A side-by-side on static hosting, regions and data residency. Vercel's free plan bars commercial use; Sarpius's first app doesn't.
Updated 24 September 2026
For a static or client-rendered front-end, both platforms do the same core thing: push a git repo, get a build served from a global edge cache with automatic TLS. Vercel's free Hobby plan explicitly bars commercial use; Sarpius's first app doesn't. Where they genuinely diverge is the back-end: Vercel's model is serverless/edge functions with no first-party database of its own since Vercel Postgres and KV were deprecated, while Sarpius pairs the static front-end with a real container back-end and a managed Postgres, Redis or MariaDB database, all EU-hosted, in the same project. Vercel is still the stronger pick for server-side rendering, incremental static regeneration and serverless functions in production today; Sarpius's Serverless Functions are planned, not available yet.
Both platforms treat a static/client-rendered build the same way in outline: upload it once, serve it from a cache at the edge, fingerprint the hashed build assets as immutable and cache-bust everything else on redeploy. Sarpius does this by uploading the build to S3-compatible object storage and serving it through its own edge proxy (Sarpius Router), sitting behind Cloudflare's network by default; Vercel does it by uploading to its own CDN and serving it from its own Points of Presence. Neither is "just" a CDN vendor reselling someone else's network: Vercel operates its edge network directly, and Sarpius's static path is cached both at its own edge and, by riding behind Cloudflare, on Cloudflare's separately-operated network.
Vercel is a frontend cloud built around Next.js and edge/serverless functions. Sarpius's back-end half is a container platform: push a repo of nearly any stack, PHP, Node, Python, Java, Go, and get a running container behind the same edge proxy, plus managed Postgres, Redis or MariaDB and S3-compatible storage wired into the same project. Vercel's serverless model rewards short-lived request/response logic; Sarpius's container model rewards a long-running backend process, a frontend and a database deployed as one thing, under one jurisdiction.
| Feature | Sarpius | Vercel |
|---|---|---|
| Company / jurisdiction | Dutch company, own hardware, Netherlands | US company (San Francisco); primary processing facilities in the US per its own DPA |
| Static site serving | S3-compatible storage + Sarpius's own edge proxy, cached on Cloudflare's network (348 cities, per Cloudflare's own published figure) | Vercel's own CDN: 126 Points of Presence, 19 compute-capable regions, per Vercel's own docs |
| Free tier | First app free forever, commercial use included | Hobby plan, $0/month, but restricted to non-commercial use |
| Cheapest paid plan | EUR 4.99/month per additional container app | Pro: $20/month per seat |
| DPA scope | Applies to every account, from the free tier up | Applies only to Pro and Enterprise customers, not Hobby |
| EU data residency | Netherlands by default, on every tier | EU compute regions available (e.g. Frankfurt); account/control-plane data processed in the US |
| Cloudflare-bypass option | Yes, paid, per custom domain (+EUR 4.99/month on top of the EUR 1.99 domain fee) | Not applicable; Vercel is its own network, not built on Cloudflare |
| Back-end model | Full containers: any language, any framework that fits in one | Serverless/edge functions; long-running processes are a poor fit |
| Managed database | PostgreSQL, Redis, MariaDB, first-party | No first-party database since Vercel Postgres/KV were deprecated; via Marketplace partners |
| Object storage | S3-compatible, built in, EUR 0.025/GB-month | Vercel Blob, files up to 5 GB |
| Serverless functions | Planned, not available | Available today, core to the product |
| Billing | Per minute from a wallet (containers); by stored GB (object storage) | Monthly usage-metered (bandwidth, requests, function time) |
| Platform export / migration bundle | Full Project migration bundle: container files, SQL database dumps, bucket objects, commit manifest, secrets.env via short-lived token behind 2FA, 24h retention | No project-wide archive; code on git, third-party database exports, Vercel Blob API |
It's easy to miss: Vercel's own pricing page restricts the Hobby plan to personal, non-commercial projects. A side project that starts making money is expected to move to a paid seat. Sarpius's free app carries no such carve-out, it stays free whether the app is a static portfolio site or something charging customers, for as long as it fits the free tier's limits (one container, 10 GB bandwidth); a static Component served from storage doesn't even count against that bandwidth bundle.
Vercel's own Data Processing Addendum states it applies "to Customers who are on Enterprise and Pro plans". A Hobby-plan app processing any personal data, a signup form's email address is enough, has no contractual GDPR backing for that processing. A team that needs a DPA in place before launching has to pay for Pro first. On Sarpius, the data-processing agreement covers the account from the free tier up.
Being fair: if the app needs server-side rendering per request, incremental static regeneration, or serverless functions in production today, Vercel's tooling for that specific shape is more mature than anything Sarpius offers today, Sarpius's Serverless Functions are planned, not available. For a static or client-rendered front-end alone, the two are close: both push-deploy from git, cache the build at the edge, and issue TLS automatically. Sarpius pulls ahead once the same project also needs a real backend and a database under one jurisdiction and one bill, or a free tier that's allowed to earn money from day one.
Yes, Next.js is one of the 45 frameworks the connect-a-repository wizard detects and configures automatically, though a Next.js app that relies on Vercel-specific server-side rendering or ISR is better served on Vercel until Sarpius's own equivalent exists. A statically-exported Next.js build runs the same way any other static Component does.
Sarpius Router is an edge HTTP/TLS reverse proxy with its own in-process cache and automatic certificate issuance, sitting behind Cloudflare's global network (348 cities, per Cloudflare's own published figure) by default; a static site's built assets are cached at both layers. Sarpius does not operate that network itself, the way Vercel operates its own 126-PoP CDN; it rides behind Cloudflare's.
Both are free for one small static or small-container app, but "free" means different things: Vercel's Hobby plan excludes commercial use, Sarpius's first app does not. Beyond the free tier, Sarpius charges EUR 4.99/month per additional container app versus $20/month per seat on Vercel Pro.
Not yet. Serverless Functions are on the public roadmap but not available today; the current back-end model is a full container instead.
Sarpius by default: a Dutch company with no US parent, on hardware it owns, plus an optional paid route that bypasses Cloudflare entirely for a given domain. Vercel's own DPA states its primary processing facilities are in the United States even when a compute region is set to an EU city.
Yes: PostgreSQL 16, Redis and MariaDB are all available and wired into the app's environment automatically when linked.
Yes. You can generate a Project migration bundle from the Project workspace behind two-factor authentication. It packages the live container filesystem and built static output for each component, SQL dumps of your databases, bucket objects, and a manifest with git commit SHAs, per-file sha256 checksums, and an explicit list of anything omitted and why. Secrets are injected as secrets.env only at download time using a 5-minute one-time token and are never stored in the platform's saved archive artifact. Bundles are downloadable for 24 hours and can be created once every 24 hours.