What is Vercel: a platform for frontend deployment in simple terms

What is Vercel

Vercel is a cloud platform for hosting and automatically deploying websites and frontend applications. You connect a Git repository, and Vercel builds the project and publishes it to its content delivery network whenever the code changes. The platform is developed by the company that created the Next.js framework, but it also works with React, Vue, Svelte, Astro and other technologies.

Simply put, Vercel removes the need for your own server: you don’t have to rent a VPS, configure a web server, certificates and builds — just push the code to the repository.

How it works

1. Sign up. An account is created via GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket.
2. Import project. You select the repository, Vercel detects the framework and suggests build commands.
3. Deploy. The project is built, and you get an address like project.vercel.app.
4. Domain. A custom domain is connected in the project settings. Vercel issues and renews Let’s Encrypt certificates automatically.

After that, every push to the main branch publishes a new version of the site, and preview versions with separate addresses are created for other branches and pull requests.

Main features

• Content delivery network. Static files and cached pages are served from the node closest to the visitor.
• Preview Deployments. Colleagues and clients can review changes before publication and leave comments directly on the page.
• Functions. Server-side code — Next.js API routes, form handlers, webhooks — runs without a dedicated server. By default a single function can run up to 300 seconds.
• Image optimization. Images are compressed and resized on the fly.
• Rollback. Any previous version can be made the primary one again.

Pricing

Data as of September 2026.

• Hobby — free. Per Vercel’s rules, only for personal non-commercial projects. Includes 100 GB of traffic per month (Fast Data Transfer), 1M Edge Requests, 1M function invocations and 4 hours of function CPU time; no more than 100 deploys per day and 200 projects. If a limit is reached, the corresponding capability is usually only available again after 30 days.
• Pro — $20/month per developer. Members with view-only access are free. The plan includes $20 in usage credit, 1 TB of bandwidth and 10M Edge Requests; usage beyond that is billed. There is a spend limit setting.
• Enterprise — by arrangement.

Limitations for Russia

• Payment. Pro is paid by bank card, and cards from Russian banks on Visa and Mastercard have not worked abroad since March 2022.
• Availability. According to user reports on the Vercel forum (January–May 2026), the IP address Vercel provides for a custom domain is inaccessible with some Russian ISPs, while addresses of the form *.vercel.app are reachable. Vercel has not issued an official statement.
• Personal data. Since July 1, 2025, personal data of Russian citizens must first be collected into databases located on Russian territory. Vercel functions run on foreign infrastructure, so processing contact forms containing names and phone numbers on them is not allowed.

When Vercel is not suitable

• A commercial project that cannot pay for Pro.
• Long-running background jobs, queues, persistent connections: functions are time-limited.
• A self-hosted database and services close to the application: on Vercel you’ll need to use third-party providers.
• An audience in Russia and data localization requirements.

In these cases a self-hosted server is suitable — for example, with the Dokploy panel, which reproduces the convenience of Git-based deploys to your VPS.

Common mistakes

• Hosting a commercial site on Hobby. This violates the platform’s rules.
• Keys and passwords in code. Secrets should be stored in project environment variables, not in the repository.
• No spend limit on Pro. In a traffic spike or an attack the bill grows; set a limit in the Spend Management section.
• Heavy images and videos. They quickly consume bandwidth; images should be passed through built-in optimization, and videos stored separately.
• Open preview deployments. Unfinished pages are visible to anyone with the link. Vercel Authentication protection is available even on the free plan.