Vercel is known for its easy setup, seamless GitHub integration, and simplicity, making it a popular choice for creating frontend apps. However, the platform’s limited free tier and high pricing have become significant drawbacks for users.
While Vercel fits perfectly in an enterprise setting, it’s not affordable for startups, SMEs, and even large-scale enterprises in the long run. If you agree with this, you’re in the right place.
This listicle explores the top Vercel alternatives that have robust features, are cost-effective, and ensure the best developer experience.
So stick with us until you find your perfect match!
- Vercel Alternatives at a Glance
- What Should You Look for in Vercel Alternatives?
- The 10 Best Vercel Alternatives
- 1. Netlify (Best for static sites and modern app deployment built with JAMstack architecture)
- 2. Render (Best for full-stack web apps with databases and backend services)
- 3. DigitalOcean App Platform (Best for scaling apps with complete server control)
- 4. AWS Amplify (Best for building and handling large-scale apps)
- 5. Fly.io (Best for deploying containerized apps globally with infrastructure control)
- 6. Heroku (Best for rapid prototyping and managing web applications)
- 7. Firebase Hosting (Best for secure hosting of static and dynamic apps)
- 8. Kinsta (Best for managed hosting for WordPress)
- 9. Surge.sh (Best for static web publishing and client-side apps)
- 10. Kapstan (Best for managing complex cloud infrastructure)
- Other Web Development and DevOps Tools
Vercel Alternatives at a Glance
Here’s a quick comparison to get you started.
Platform | Best For | Key Features | Limitations | Pricing | Ratings |
Netlify | Static sites and modern app deployment built with JAMstack architecture | Built-in form handling, global CDN integration, serverless functions, site analytics | Cluttered interface, restrictive serverless function limits, buggy plugins | Free, Pro: $19/member/month, Enterprise: Custom pricing | G2: 4.5/5 (50+ reviews), Capterra: 4.6/5 (80+ reviews) |
Render | Full-stack web apps with databases and backend services | Private networking, infrastructure as code, PostgreSQL database management | Limited WebSocket/serverless support, restricted language options | Hobby: $0, Professional: $19/user/month, Organization: $29/user/month, Enterprise: Custom pricing | G2: 4.7/5 (70+ reviews), Capterra: Not enough reviews |
DigitalOcean App Platform | Scaling apps with complete server control | Git-based workflow, serverless architecture, deployment rollback, third-party log integration | Expensive for larger projects, lacks off-server backups, slow support during high traffic | Free, Droplets: Starts at $4/month, Kubernetes: Starts at $11/month | G2: 4.6/5 (600+ reviews), Capterra: 4.6/5 (140+ reviews) |
AWS Amplify | Building and handling large-scale apps | Managed hosting, robust authentication, feature flag capabilities, real-time user dashboard | Steep learning curve, high costs if usage isn’t monitored, sluggish interface | Free for 12 months, Pay-as-you-go pricing | G2: 4.2/5 (80+ reviews), Capterra: Not enough reviews |
Fly.io | Deploying containerized apps globally with infrastructure control | Managed containers, Kubernetes, persistent storage, Fly Proxy for load balancing | Region-based pricing, buggy setup process, manual deployment of changes | $5 free trial credit, Hobby: $5/month, Pay-as-you-go, Dedicated support: Starts at $29/month | G2: Not enough reviews, Capterra: Not enough reviews |
Heroku | Rapid prototyping and managing web applications | App health metrics, language runtime metrics, real-time pipeline overview, one-click deployment | Limited SQL database analytics, expensive for SMEs | Eco/Basic: $5+/month, Production: $25+/month, Advanced: $250+/month, Enterprise: Custom pricing | G2: 4.2/5 (140+ reviews), Capterra: 4.6/5 (300+ reviews) |
Firebase Hosting | Secure hosting of static and dynamic apps | Zero-configuration SSL, Firebase CLI for deployment, Realtime Database, one-click rollback | Limited security rules, high costs for large-scale projects, not ideal for complex queries | Spark: Free, Blaze: Custom pricing | G2: 4.5/5 (250+ reviews), Capterra: 4.6/5 (700+ reviews) |
Kinsta | Managed hosting for WordPress | MySQL optimization, app performance monitoring, auto-backups, malware monitoring | Slow environment setup, no domain reservation, uncommon control panel | Single-site: $35/month, Multiple-site: $70/month, Agency: Starts at $340/month | G2: 4.8/5 (900+ reviews), Capterra: 4.8/5 (20+ reviews) |
Surge.sh | Static web publishing and client-side apps | CORS support, custom domain names, pushState support for single-page apps | Limited customizations, command-line-based approach, no built-in CI/CD automation | Surge: Free, Surge Professional: $30/month | G2: Not enough reviews, Capterra: Not enough reviews |
Kapstan | Managing complex cloud infrastructure | Multi-cloud support, auto-deployment, self-service developer portal | No native container launching capabilities (requires third-party tools like Docker) | Custom pricing | G2: Not enough reviews, Capterra: Not enough reviews |
ClickUp | Streamlining software project management and DevOps workflows | Task management, GitHub integration, AI-powered code snippets, automations, bug tracking, customizable templates, real-time collaboration | Learning curve for new users, advanced features may require customization | Free, Unlimited: $7/user/month, Business: $12/user/month, Enterprise: Custom pricing | G2: 4.7/5 (4,000+ reviews), Capterra: 4.7/5 (3,000+ reviews) |
What Should You Look for in Vercel Alternatives?
