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Hi, serious question what is Vercel? As a developer, what do I use it for? Back-end as a service? Hosting? Database? from reading their homepage several times a

by adim86 6y ago

Hi, serious question what is Vercel? As a developer, what do I use it for? Back-end as a service? Hosting? Database? from reading their homepage several times and looking at their products I still cant tell... can some explain?

bob33212 6y ago
Looks like hosting your site via your Git repo. Make a change in Git and they will push it to their servers ( probably AWS linux cluster)
ncrmro 6y ago
Next is a server side rendered framework for react apps. Next is made by Vercel. They also have an option to staticly rendered certain pages. They netlify but for next. Also next usually requires a node server so technically can also act as an api. Can generate a server less bundle.
tgdn 6y ago
With Vercel you can easily deploy a static/SSR app in minutes, either using their NextJS framework or any other JS/TS framework. It also provides serverless API endpoints capabilities with other languages (Python, Node, Go, Ruby). Most of this comes with a great free tier (including bandwidth which is unlimited). Team accounts allow your team to collaborate, deploy, run analytics etc seamlessly. It's great, they've done a great job. I might be forgetting a couple of things, but this is a big part of why they are so successful.
seveibar 6y ago
Vercel is a serverless platform like AWS Lambda or Netlify. Run your API endpoints and your client application on it but your database elsewhere. They'll make deploying your website one command but take care of an enormous amount of developer operations, including dev/staging/production environments, secrets management, server scaling, and https certificates.
- madeofpalk 6y ago
  Vercel is like Netlify, but I would not say it is "like AWS Lambda". Vercel a deployment + hosting platforms for static websites and "serverless" functions, but Lambda extends past what Vercel/Netlify is for. In terms of actual hosting (removing the build/deployment pipeline), Vercel is a subset of AWS Lambda.
Jestar342 6y ago
Serverless web apps. Using their own Next.js as an example: everything in /pages/ is client app, everything in /api/ is serverless app. Client talks to the /api/ endpoints, /api/ endpoints talk to your domain services. Vercel also provide edge-location hosting and caching.
- rbinv 6y ago
  The term "serverless", to me, makes as much sense as "No Software" (Salesforce) did back then: none. I do get the point of "you're not managing any actual servers", but still.
  - michaelbuckbee 6y ago
    If it's helpful think of it as "less servers".
    - mritchie712 6y ago
      or "servers you don't manage / have to think about"
      - jhpriestley 6y ago
        or "servers you don't control / can't debug / pay extra for"
  - adyus 6y ago
    "Nacho server" (not your server) also works.
    - tealpod 6y ago
      Sounds better than misleading "serverless". Whoever named it as serverless deserves a Nobel price for confusion.
  - lock-free 6y ago
CyberRabbi 6y ago
I had the same question. I’m an experienced developer and I could not figure out the substance of what this product offers from a glance at its front page. It vaguely seemed like a replacement for react but it’s hard to believe you could raise $40M for that so something else must be going on. I generally was under the impression that the industry was moving away from client side rendering since it’s so slow. At least I browse the web with JavaScript off by default.
- maelito 6y ago
  React is just one lib used by Vercel
  - eyelidlessness 6y ago
    I’m using Preact X on a Next project and honestly it was more pain than I expected. Their Preact support is pinned to older versions with a different module structure. I’ll be releasing my solution as a config wrapper (or offer as a PR for their Preact example) before I launch my site so other folks don’t need to go through the same process.
- chrisweekly 6y ago
  One of the major selling points of NextJS is precisely to address the issues with CSR (client-side rendering). It offers SSG (static site generation) for build-time rendering -- no client JS required. But also SSR (server-side rendering, ie at runtime), and automatic hydration for CSR too.
  - wdb 6y ago
    I just wished it wouldn't need all this __NEXT stuff which appears to lists all the possible routes/files.
bdickason 6y ago
I use it as a one line deploy tool for my personal sites. It’s incredibly simple / set-and-forget and supports custom domains, rollback, etc. For my simple sites it feels like hosting is just solved. Every time I rev my site I just push to git and I’m done.
woile 6y ago
Is a tool to deploy frontends super easy. It's called JAMStack, but the main idea is make your life easier. I like it. If you want to deploy a JS frontend (not just static files, though you can), this automatically handles a lot of things like SSR, SSL, etc https://vercel.com/pricing https://vercel.com/pricing
sdan 6y ago
Vercel basically makes frontend dev super easy. You can literally type in "vc" in your terminal (after installing their cli) and it'll build and deploy everything you have locally in seconds (think React or Nextjs, a React framework). You can also use their serverless functions; which add "backend" functionality to your existing frontends. You can deploy these serverless functions in a bunch of languages (see docs) but personally I've used them in Nextjs's baked-in functionality of api routes to basically add an endpoint for mutating/querying to/from my DB for example.
- paulintrognon 6y ago
  Where would those DBs be deployed? I mean, can vercel host DBs or do you still have to figure out a way of host them yourself?
  - sdan 6y ago
    Yeah, you'd have to host them yourself. So suppose you have a basic webapp with users logged in a DB: Vercel(Frontend -> Serverless functions) -> DB
  - neurostimulant 6y ago
    You're supposed to use other hosted database vendor or your own database server if you need it. I don't think they offer any database service.
    - moeamaya 6y ago
      What’s the recommended DB host? Does the Next community have a go to?
      - jpbow 6y ago
        I've had success with FaunaDB, simple and cheap to get started and you get a GraphQL endpoint as well as their query language (FQL).
      - dkryptr 6y ago
eyelidlessness 6y ago
It’s several things that package well together, plus some payable value add for certain use cases. - they develop Next.js which is one of the two primary React-based solutions for static/server/client rendered websites (the other being Gatsby) - they provide low friction deployment solutions for same (like heroku) - they provide tools for specific markets attracted to one or both of the above, e.g. ecommerce - probably a fair bit more, but those are their standout offerings Worth noting that Next.js is a mix of custom offerings (they have their own solutions for things like static site generation and image optimization) and configurations for existing tools (a lot of what works well is a predefined set of Babel and Webpack configs, but they can be overridden unlike create-react-app, and there’s broad support for that).
manigandham 6y ago
It's a PaaS service like Heroku and others. However it's the new generation of "serverless" billing models where you don't worry about instances/nodes/servers at all and pay in much finer-grained increments. Basically node-js servers running your code with an integrated CDN, but they also support Go, Python and Ruby for running server-side logic.

