Vercel Wanted $22k for SSO - Here's What We Did Instead

When SSO Costs More Than Your Entire Engineering Budget

We'd been on Vercel Pro for 8 months, paying $200/month. Working fine. Then security team says we need SSO for compliance. I'm thinking maybe $50/month more.

Sales rep calls back: "$22,000 annually. 12-month contract. Payment upfront."

I hung up on him. Called back because I thought it was a mistake. Nope. Vercel Pro is their honeypot - get you hooked on the workflow, then extort you when you need business features.

What Triggers Vercel's Enterprise Shakedown

Here's what makes them send you to their "enterprise consultation":

Basic Security Stuff

• SOC 2 compliance
• GDPR controls
• SSO integration (free everywhere else)
• Audit logs

Your Team Grows

• More than 20 people
• Role permissions
• Approval workflows
• Project isolation

Production Requirements

• Dedicated resources
• SLA guarantees
• Actual support
• Real monitoring

Why Migration Is Such a Pain in the Ass

Once you're hooked on their proprietary bullshit, leaving becomes hell:

Vercel-Only Features That Break Everywhere Else

• Edge Runtime functions (Node.js but not really)
• ISR caching that only works in Vercel-land
• Analytics they refuse to export (lost 2 years of data)
• Build caches locked to their platform
• APIs that work differently than standard Node.js

The Real Migration Pain

• Retraining devs on new deployment shit (2-3 weeks of complaints)
• Explaining to clients why preview URLs look different now
• Rebuilding CI/CD integrations from scratch
• Getting hit with early termination fees

Our Migration Horror Story

We migrated during our busiest month. Terrible decision. Here's what broke:

1. Edge Functions: Rewrote all API routes because Edge Runtime is Vercel-only garbage. Error: The Edge Runtime does not support Node.js APIs everywhere. Spent days debugging global is not defined errors.

2. ISR Cache: Week debugging stale content. ISR doesn't work outside Vercel. Hacked together Redis solution that still breaks sometimes.

3. Build Times: Triple the build time. Vercel's cache doesn't export. Spent days on Docker layer caching before giving up.

4. DNS: CNAME issues, SSL broken for hours. Let's Encrypt validation failures.

5. Analytics: Vercel refuses data export. Lost 2 years of analytics. Their API returns 403 for old data.

Migration took 9 weeks. Should've been 4 weeks if we hadn't built everything around their proprietary stuff.

Platforms That Don't Extort You

We tested these platforms during migration. Here's what actually works:

The Big Cloud Ones

AWS Amplify: Their docs are a maze but SSO works out of the box. No $22k extortion. Cold starts are noticeable but not terrible. Builds are usually fast. Turn on "performance mode" or big builds will timeout.

Google Cloud Run: Cold starts are pretty good. Containers work everywhere, no lock-in. Pricing makes sense. IAM is confusing as hell - spent forever figuring out service accounts.

Northflank: Kubernetes without YAML hell. BYOC means your data stays in your cloud. Support actually responds in hours via Slack. Builds choke on Docker layers over 1GB.

Azure Static Web Apps: Good if you're already in Microsoft land. Azure AD integration doesn't make you want to quit. $9/month for what Vercel wants $2k for.

Container Platforms

Fly.io: Global edge that works. Had some outages but their status page doesn't lie (unlike Vercel's "investigating" bullshit). Support actually responds in Slack. Warning: fly deploy hangs sometimes - use --detach.

Railway: Pretty UI, fast deploys. Pricing doesn't surprise you. Postgres works first try. Only issue: proxy timeouts on WebSocket connections over 30 minutes.

Render: Boring but reliable. Builds are slower than I'd like but they don't randomly break. Zero-downtime deploys actually work, which is more than I can say for some platforms.

Self-Hosted Options

Coolify: Like Vercel but your servers. 30-minute setup, saves thousands monthly. Docker Compose support is solid.

Dokku: Heroku-style on your VPS. Rock solid for years. git push deployment works. Good if you know Linux.

CapRover: Web UI for CLI haters. One-click SSL, auto backups. Runs on $20/month server.

What We Learned the Hard Way

If we started over, we'd skip Vercel entirely. The initial convenience isn't worth the migration hell.

Pick platforms that have:

• Portable deployments (containers or standard Node.js)
• Honest pricing (no "enterprise consultation" bullshit)
• Data export (because you'll eventually need to move)
• Real support (humans, not chatbots)

Vercel taught us a $20k lesson: convenience today becomes vendor lock-in tomorrow.

