Vercel vs Netlify vs Cloudflare Workers: Platform Cost Analysis

Executive Summary

Real-world cost comparison of three serverless hosting platforms, with actual billing data from production deployments. Critical warning: bandwidth overages can cause $800+ surprise bills during traffic spikes.

Platform Pricing Matrix (September 2025)

Feature	Vercel	Netlify	Cloudflare Workers
Free Tier Limits	100GB bandwidth, 10s function timeout, 1 user	100GB bandwidth, 300 build minutes, 125k function calls	100k requests/day, 10ms CPU/request, unlimited bandwidth
Pro Plan Base Cost	$20/user/month	$19/user/month	$5/month total (unlimited users)
Bandwidth Overages	$15/100GB	$55/100GB	$0 (no bandwidth charges)
Traffic Spike Cost	High (can reach $800+)	Highest ($55/100GB premium)	Lowest (predictable scaling)
Build Timeout	No limit	15 minutes (major limitation)	Instant deploy

Critical Failure Scenarios

Bandwidth Overage Crisis

• Vercel: $800+ bill when hitting Reddit front page with 2MB hero images
• Netlify: $600+ for viral traffic due to $55/100GB overage rate
• Workers: $10 → $25 for same traffic spike

Build Pipeline Failures

• Netlify: 15-minute timeout kills complex builds (18-minute Next.js build required splitting into 3 sites)
• Vercel: No timeout but preview deployments consume 40% of bandwidth before production traffic
• Workers: No traditional builds, but 3-month rewrite required for existing apps

Hidden Cost Multipliers

• Per-seat pricing: 5 developers = $100/month (Vercel) vs $5/month (Workers)
• Image optimization double-billing: Pay to optimize, pay again to serve (Vercel)
• Preview deployments: 20 devs × 100 PRs/month = 200GB consumed before production

Real-World Monthly Costs

Traffic Profile	Vercel	Netlify	Workers
100k visitors, 300GB, 3 devs	$90/month	$57/month	$10/month
250k visitors, 800GB, 5 devs	$220/month	$535/month	$20/month
1M users, 20M API calls, 8 devs	$560/month	$300+/month	$65/month

Platform-Specific Gotchas

Vercel Lock-in Costs

• Next.js coupling: Migration difficulty high
• Image optimization trap: Counts against bandwidth twice
• Preview deployment bandwidth consumption: 40% of allowance before production
• Workaround: Cloudflare R2 for images ($0.015/GB) saves ~$150/month

Netlify Build Limitations

• 15-minute timeout: Forces build splitting for complex apps
• Build minute overages: $7 per 500 minutes
• Engineering time waste: 40 hours working around limits
• Break-even calculation: Should have paid Vercel's higher bandwidth costs

Workers Platform Tax

• Migration cost: $50k engineering time for Express.js conversion
• V8 isolate limitations: No file system, no traditional Node.js packages
• Development timeline: 3-month rewrite vs 1-week for other platforms
• Break-even time: 21 months at $200/month savings

Cost Optimization Strategies

Immediate Actions

1. Set billing alerts: 50%, 75%, 90% thresholds
2. Disable preview deployments for feature branches (Vercel)
3. External image hosting: Cloudflare R2 + proxy setup
4. Build optimization: Cache API responses, parallel TypeScript compilation

Platform Selection Criteria

• Vercel: Best for MVP development, Next.js apps, teams prioritizing DX over cost
• Netlify: Optimal for static sites, predictable traffic, JAMstack patterns
• Workers: Choose for 10M+ requests/month, willing to invest in platform-specific development

Warning Indicators

• Traffic spike without alerts: $800+ surprise bills likely
• Complex builds approaching 15 minutes: Netlify will fail
• Team size > 5 developers: Per-seat costs become significant
• Heavy image/video content: Bandwidth overages inevitable

Migration Complexity Assessment

• Vercel ↔ Netlify: 1 week, minimal code changes
• Any platform → Workers: 1-3 months, complete rewrite required
• Workers → Traditional hosting: 2-4 weeks, dependency restoration

TCO Decision Framework

1. Development cost: Workers highest (3-month rewrite), others minimal
2. Operational cost: Workers lowest at scale, Netlify highest for bandwidth
3. Team scaling cost: Workers flat $5, others $20/developer/month
4. Lock-in risk: Vercel highest (Next.js), Workers lowest (standards-based)

Emergency Response Procedures

• Viral traffic spike: Immediately enable spending limits
• Build failures: Split builds or migrate platforms within 24 hours
• Bandwidth overage: Switch to external CDN, disable non-essential features
• Developer onboarding: Consider contractor exclusion from git repos to avoid seat charges