Vercel-Specific Features

While Next.js works anywhere, Vercel provides deep integration and additional features. Understanding these helps you make deployment decisions.

Automatic Optimizations

When deployed on Vercel, you get:

Automatic HTTPS: SSL certificates provisioned automatically
Global CDN: Static assets served from edge locations
Image Optimization: next/image optimized on-demand
ISR: Incremental Static Regeneration fully supported
Edge Middleware: Runs on Vercel's edge network

Preview Deployments

Every git push creates a unique preview URL:

https://my-app-abc123-my-team.vercel.app

Features:

Automatic for every branch/PR
Shareable with stakeholders
Can have different environment variables
Comments and collaboration built-in

Environment Variables

Manage per-environment:

# CLI
vercel env add DATABASE_URL production
vercel env add DATABASE_URL preview
vercel env add DATABASE_URL development

Or in the dashboard under Project Settings → Environment Variables.

Edge Functions

Vercel extends Edge Runtime with additional features:

// app/api/geo/route.ts
export const runtime = 'edge'

export async function GET(request: Request) {
  // Vercel adds geolocation data
  const { geo } = request as Request & {
    geo?: {
      city?: string
      country?: string
      region?: string
    }
  }

  return Response.json({
    city: geo?.city,
    country: geo?.country,
  })
}

Speed Insights

Real user performance monitoring:

// app/layout.tsx
import { SpeedInsights } from '@vercel/speed-insights/next'

export default function RootLayout({ children }) {
  return (
    <html>
      <body>
        {children}
        <SpeedInsights />
      </body>
    </html>
  )
}

Tracks Core Web Vitals:

LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
FID (First Input Delay)
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)

Analytics

Traffic and performance analytics:

// app/layout.tsx
import { Analytics } from '@vercel/analytics/react'

export default function RootLayout({ children }) {
  return (
    <html>
      <body>
        {children}
        <Analytics />
      </body>
    </html>
  )
}

Cron Jobs

Schedule functions to run periodically:

// vercel.json
{
  "crons": [
    {
      "path": "/api/daily-digest",
      "schedule": "0 8 * * *"
    }
  ]
}

// app/api/daily-digest/route.ts
export async function GET() {
  // This runs daily at 8 AM UTC
  await sendDailyDigest()
  return Response.json({ success: true })
}

Blob Storage

Store files directly from Vercel:

import { put } from '@vercel/blob'

export async function POST(request: Request) {
  const form = await request.formData()
  const file = form.get('file') as File

  const blob = await put(file.name, file, {
    access: 'public',
  })

  return Response.json({ url: blob.url })
}

KV Storage

Redis-like key-value store:

import { kv } from '@vercel/kv'

// Set value
await kv.set('user:123', { name: 'John', visits: 5 })

// Get value
const user = await kv.get('user:123')

// Increment
await kv.incr('user:123:visits')

When to Use Vercel

Use Vercel	Consider Alternatives
Rapid deployment	Strict data residency requirements
Preview deployments for teams	On-premise requirements
Built-in monitoring	Very custom infrastructure needs
Edge functions	Extremely low costs are priority
Quick iteration	Vendor lock-in concerns

Self-Hosting Alternative

Next.js works on any Node.js environment:

# Build
npm run build

# Start production server
npm run start

Or with Docker:

FROM node:20-alpine
WORKDIR /app
COPY . .
RUN npm ci && npm run build
CMD ["npm", "start"]

Summary

Vercel provides zero-config deployment for Next.js
Preview deployments for every branch automatically
Edge Functions with geo data and fast execution
Speed Insights for real user performance monitoring
Cron jobs, Blob storage, and KV for extended functionality
Self-hosting is always an option with standard Node.js