In this article we explore a comparison between the features of Vercel and Diploi, to explain how both platforms overlap and what features are unique to each.
Table of contents
- TLDR
- Who is it for?
- Feature comparison
- Pricing comparison
- When to choose Diploi instead of Vercel
- FAQ
- Considering migrating from Vercel to Diploi?
- References
TLDR
- Vercel is a hosting platform designed for front-end and static site hosting with zero-config deployment. It provides a Git-driven CI/CD workflow, with global edge caching and flat-fee pricing with additional fees for advanced logs and cloud function invocations.
- Diploi offers an all-in-one full-stack platform, where every project starts with a cloud IDE and with exposed endpoints online by default. Diploi has a usage-based pricing, with no additional fees. It automates deployments, manages databases, and provides a cloud development environment to allow coding from the browser or to connect VS Code, Cursor, and other SSH-capable IDEs to code without a local setup.
- Pick Diploi if you need predictable pricing by paying only for the time that your deployments are online, and you are working on full-stack apps. It’s ideal for freelancers and teams that need fast deployment workflows without spending time configuring servers, and manage multiple fullstack projects at the same time, which use different tech stacks. Diploi provides a cloud development environment for projects, which simplifies context switching between projects, as devs do not need to manage different local environments on their local machine.
- Pick Vercel if you are deploying primarily frontend or Next.js apps, and need an edge/CDN platform that abstracts the infrastructure layer and provides a smooth deployment workflow. Vercel provides additional developer-friendly features like push-to-deploy with previews, which allows devs to generate preview environments for pull-requests, and is well-suited for static sites or frontend projects with large traffic volumes.
In short, Diploi targets convenience and predictability for full-stack projects by combining development and hosting into one platform, while Vercel focuses on effortless deployment and global delivery for modern web frontends.
Who is it for?
At its core, both platforms help developers, freelancers, agencies, and startups who want to build web apps without managing servers manually, but they solve different problems.
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Vercel is ideal for front-end projects. If your app is built with Next.js, React, Vue/Nuxt, Svelte, or similar frameworks, Vercel provides zero-config builds and a global CDN out of the box. Teams using Vercel can deploy via GitHub or GitLab and get instant preview deployments for every pull request. It’s a great fit when you need high-scalability static or serverless sites. Vercel’s Hobby tier is free for personal projects, and the Pro tier ($20+/mo) adds higher quotas and collaboration features.
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Diploi is geared towards full-stack development, but it can also be used to host front-end only applications, with global CDN coverage for static sites. It provides a cloud development environment for every project, which can be accessed from Diploi’s browser IDE or from any IDE with support for SSH-remote access like VS Code or Cursor, which means that developers can start coding immediately without requiring a local setup. Diploi only charges for the time that deployments are online and the storage they use, without any other charges.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Diploi | Vercel |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment model | A single multi-service environment per project. All components (frontend, backend, databases, workers) run together in one Kubernetes cluster. | Each deployment is independent (containerless). Static sites and serverless functions are deployed separately. There’s no unified environment. |
| GitOps / CI/CD | Deep GitHub integration. Diploi generates a GitHub Action for your repo that rebuilds and deploys your app on each commit. It also supports preview URLs and automatic SSL certificate generation. | Instant git-driven deployments. Vercel auto-builds and deploys on every branch push, providing preview URLs for pull requests. Merging to the production branch triggers a live deployment. No manual pipelines are needed. |
| Managed services | Built-in managed databases (eg, Postgres) and key services as part of the same environment. Background jobs or cron tasks can be run in the same cluster by adding a component to handle them separately. | No native DB or full-stack services supported. Vercel focuses on frontends and function invocations. Any database or cache used must be supplied externally (eg, using a DB provider from Vercel’s marketplace). There are no built-in managed databases or message queues. |
| Development experience | Fully integrated cloud IDE. Developers can code in the browser or connect via SSH (VS Code, Cursor, etc.). | No built-in IDE. Development is local or via another cloud editor like GitHub Codespaces. Vercel’s strength is not IDEs but rapid deploys. However, its workflow (push-to-deploy with instant previews) offers a smooth experience for frontend-focused devs. |
| Performance and scaling | Environments are always hot, without cold starts. You choose a cluster size (S/M/L/XL), and it runs continuously. Scaling can be done vertically, by selecting a larger cluster. Diploi comes with a global CDN to improve the performance of static content delivery. | Environments with low traffic can have latency due to cold-starts in the free plan, but for Pro and higher tiers, there’s minimal latency due to cold-starts. Vercel functions and frontend apps auto-scale based on traffic, and scale to zero when idle. Vercel includes a global CDN for fast static delivery. |
Pricing comparison
Diploi is purely usage-based, only charging for the time deployments are online and the storage they use. There are no other charges for data traffic, team seats or monitoring. It does not have a free or hobby plan, but it offers a 14-day trial to get started on the platform. For example, a production environment with a small cluster (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM) running 24/7 costs about €19/month. Development environments (used only 7h/day) can average as low as €4/month. There are no additional service fees, just compute hours and storage.