Whether you’re looking for more control over deployment, customizations, or self-hosting capabilities, selecting the right platform is crucial. Here are a few key features that are a must-have in Vercel alternatives.
- Automated CI/CD pipelines: Select a Vercel alternative that automates the process of building, testing, and deploying software. This helps you fix bugs, launch new features, and deliver products faster
- Deployment customization: Make sure your chosen software has the option to customize deployment scripts. This allows for greater control over application deployment, which is necessary for complex projects
- Multi-cloud support: Choose platforms that let you deploy across multiple cloud providers like Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud, so you can scale applications easily. This ensures flexibility and reduces vendor lock-in, allowing you to leverage the benefits of each platform
- Security and compliance: Pick a platform that offers enterprise-grade security features, including role-based access control, two-factor authentication, automatic alerts, DDoS protection, HTTP/SSL encryption, etc., to ensure low risk and compliance with security standards
The 10 Best Vercel Alternatives
Let’s see the 10 best Vercel alternatives, their key features, pricing, benefits, and limitations.
1. Netlify (Best for static sites and modern app deployment built with JAMstack architecture)
Netlify’s powerful serverless platform has robust built-in features, especially for frontend developers. It automates frontend development, streamlines deployment, and seamlessly integrates with Git repositories.
The best part is that Netlify offers advanced features for more complex projects—from custom domains to HTTPS to split testing that helps evaluate user engagement by deploying site versions.
Netlify best features
- Collect and manage form submissions without backend code with built-in form handling
- Host static sites with Netlify’s integration with a global CDN (Content Delivery Network)
- Use serverless functions to manage server infrastructure while allowing developers to focus on coding
- Monitor trends in site activity with Site Analytics
Netlify limitations
- The interface can appear cluttered and overwhelming at times
- The serverless functions are restricted to 10 seconds. Even in the Pro plan, you get 26 seconds, which is also quite restrictive for several users
- Sometimes, the plugins can be buggy
Netlify pricing
- Free
- Pro: $19 per member/month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Netlify ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.5/5 (50+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (80+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Netlify?
2. Render (Best for full-stack web apps with databases and backend services)
Render’s unified platform helps you build and run applications. Whether you need a database, dynamic websites, static sites, or custom Docker files—Render has it all. Unlike Vercel, Render has native support for running containerized apps and services on a fully managed platform.
It offers block storage (known as persistent disks) to store data that must persist across deployments. This allows you to run stateful apps like databases without any DevOps tool add-ons.
Render best features
- Create services inaccessible over the public internet and enable secure communication between them with private networking
- Define your infrastructure as code in a single Blueprint for easy replication across environments
- Deploy, manage, connect, and scale PostgreSQL databases with point-in-time recovery and on-demand logical exports
Render limitations
- According to a few users, Render does not fully support WebSockets and serverless features
- Limited language support (Node.js, Python, Ruby, Go, Rust, and Elixir) and customizations
Render pricing
- Hobby: $0
- Professional: $19 per user/month
- Organization: $29 per user/month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Render ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (70+ reviews)
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
What are real-life users saying about Render?