by adim86 6y ago

bob33212 6y ago

Looks like hosting your site via your Git repo. Make a change in Git and they will push it to their servers ( probably AWS linux cluster)

ncrmro 6y ago

Next is a server side rendered framework for react apps. Next is made by Vercel. They also have an option to staticly rendered certain pages. They netlify but for next. Also next usually requires a node server so technically can also act as an api. Can generate a server less bundle.

tgdn 6y ago

With Vercel you can easily deploy a static/SSR app in minutes, either using their NextJS framework or any other JS/TS framework. It also provides serverless API endpoints capabilities with other languages (Python, Node, Go, Ruby). Most of this comes with a great free tier (including bandwidth which is unlimited). Team accounts allow your team to collaborate, deploy, run analytics etc seamlessly. It's great, they've done a great job. I might be forgetting a couple of things, but this is a big part of why they are so successful.

seveibar 6y ago

Vercel is a serverless platform like AWS Lambda or Netlify. Run your API endpoints and your client application on it but your database elsewhere. They'll make deploying your website one command but take care of an enormous amount of developer operations, including dev/staging/production environments, secrets management, server scaling, and https certificates.

madeofpalk 6y ago
Vercel is like Netlify, but I would not say it is "like AWS Lambda". Vercel a deployment + hosting platforms for static websites and "serverless" functions, but Lambda extends past what Vercel/Netlify is for. In terms of actual hosting (removing the build/deployment pipeline), Vercel is a subset of AWS Lambda.

