Edge Computing Platform Cost Analysis - AI-Optimized Technical Reference

Configuration: Production-Ready Pricing Models (September 2025)

Cloudflare Workers

• Base Cost: $5/month minimum + $0.30/million requests (after 10M included)
• Compute Billing: $0.02/million CPU milliseconds
• Memory: 128MB fixed allocation
• Execution Limit: 30 seconds maximum
• Cold Start: <10ms (V8 isolates)
• Team Scaling: Unlimited users at no additional cost

AWS Lambda@Edge

• Base Cost: No monthly fee + $0.60/million requests
• Compute Billing: ~$0.0000063/128MB-second (charges during I/O wait)
• Memory: 128MB minimum, configurable
• Execution Limit: 15 seconds maximum
• Cold Start: 2-5 seconds typical
• Data Transfer: $0.085-0.16/GB regional rates

Vercel Edge Functions

• Base Cost: $20/month per developer seat
• Request Pricing: $0.60/million after 1M included
• Memory: 4GB fluid compute
• Execution Limit: Varies by memory allocation
• Cold Start: <500ms
• Bandwidth: Included in plan (1TB on Pro)

Critical Warnings: Production Failure Modes

Team Size Cost Explosion (Vercel)

• Breaking Point: 3+ developers makes Vercel most expensive option
• Cost Impact: 10-person team = $200/month before any compute
• Real Example: Team growth from 5 to 15 developers increases base cost from $100 to $300/month
• Hidden Cost: 35% higher hosting costs compared to alternatives for scaling teams

Memory Billing Trap (AWS Lambda@Edge)

• Failure Mode: Charges for allocated memory during I/O wait time
• Cost Impact: Function with 512MB allocation waiting for database = paying for unused 512MB
• Real Example: 2-second function with 512MB allocation costs $0.00005 per call just for memory
• Severity: I/O-heavy workloads spike costs fast on unused memory allocation

CPU Time Limits (Cloudflare Workers)

• Breaking Point: CPU-intensive tasks exhaust allowance quickly
• Included Quota: 30 million CPU milliseconds per month
• Real Failure: JWT verification consuming 15-20ms CPU per operation
• Impact: 1.5-2 million JWT verifications before hitting CPU_TIME_LIMIT_EXCEEDED
• Debug Time: 5 hours to identify CPU limit as error cause

Cold Start Performance Impact (AWS Lambda@Edge)

• Performance Penalty: 2-5 seconds added to response time
• User Experience Impact: Kills API responsiveness for sporadic traffic
• Mitigation: Avoid AWS Lambda@Edge for applications with unpredictable traffic patterns

Resource Requirements: Real Implementation Costs

Migration Time Investment

• Cloudflare Workers: 1-4 weeks per major function (most restrictions)
• Vercel Edge Functions: Closer to standard Node.js (less migration effort)
• AWS Lambda@Edge: Falls between the two options
• Context: Depends on Node.js-specific code usage and runtime compatibility

Traffic Scaling Thresholds

Request Volume	Cloudflare Workers	AWS Lambda@Edge	Vercel Edge Functions
1M/month	~$5 (included)	$50-80	$20/dev + minimal usage
10M/month	~$5 (still included)	$500-800	Team costs + $5-10 overages
100M/month	$30-40 total	$5,000-8,000+	Team costs + $50-80

Break-Even Analysis

• Cloudflare Workers: Cost-effective starting at 100,000 requests/month
• AWS Lambda@Edge: No base fee but duration charges accumulate
• Vercel: Expensive for teams >3-4 developers regardless of traffic

Platform Lock-in Costs

Vendor Dependencies

• Cloudflare Workers: Highest lock-in (V8 isolates, proprietary APIs)
• Vercel Edge Functions: Platform-exclusive deployment
• AWS Lambda@Edge: Tied to CloudFront distribution
• Migration Impact: Complete edge logic rewrite required when switching platforms

Code Portability

• Most Portable: Cloudflare Workers (standard JavaScript)
• Least Portable: Platform-specific APIs and runtime environments
• Hidden Cost: Forced rewrites during scaling or platform issues

Decision Criteria: When Each Platform Makes Sense

Choose Cloudflare Workers When:

• Team size >4 developers
• CPU-light workloads (1-2ms per request)
• Global performance critical
• Linear cost scaling preferred
• Budget <$50/month for edge computing

Choose AWS Lambda@Edge When:

• Already using AWS ecosystem
• Standard Node.js compatibility required
• No base fee preference
• Willing to optimize memory allocation
• Traffic patterns are predictable

Choose Vercel Edge Functions When:

• Small team (≤3 developers)
• Next.js integration required
• Predictable team costs acceptable
• Standard Node.js environment needed
• Bandwidth usage >1TB/month

Operational Intelligence: What Documentation Doesn't Tell You

Hidden Expenses

• Data Transfer: AWS charges CloudFront rates (often exceeds compute costs)
• Team Growth: Vercel costs scale faster than revenue for startups
• CPU Limits: Cloudflare processing-heavy functions hit quotas unexpectedly
• Memory Waste: AWS charges for allocated memory during database waits

Common Misconceptions

• "Free" bandwidth isn't free on AWS Lambda@Edge
• CPU milliseconds ≠ wall-clock time on Cloudflare
• Team seats on Vercel charge before any usage
• Cold starts affect user experience more than cost optimization

Real-World Performance Impact

• Global latency improvements: 200-500ms reduction typical
• Conversion rate correlation: 100ms latency = 1% conversion drop
• Origin server load reduction: 30-70% for edge-appropriate workloads
• Operational complexity: Simplified deployments vs. runtime limitations trade-off

Monitoring and Optimization Requirements

Essential Tracking Metrics

• CPU milliseconds usage (Cloudflare)
• Memory allocation efficiency (AWS)
• Team seat utilization (Vercel)
• Request pattern analysis (all platforms)

Cost Control Mechanisms

• Cloudflare Analytics for CPU optimization
• CloudWatch Cost Explorer for AWS billing alerts
• Vercel Usage Dashboard for team/bandwidth monitoring
• 95th percentile traffic planning (not averages)

Business ROI Factors

• Performance metrics: latency, response times
• User experience: bounce rates, conversion rates
• Operational benefits: deployment frequency, incident response
• Cost comparison: infrastructure savings vs. development complexity