💡Pro Tip: Connecting ClickUp to PostgreSQL databases allows you to replicate data. You can then store and analyze ClickUp data in comprehensive, relational databases, facilitating more complex queries.
📮ClickUp Insight: 37% of workers send follow-up notes or meeting minutes to track action items, but 36% still rely on other, fragmented methods. Without a unified system for capturing decisions, key insights you need may get buried in chats, emails, or spreadsheets.
With ClickUp, you can instantly turn conversations into actionable tasks across all your tasks, chats, and docs—ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.
3. DigitalOcean App Platform (Best for scaling apps with complete server control)
DigitalOcean’s app platform is a PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) that allows you to publish code to servers without worrying about the underlying infrastructure. It provides a greater control over deployments while offering full-stack versatility.
The platform stands out for its simplicity and ease of use. It offers an intuitive Git-based workflow, allowing you to leverage Git for code collaboration, version control, and auto deploys. Plus, it supports serverless architecture through DigitalOcean Functions, a FaaS (Function-as-a-Service) platform to help you run codes without server management.
DigitalOcean best features
- Track deployment progress and rollback to previous app deployments as required
- Forward logs to third-party log providers like Datadog for data analysis and troubleshooting
- Set up alerts for event monitoring and gain insights into app resources
DigitalOcean limitations
- According to a few users, the tool gets pricey for larger projects. For instance, purchasing additional server memory results in a major cost increase
- It lacks off-server backups, especially for static files and databases
- Some users report slow support, especially during high traffic times
DigitalOcean pricing
DigitalOcean’s pricing is based on the cloud solutions you choose. Here’s what its app platform pricing looks like:
- Free
- Droplets: Starts at $4/month
- Kubernetes: Starts at $11/month
DigitalOcean ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.6/5 (600+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (140+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about DigitalOcean?
📖 Read More: IaaS vs. PaaS vs. SaaS
4. AWS Amplify (Best for building and handling large-scale apps)
Designed for frontend developers, AWS Amplify offers a full-stack TypeScript developer experience, allowing you to integrate frontend and backend code seamlessly. The platform offers managed hosting and robust authentication features to help you create hassle-free onboarding flows with a fully managed user directory and pre-built sign-up, sign-in, and multi-factor auth workflows.
It also supports serverless apps by integrating with AWS Lambda and other SaaS tools, allowing developers to create and deploy apps without managing servers.
AWS Amplify best features
- Host static and dynamic web apps with Git-based and built-in CI/CD workflows with Amplify hosting
- Alter application functionality without redeploying with feature flag capabilities
- Monitor important metrics, current status, and study historical KPI trends with real-time user dashboard
AWS Amplify limitations
- It has a steep learning curve
- Costs might go out of hand if you don’t monitor your usage
- The interface can appear sluggish and cluttered at times
AWS Amplify pricing
- Amplify is free with AWS for 12 months. It follows pay-as-you-go pricing, including multiple sites, per project, and free SSL certificates
AWS Amplify ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.2/5 (80+ reviews)
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
What are real-life users saying about AWS Amplify?
5. Fly.io (Best for deploying containerized apps globally with infrastructure control)
Fly.io is for developers working with Docker containers extensively. It is a Vercel alternative that allows you to deploy Docker containers globally while giving you more control over the deployment process and a more traditional server environment.
You can think of Fly.io as your personal cloud, simplifying DevOps automation, especially if you’re working on databases or require custom configurations. Moreover, leveraging its features like private networking, global deployments, secure VPN, and hardware isolation makes it a potential fit for the personal cloud concept.
Fly.io best features
- Simplify container orchestration and deployment with managed containers and Kubernetes
- Access local persistent storage and back up data with Fly Volume snapshots
- Auto-start/ stop machines based on traffic, manage connection handlers, and balance load with Fly Proxy
Fly.io limitations
- Pricing varies by region
- The setup process can be buggy and time-consuming
- Requires manually deploying new changes using the fly_deploy command
Fly.io pricing
- $5 free trial credit
- Hobby plan: $5/month
- Pay-as-you-go: Based on the exact resources you use
- Dedicated support: Starts at $29/month
Fly.io ratings and reviews
- G2: Not enough reviews
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
What are real-life users saying about Fly.io?
