Stacktape vs. Vercel

Vercel and Stacktape serve different needs: Vercel excels at frontend deployments and Next.js applications, while Stacktape provides comprehensive full-stack AWS infrastructure.

Frontend-focused vs. full-stack infrastructure

Vercel is purpose-built for frontend applications, static sites, and serverless functions. They excel at Next.js deployments, edge optimization, and developer experience for frontend workflows.

Stacktape provides complete AWS infrastructure access - from frontend hosting to databases, containers, messaging systems, and complex backend architectures. If you need more than frontend deployment, Stacktape offers comprehensive infrastructure solutions.

Infrastructure ownership and vendor lock-in

Vercel runs on their own global infrastructure with excellent performance and CDN capabilities, but this creates vendor lock-in. Your applications and data live within Vercel's ecosystem.

Stacktape deploys to your AWS account, giving you full infrastructure ownership. You can migrate away from Stacktape without losing your resources, data, or infrastructure investments.

Backend capabilities and databases

Vercel doesn't provide traditional databases, containers, or persistent backend services. Their serverless functions are stateless and designed for frontend API routes rather than complex backend logic.

Stacktape supports the full spectrum of AWS backend services: RDS and Aurora databases, DynamoDB, containers with ECS, Lambda functions, messaging with SNS/SQS, and storage with S3.

Pricing models and cost predictability

Vercel's pricing can become expensive for backend-heavy workloads, especially with their function duration and bandwidth costs. Their model works well for frontend-focused applications but can scale costs quickly.

Stacktape provides transparent AWS pricing plus a percentage fee. For full-stack applications, this often results in significant cost savings, especially as you scale backend infrastructure.

Developer experience and deployment

Vercel offers exceptional developer experience for frontend deployments with automatic deployments, preview environments, and outstanding performance optimization. They're unmatched for static sites and Next.js applications.

Stacktape provides similar Git-based deployment and preview capabilities while supporting more complex full-stack architectures. You get Infrastructure as Code for reproducible, versioned infrastructure.

Use case alignment

Choose Vercel if you're building primarily frontend applications, static sites, or simple Next.js apps with minimal backend requirements. Their platform is optimized for this use case.

Choose Stacktape if you need full-stack infrastructure, databases, containers, complex backend logic, or want the flexibility to grow beyond frontend-only architecture.