no time limit |
| Billing Model | Per-seat + serverless usage + overages | Per-second container billing |
| Bandwidth Overage | $40 per 100GB | No overage shock |
| Managed Databases | Third-party integrations only | PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB native |
| Backend Support | Serverless functions, limited runtime | Full Docker containers, any workload |
| Docker Support | Limited (Edge, serverless functions) | Native — any Dockerfile |
| Framework Support | Optimized for Next.js; others supported | Any framework, any language |
| Long-Running Processes | Not supported | Fully supported |
| Auto-Scaling | Serverless auto-scale | Container auto-scale |
| Custom Domains + SSL | Yes | Yes |
| Rollbacks | Yes | Yes |
Pricing Comparison
Pricing is where the Vercel alternative conversation usually starts. The numbers look close until you factor in usage.
Vercel Pro costs $20 per user per month for the base plan. Additional costs include:
- Bandwidth: $40 per 100GB over the included 1TB
- Serverless execution: $0.18 per GB-hour after the included amount
- Edge Middleware invocations: billed per million
- Image optimization: billed per source image
A team of three developers on Vercel Pro pays $60 per month before usage. An API-heavy application with significant traffic can push the monthly cost to $200 to $400 or more. The variability makes budgeting difficult.
Out Plane bills per second of container runtime. You pay for compute time used, not a per-seat subscription. New accounts receive $20 in free credit — no trial period, no expiration. There are no bandwidth overage charges. Managed database instances are billed separately based on the plan you select.
For a typical full-stack application — one API service, one background worker, and a managed PostgreSQL database — Out Plane's billing is predictable and scales linearly with usage. You can estimate your bill accurately before the month ends.
The practical difference: frontend-only teams often find Vercel's pricing reasonable because their bandwidth usage stays within limits. Teams running backend APIs, processing jobs, or serving significant data payloads consistently find Out Plane more cost-effective.
Key Differences
The pricing comparison reflects a deeper architectural difference. Vercel and Out Plane are built on different mental models.
Frontend-Optimized vs. Full-Stack
Vercel's architecture is built around the request-response cycle for web pages and APIs. Static assets serve from a CDN. Dynamic content runs in serverless functions. This model is extremely efficient for content delivery and frontend applications.
Out Plane's architecture is container-based. Your application runs as a persistent process. It can maintain WebSocket connections, run background queues, process jobs asynchronously, and handle any workload a Docker container supports. The platform manages scaling, routing, and availability.
Edge Functions vs. Docker Containers
Vercel's Edge Functions execute in a globally distributed, low-latency environment. They are constrained to a restricted runtime with a 25MB bundle limit, no Node.js built-ins like the file system, and limited execution time. This makes them fast for simple middleware and routing logic.
Out Plane runs standard Docker containers. There are no runtime restrictions. Your application uses whatever libraries, binaries, or system dependencies it needs. You can run Rust binaries, Python workers with C extensions, Go services with CGO, or any other workload that fits in a container.
No Databases vs. Managed Databases
This is the most significant operational difference. Vercel connects you to third-party database providers. You manage a separate vendor relationship, separate credentials, and separate billing for your database layer.
Out Plane provides managed PostgreSQL, MySQL, and MongoDB natively. Provisioning a database takes about 30 seconds. You receive a connection string. Backups run automatically. The database lives in the same platform as your application, which simplifies both operations and billing.
Next.js-First vs. Any Framework
Vercel works with many frameworks, but Next.js has the deepest integration. Features like ISR (Incremental Static Regeneration), Next.js's Image component, and App Router caching are built specifically for Vercel's infrastructure.
Out Plane is framework-agnostic. You bring a Dockerfile. The platform doesn't care whether you're running Django, FastAPI, Express, NestJS, Laravel, Ruby on Rails, a Go service, or a Rust API. If it runs in a container, it runs on Out Plane.
When Vercel Still Makes Sense
This is not a case where one platform is universally better. Vercel is the right choice for specific use cases.
Pure frontend applications. If your project is a Next.js marketing site, a documentation portal, or a content-heavy JAMstack application, Vercel's developer experience is excellent and the pricing works well within its included limits.