6. Heroku (Best for rapid prototyping and managing web applications)
Heroku by Salesforce is a unified platform that handles frontend, backend, and databases, unlike Vercel. It supports multiple programming languages and has seamless integration capabilities that accelerate development.
The best part is that the platform has robust features yet requires minimal configuration. It also supports one-click deployment of services like Postgres, Redis, and RabbitMQ.
Heroku best features
- Identify, investigate, and diagnose issues with app health metrics, including response time, throughput, errors, etc.
- Track language-specific performance metrics with Language Runtime Metrics
- Visualize code delivery and real-time pipeline overview with the Heroku Dashboard
- Access tools for writing code, editing syntax, debugging, and using frameworks
Heroku limitations
- It offers limited analytics for the SQL database hosted on its server
- The tool can be expensive, especially for SMEs
Heroku pricing
- Eco and Basic: $5 and up/month
- Production: $25/month and up
- Advanced: $250/month and up
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Heroku ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.2/5 (140+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (300+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Heroku?
🧠 Did You Know? According to Statista, the most used programming languages among developers in 2024 were JavaScript followed by HTML/CSS and Python.
7. Firebase Hosting (Best for secure hosting of static and dynamic apps)
Firebase Hosting is a production-grade web hosting service by Google that simplifies deploying, managing, and delivering web assets. With the platform, you can quickly deploy web apps and static content.
Unlike Vercel’s frontend-focused services, Firebase offers a complete BaaS (Backend-as-a-Service) experience. This makes the platform more suitable for projects that require backend services, especially the ones that leverage Google’s ecosystem. Also, Firebase Hosting is a more popular choice for developers who use other Firebase services like Firebase Authentication, Firestore, or Cloud Functions.
Firebase Hosting best features
- Deliver content securely with zero-configuration SSL
- View and test changes in locally hosted URL and interact with emulated backend
- Deploy new app versions and use one-click rollback with Firebase CLI
- Store and sync data between users and keep your apps up-to-date with Firebase Realtime Database
Firebase Hosting limitations
- Security rules are limited, which makes it not so feasible for enterprises
- Pricing can be confusing and extremely high for large-scale projects
- As a NoSQL database, Firebase may not be ideal for complex query
Firebase Hosting pricing
- Spark plan: Free
- Blaze plan: Custom pricing
Firebase Hosting ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.5/5 (250+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (700+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Firebase Hosting?
✨Fun Fact: Firebase was initially developed as a real-time database, specifically designed to build chat apps, in 2011 by Envolve. Later, Google acquired it in 2014.
8. Kinsta (Best for managed hosting for WordPress)
Kinsta specializes in WordPress sites which makes hosting and managing site performance easy and streamlines your DevOps pipeline to speed up software delivery. The platform offers robust built-in features like intuitive staging environments and automatic backup, making it a great Vercel alternative.
What users love about Kinsta is that it’s built on Google Cloud Platform and has a user-friendly dashboard that helps manage multiple websites, clone sites, and environments centrally, monitor site performance, resources, security issues, and more.
Kinsta best features
- Automate MySQL database optimization
- Troubleshoot PHP bottlenecks, external HTTP calls, and slow MySQL queries with built-in app performance monitoring
- Auto-backup files and databases, set up alerts, and monitor as well as remove malware for enhanced security
Kinsta limitations
- The environment setup can be slow. When copying from live to staging, sometimes it takes over 5 minutes, even for small websites
Kinsta pricing
- Single-site plans: $35/month
- Multiple-site plans: $70/month
- Agency program: Starts at $340/month
Kinsta ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.8/5 (900+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.8/5 (20+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Kinsta?
9. Surge.sh (Best for static web publishing and client-side apps)
A static site hosting platform, Surge lets you publish static webpages directly from the command line in just a few clicks. It’s a no-frills platform ideal for quick prototyping, creating custom web pages, and personal projects.
The software also lets you use custom domain names for free and blends into your tech stack as a simpler alternative to Vercel.