Vercel has a free hobby plan, with fair usage clauses, and for its paid services, it uses a hybrid model with a fixed base fee, plus usage overages (bandwidth, function invocations, build minutes) and additional services like improved observability metrics and logs. The Pro plan is $20/month (~€17.32/month), which includes $20 in usage credits, up to 1 TB of free bandwidth per month. Beyond that, you pay overages: e.g. $0.15 per GB of extra bandwidth, $2 per million function invocations, $10 for advanced observability features, etc.
Because Vercel metering is granular, actual bills can be hard to predict. In contrast, Diploi’s straightforward hourly billing makes costs predictable, especially for projects that have a large volume of traffic.
When to choose Diploi instead of Vercel
You want an all-in-one workflow with no DevOps, which is why Diploi provides a cloud IDE and allows quick app scaffolding, so developers can start coding immediately. You won’t need to manage separate hosting for the frontend, backend, and database, as they all run together. As for costs, Diploi has predictable, usage-based pricing, where you only pay for the time your app is running. There are no unexpected charges for extra services or traffic.
You are developing Full-stack applications, where you need a persistent database and a dedicated backend, and Diploi’s unified environments make deployment simpler while minimizing costs by hosting all parts of your app within a single cluster.
Contractor-friendly and fast onboarding for teams, so you can add new team members to projects without any additional costs, and get them coding in the same environment without any time spent setting up locally or worrying about dependencies. This is convenient for agencies working with remote developers.
In summary, pick Diploi when convenience and cost predictability are important. It’s the better choice if you need an instant development workspace plus production hosting, with no surprise bills.
FAQ
Can I host frontend-only apps on Diploi?
Yes, in Diploi, you can start a frontend app using Next.js, React+Vite, SvelteKit, and Astro, plus you can import from GitHub and Lovable.
Does Diploi support background jobs or cron tasks?
Diploi projects can have worker processes or scheduled jobs as part of the same environment by running a component within the same cluster to handle these tasks. Unlike Vercel (which has serverless Functions and separate Cron Jobs), Diploi can run background tasks using a task runner container using Bun, Deno or FastAPI. The effect is similar, you can perform periodic or asynchronous work, but it’s managed within your single project environment and without additional costs.
How does autoscaling work?
Diploi uses cluster size (S, M, L, XL) and scaling means upgrading to a larger size. Vercel, by contrast, auto-scales serverless functions up and down based on traffic. On the Pro plan Vercel uses Fluid Servers to warm up functions (so you get effectively zero cold starts and can support many concurrent executions).
Can I use both platforms together?
Yes. For example, you could host your frontend or static assets on Vercel and have Diploi host your API/backend. They can interoperate over the web (via custom domains or API calls).
Considering migrating from Vercel to Diploi?
If you’re exploring a switch or want to add Diploi to your workflow, we’re happy to help. Diploi’s team offers migration assistance, documentation, and a community (Discord, email, etc.) to guide you. We can help port your projects and ensure everything runs smoothly. Get in touch if you’d like support with migrating or integrating with Diploi. Our goal is to make it seamless.