DeployCloud vs Vercel
Vercel is the gold standard for shipping frontends and serverless functions. DeployCloud is for the other half of your stack — long-running backends, workers and databases in any language, deployed to a server you control.
Vercel and DeployCloud solve different problems, and many teams use both. Vercel excels at static sites, frontend frameworks and short-lived serverless functions on a managed edge network. DeployCloud runs persistent, containerised backends — the API, the queue worker, the cron jobs, the database — on your own infrastructure.
Serverless vs always-on
The core difference is the runtime. Vercel functions are stateless and time-boxed; they spin up per request and cannot hold a long-lived connection or a background process. DeployCloud deploys a real container that stays running — perfect for WebSockets, long jobs, background workers and anything that needs a warm process.
| DeployCloud | Vercel | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Backends, workers, full-stack apps | Frontends & serverless functions |
| Runtime | Long-running containers | Serverless / edge functions |
| Hosting | Self-hosted on your VPS | Managed cloud |
| Any language | Yes — Docker or Nixpacks | JS/TS-first, some runtimes |
| Background workers & crons | Yes, first-class | Cron via functions; no workers |
| Databases & Redis | Built-in add-ons | Via third parties / Marketplace |
| Pricing | Flat — your server bill | Usage & seat based |
| Data location | Your server | Vercel's cloud |
Use them together
A common, happy setup: host the marketing site and frontend on Vercel, and point it at an API deployed on DeployCloud. You get Vercel's frontend polish and DeployCloud's control over the backend, data and long-running processes.
If your workload is a Next.js frontend, Vercel is hard to beat. If it is a Django/Rails/Express/Go API with a database and a worker, that is exactly what DeployCloud is for.
Why teams self-host the backend
- Cost that doesn't scale with traffic — a flat VPS bill instead of per-invocation and per-GB metering.
- Data residency — the database and app run on infrastructure you own and can locate anywhere.
- No cold starts — a warm container answers instantly; there is no function spin-up penalty.
- Real background work — queues, workers and crons run as proper processes, not stitched-together functions.
Frequently asked questions
Can DeployCloud host a Next.js app?
Yes — a Next.js app builds and runs as a normal container on DeployCloud, including its server-side rendering and API routes. Many teams still keep purely static frontends on Vercel and use DeployCloud for the backend; both work.
Does DeployCloud have an edge network / CDN?
No — DeployCloud runs your app on the server you choose, behind a Traefik reverse proxy with automatic HTTPS. If you need global edge caching for static assets, pair it with a CDN. For backends, a single well-placed region is usually what you want.
Is it cheaper than Vercel?
For backend and full-stack workloads, typically yes: DeployCloud's cost is a flat VPS bill rather than usage-based function and bandwidth charges. For purely static frontends, Vercel's free tier is very generous.
Can I run background workers and cron jobs?
Yes. DeployCloud has a first-class process model — declare web, worker and release processes in a Procfile, and schedule cron jobs directly. This is difficult to do on a purely serverless platform.
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