Jestar342 6y ago

Serverless web apps. Using their own Next.js as an example: everything in /pages/ is client app, everything in /api/ is serverless app. Client talks to the /api/ endpoints, /api/ endpoints talk to your domain services. Vercel also provide edge-location hosting and caching.

rbinv 6y ago
The term "serverless", to me, makes as much sense as "No Software" (Salesforce) did back then: none. I do get the point of "you're not managing any actual servers", but still.
- michaelbuckbee 6y ago
  If it's helpful think of it as "less servers".
  - mritchie712 6y ago
    or "servers you don't manage / have to think about"
    - jhpriestley 6y ago
      or "servers you don't control / can't debug / pay extra for"
- adyus 6y ago
  "Nacho server" (not your server) also works.
  - tealpod 6y ago
    Sounds better than misleading "serverless". Whoever named it as serverless deserves a Nobel price for confusion.
- lock-free 6y ago

CyberRabbi 6y ago

I had the same question. I’m an experienced developer and I could not figure out the substance of what this product offers from a glance at its front page. It vaguely seemed like a replacement for react but it’s hard to believe you could raise $40M for that so something else must be going on. I generally was under the impression that the industry was moving away from client side rendering since it’s so slow. At least I browse the web with JavaScript off by default.

maelito 6y ago
React is just one lib used by Vercel
- eyelidlessness 6y ago
  I’m using Preact X on a Next project and honestly it was more pain than I expected. Their Preact support is pinned to older versions with a different module structure. I’ll be releasing my solution as a config wrapper (or offer as a PR for their Preact example) before I launch my site so other folks don’t need to go through the same process.
chrisweekly 6y ago
One of the major selling points of NextJS is precisely to address the issues with CSR (client-side rendering). It offers SSG (static site generation) for build-time rendering -- no client JS required. But also SSR (server-side rendering, ie at runtime), and automatic hydration for CSR too.
- wdb 6y ago
  I just wished it wouldn't need all this __NEXT stuff which appears to lists all the possible routes/files.

bdickason 6y ago

I use it as a one line deploy tool for my personal sites. It’s incredibly simple / set-and-forget and supports custom domains, rollback, etc. For my simple sites it feels like hosting is just solved. Every time I rev my site I just push to git and I’m done.

woile 6y ago

Is a tool to deploy frontends super easy. It's called JAMStack, but the main idea is make your life easier. I like it. If you want to deploy a JS frontend (not just static files, though you can), this automatically handles a lot of things like SSR, SSL, etc https://vercel.com/pricing https://vercel.com/pricing

sdan 6y ago

Vercel basically makes frontend dev super easy. You can literally type in "vc" in your terminal (after installing their cli) and it'll build and deploy everything you have locally in seconds (think React or Nextjs, a React framework). You can also use their serverless functions; which add "backend" functionality to your existing frontends. You can deploy these serverless functions in a bunch of languages (see docs) but personally I've used them in Nextjs's baked-in functionality of api routes to basically add an endpoint for mutating/querying to/from my DB for example.

paulintrognon 6y ago
Where would those DBs be deployed? I mean, can vercel host DBs or do you still have to figure out a way of host them yourself?
- sdan 6y ago
  Yeah, you'd have to host them yourself. So suppose you have a basic webapp with users logged in a DB: Vercel(Frontend -> Serverless functions) -> DB
- neurostimulant 6y ago
  You're supposed to use other hosted database vendor or your own database server if you need it. I don't think they offer any database service.
  - moeamaya 6y ago
    What’s the recommended DB host? Does the Next community have a go to?
    - jpbow 6y ago
      I've had success with FaunaDB, simple and cheap to get started and you get a GraphQL endpoint as well as their query language (FQL).
    - dkryptr 6y ago

eyelidlessness 6y ago

It’s several things that package well together, plus some payable value add for certain use cases. - they develop Next.js which is one of the two primary React-based solutions for static/server/client rendered websites (the other being Gatsby) - they provide low friction deployment solutions for same (like heroku) - they provide tools for specific markets attracted to one or both of the above, e.g. ecommerce - probably a fair bit more, but those are their standout offerings Worth noting that Next.js is a mix of custom offerings (they have their own solutions for things like static site generation and image optimization) and configurations for existing tools (a lot of what works well is a predefined set of Babel and Webpack configs, but they can be overridden unlike create-react-app, and there’s broad support for that).

manigandham 6y ago

It's a PaaS service like Heroku and others. However it's the new generation of "serverless" billing models where you don't worry about instances/nodes/servers at all and pay in much finer-grained increments. Basically node-js servers running your code with an integrated CDN, but they also support Go, Python and Ruby for running server-side logic.