Vercel vs Cheaploy: which free tier actually scales?
Vercel is the smoothest deploy experience in the world — until the bill arrives. Cheaploy deploys the same React, Next.js, or Node app to your own Oracle Cloud Always Free account, so the infra is yours and the price stays $0.
Side-by-side at a glance
| Feature | Vercel (Hobby) | Cheaploy + Oracle Always Free |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | $0 until limits, then $20+/mo Pro | $0 forever |
| Bandwidth | 100 GB/mo | 10 TB/mo |
| Compute | Serverless, 10s timeout | 2 ARM CPUs, 12GB RAM, long-running |
| Database | Add-ons billed separately | 2× Autonomous DB (20GB each) included |
| Commercial use | Not allowed on Hobby | Allowed |
| Vendor lock-in | High (Vercel-only primitives) | Low (your own OCI account) |
| Cold starts | Yes (serverless) | No (persistent compute) |
| Setup time | ~2 minutes | ~8 minutes (first deploy) |
When Vercel is the right call
- You're building a static Next.js marketing site under 100GB/mo bandwidth.
- Sub-50ms global latency matters more than the bill.
- You want zero-config previews and team collaboration baked in.
When Cheaploy is the right call
- You're an indie hacker, solo founder, or vibe coder who can't justify a $20-$100/mo platform fee.
- You need long-running background jobs, websockets, or a real Postgres without paying for an add-on.
- You want your infrastructure on an account you own — so leaving the platform is one DNS change, not a migration.
- You're shipping a commercial SaaS and Vercel Hobby is off-limits.
How the migration works
- Connect your Oracle Cloud account (one-time OAuth, free to create).
- Paste your GitHub repo URL or upload a ZIP.
- Cheaploy analyzes the codebase, generates a Dockerfile, and provisions ARM compute + load balancer + SSL.
- Point your domain at the new IP. Cancel Vercel Pro. Keep the runway.
Frequently asked
Can Cheaploy deploy a Next.js app?+
Yes. Cheaploy detects Next.js (App Router and Pages Router), generates a multi-stage Dockerfile with output: 'standalone', and runs it behind Oracle's load balancer with automatic SSL.
Will I lose Vercel's preview deployments?+
Cheaploy focuses on production deployments to your own cloud. For ephemeral previews most teams keep Vercel's free tier for branch previews and use Cheaploy for the production environment — the cost ceiling lives where the traffic does.
What about Edge functions and ISR?+
Oracle's load balancer doesn't replicate Vercel's edge network. If sub-50ms global latency is critical, stay on Vercel. If a single-region production deploy with $0 baseline cost is the priority, Cheaploy wins.
Is Vercel's free tier really that limiting?+
Hobby plan caps 100GB bandwidth, 100k serverless invocations, 6,000 build minutes, and prohibits commercial use. One viral post can blow past those. Oracle's Always Free includes 10TB egress per month with no commercial restriction.
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