Surge.sh best features
- Enable your website to access resources from other domains with Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS)
- Use custom domain names and customize 404 error pages
- Deploy single-page apps with pushState support for better user experience
Surge.sh limitations
- Limited customizations
- Dependent on a command-line-based approach, which might not be ideal for developers preferring a more graphical interface
- No built-in CI/CD automation
Surge.sh pricing
- Surge: Free
- Surge Professional: $30/month
Surge.sh ratings and reviews
- G2: Not enough reviews
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
10. Kapstan (Best for managing complex cloud infrastructure)
Kapstan is an enterprise-grade solution that auto-deploys web apps, gives you greater control over deployments, and manages multiple cloud environments. Unlike Vercel, Kapstan provides infrastructure isolation that lets you run apps in separate environments. It offers a complete development platform that seamlessly fits your DevOps workflow with extensive customizations.
Kapstan equips development teams to manage their infrastructure without needing DevOps expertise, accelerating the development process.
Kapstan best features
- Get multi-cloud support and manage diverse cloud environments across providers like AWS, GCP, and Azure
- Auto-deploy web apps without requiring manual initiation
- Manage and deploy cloud infrastructure and apps with extensive DevOps expertise, with a self-service developer portal
Kapstan limitations
Kapstan doesn’t have native container launching capabilities. You must use third-party tools like Docker containers.
Kapstan pricing
- Custom pricing
Kapstan ratings and reviews
- G2: Not enough reviews
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
Other Web Development and DevOps Tools
Phew! Now that you’ve explored the Vercel alternatives to speed up deployment, there’s one more tool worth adding to your development ecosystem.
Work today is broken. We’re all working in too many disconnected apps, and it’s killing team productivity. The constant switching between apps—copying, pasting, formatting, and sharing code blocks as well as messages—wastes time and increases the chances of miscommunication or losing important details.
While the above tools help you host, build, and deploy apps, you need a solution that brings your scattered work to one place. This is where you need a software project management tool.
ClickUp, the everything app for work, has specialized features that make it your potential DevOps teammate. 🤝
With ClickUp for Software Teams, you can plan, build, and ship all your apps in one place.
Assign and track development tasks with ClickUp Tasks
When working on software projects, ClickUp Tasks can streamline development workflows and help track software deployments by creating actionable tasks. You can assign these tasks with clear deadlines, track progress with custom statuses, add tags for easy search, and even Assign Comments and @mentions so nobody misses out on anything.
You can also link the tasks to GitHub commits, branches, and pull requests using the ClickUp-GitHub integration.
Manage workload through AI and automation
Managing your workload gets easier with ClickUp. ClickUp Brain, ClickUp’s built-in AI assistant, can help you generate code snippets, summarize project insights, and create technical docs.
On the other hand, ClickUp Automations can streamline workflows, handle routine jobs like approvals and status updates, and manage project handoffs. You can select from 100+ pre-built workflows and tailor them to meet your needs.
Collect app data with ClickUp Forms
What more? ClickUp also helps with bug tracking and documentation. You can simplify bug tracking by using ClickUp Forms to collect bug requests, convert bug reports into actionable tasks with ClickUp Tasks, and prioritize bug management.
You can also document bug details using the collaborative ClickUp Docs, along with necessary screenshots and reproduction steps.
Standardize app development process with templates
Not to forget, ClickUp has a vast library of templates that save time and effort. For instance, the ClickUp Website Development Template helps you visualize and plan the entire project.
With this template, you can:
- Track tasks, deadlines, and stakeholders
- Organize resources for development efficiency
- Visualize work progress
- Optimize collaboration
- Deliver websites that meet client expectations
Similarly, you can use the Clickup Bug & Issue Tracking Template and the ClickUp Bug Report Template to track, record, and fix bugs in no time.
The best part? ClickUp’s robust features are available at an affordable price so you don’t have to spend a fortune to achieve your DevOps goals.
ClickUp pricing
Pair Up the Right Tools to Create a Powerful DevOps Ecosystem
Vercel is undoubtedly one of the best tools for frontend deployments. However, its ever-increasing prices make it an unsustainable option for small and large businesses.
The top ten Vercel alternatives we’ve listed excel in their own ways. Now, make a choice based on your needs and goals so you get a tool that best fits your purpose. For instance, if hosting is your priority, consider Firebase, and if you want full-stack web development tools, try Netlify, Render, or DigitalOcean.
No matter which platform you choose, pair it up with ClickUp to enhance your development process. ClickUp offers several features that help you streamline deployment, fix bugs, organize resources and documentation, and collaborate in real time.
So, sign up for free to see ClickUp in action!