Teams already invested in the Vercel ecosystem. Preview deployments, Vercel Analytics, and the Vercel dashboard are polished products. If your team has workflows built around them, the switching cost is real.
Edge-first applications. Applications that genuinely need global edge distribution for latency-sensitive middleware or A/B testing benefit from Vercel's edge infrastructure.
Next.js-specific features. If your application depends on Vercel-specific optimizations like their Image Optimization API or Edge Config, the platform is the right fit.
Choose Vercel when your workload matches what it was built for.
When Out Plane Is a Better Fit
Out Plane is worth evaluating when your workload exceeds what a frontend-optimized platform handles well.
Full-stack applications with persistent backend processes. If your application includes a long-running API server, a WebSocket service, or a queue processor, containers are a better model than serverless functions.
Applications requiring managed databases. If you want your database in the same platform as your application — with unified billing and operations — Out Plane provides this natively. No third-party integrations required.
Multiple languages and frameworks. Python data processing pipelines, Go microservices, Rust APIs, PHP applications — any language that runs in Docker runs on Out Plane. You're not constrained to Node.js runtimes.
Predictable billing requirements. Teams with fixed infrastructure budgets benefit from per-second billing without overage surprises. You can estimate costs based on container size and expected uptime.
Backend-heavy workloads. API services processing significant compute, ML inference endpoints, video processing jobs, and similar workloads are poorly served by serverless economics and runtime restrictions.
How to Migrate from Vercel
If you're running a Next.js application on Vercel and want to move it to Out Plane, the process is straightforward. Next.js has a standalone output mode designed for containerized deployments.
Step 1: Update your Next.js configuration.
Add the standalone output option to your next.config.js or next.config.ts file:
// next.config.js
/** @type {import('next').NextConfig} */
const nextConfig = {
output: 'standalone',
};
module.exports = nextConfig;Step 2: Create a Dockerfile.
The Next.js documentation provides an official Dockerfile for standalone deployments. A production-ready version looks like this:
FROM node:22-alpine AS base
# Install dependencies
FROM base AS deps
RUN apk add --no-cache libc6-compat
WORKDIR /app
COPY package.json package-lock.json ./
RUN npm ci
# Build the application
FROM base AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=deps /app/node_modules ./node_modules
COPY . .
RUN npm run build
# Production image
FROM base AS runner
WORKDIR /app
ENV NODE_ENV=production
RUN addgroup --system --gid 1001 nodejs
RUN adduser --system --uid 1001 nextjs
COPY --from=builder /app/public ./public
COPY --from=builder --chown=nextjs:nodejs /app/.next/standalone ./
COPY --from=builder --chown=nextjs:nodejs /app/.next/static ./.next/static
USER nextjs
EXPOSE 3000
ENV PORT=3000
CMD ["node", "server.js"]Step 3: Connect your repository to Out Plane.
Create a project in the Out Plane console and connect your GitHub repository. Set the port to 3000 and add your environment variables through the project settings panel.
Step 4: Deploy.
Push to your main branch. Out Plane builds the Docker image and deploys it automatically. Your application runs as a persistent container with automatic SSL and your custom domain configured.
The migration typically takes under an hour for a standard Next.js application. Applications using Vercel-specific APIs like Edge Config or Vercel's Image Optimization API require additional changes to use standard alternatives.
For non-Next.js applications already containerized, migration is even simpler. You bring your existing Dockerfile, connect your repository, and deploy.
Summary
Vercel is an excellent platform for frontend applications and teams working primarily in the Next.js ecosystem. Its developer experience is polished and its edge infrastructure is genuinely fast.
The limitations appear at the boundaries of its design: backend-heavy workloads, applications requiring managed databases, teams using multiple languages and frameworks, and projects where billing predictability matters.
Out Plane addresses these gaps with container-based deployment, native managed databases, framework-agnostic support, and per-second billing without overage charges. It's the better fit for full-stack applications where the backend is a first-class concern.
The right choice depends on what you're building. If your application lives primarily at the edge and frontend, Vercel is hard to beat. If you need a full-stack platform that handles your database, backend services, and any language your team writes, Out Plane is worth evaluating.
Ready to deploy your full-stack application? Get started with Out Plane and receive $20 in free credit.