AWS Amplify: Business Features Without the Extortion

AWS Amplify gives you SSO and compliance shit without the $22k ransom note. Built on Amazon's infrastructure, which your security team already trusts.

Security Stuff Your Compliance Team Wants

AWS gives you all the certifications out of the box:

• SOC 2, ISO whatever, PCI compliance bullshit - all the acronyms your legal team cares about
• GDPR controls by picking EU regions
• IAM integration that actually works
• SAML/OIDC SSO through Cognito (setup takes 20 minutes)

Pricing That Makes Sense

Unlike Vercel's "surprise enterprise consultation," AWS pricing is public:

• Build minutes: $0.01/minute (1,000 free monthly)
• Hosting: $0.15/GB served (15GB free)
• Storage: $0.023/GB stored (5GB free)
• Team seats: $0 (unlimited people)

Typical app costs $200-500/month vs Vercel's $22k annually. AWS pricing is confusing but at least they don't hide it behind sales calls.

AWS Integration (If You're Into That)

Amplify plugs into the rest of AWS, which is either great or terrifying depending on your team:

• Cognito handles user auth (better than wrestling with Okta for weeks)
• Lambda for serverless functions (don't randomly timeout like Vercel's)
• DynamoDB or RDS for database stuff
• CloudFront CDN that's faster than Vercel in Europe

Google Cloud Run: Containers That Actually Work

Cloud Run deploys any container, scales automatically, and doesn't lock you into Google-specific bullshit.

Business Features That Work

Google's enterprise features are solid:

• All the compliance certificates (SOC 2, ISO 27001, FedRAMP if you're government)
• IAM permissions that make sense (once you figure out the interface)
• SAML/OIDC works with Google Identity - setup took 30 minutes
• You can pick where your data lives (EU, US, whatever your lawyers demand)

Container Benefits

Containers mean no vendor lock-in:

• Deploy anything: Python, Go, Node.js, whatever
• No runtime restrictions like Vercel's Edge bullshit
• Containers work everywhere (docker run locally = production)
• Cold starts are pretty good (set minimum instances if you hate waiting)

Performance That Works

Google's scaling actually works. Goes from 0 to whatever you need automatically. Their SLA is 99.95% and they'll actually pay you if they screw up (unlike some platforms that just say "sorry").

Load balancing is solid globally. We had users in Asia complaining about speed on Vercel, but Google's CDN fixed that. VPC stuff works if your network team has security opinions.

Northflank: Kubernetes-Powered Enterprise Platform

Northflank is basically Kubernetes without the YAML hell. Business features without the bullshit pricing.

Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC) Architecture

Northflank's BYOC model is actually smart:

• Deploy to your cloud accounts: Use AWS, GCP, Azure, whatever
• Complete data sovereignty: Your shit stays in your cloud
• Cost transparency: Pay AWS directly, not some middleman markup
• Compliance inheritance: Get your cloud provider's compliance for free

Business Features That Don't Cost Your Firstborn

Unlike Vercel, Northflank includes enterprise features on paid plans (not just $20k+ extortion tiers):

• SSO and SAML integration works out of the box - setup took like 15 minutes
• Role permissions that make sense (junior devs can't nuke prod)
• Audit logging for when compliance asks "who deployed what when"
• GitOps that actually works with your existing workflows

Pricing That Scales Gradually

Northflank's pricing starts at $20/month for the Startup plan, with enterprise features available across all tiers:

• No per-user charges: Unlimited team members on all plans
• Usage-based scaling: Pay for compute resources you actually use
• No long-term contracts: Month-to-month billing with annual discounts available
• BYOC cost optimization: Leverage reserved instances and spot pricing in your cloud account

Azure Static Web Apps: Microsoft Enterprise Integration

Azure Static Web Apps integrates well with Microsoft's ecosystem, making it a good choice if you're already using Microsoft stuff.

Actually Good Microsoft Integration

If you're already deep in Microsoft land, Azure works pretty well:

• Azure AD works out of the box (no $22k extortion like Vercel)
• Office 365 integration that doesn't make you want to quit
• All the compliance acronyms your lawyers want
• Permissions that actually make sense

Works With Your Existing Shit

Azure plays nice with the rest of your stack:

• Functions for serverless backend stuff (better than Vercel's Edge Runtime)
• Database options that don't cost extra (SQL, Cosmos, whatever)
• GitHub Actions integration actually works
• Preview environments for every PR (same as Vercel but cheaper)

Pricing That Makes Sense

• Free tier: 0.5GB bandwidth, 250MB storage, custom domains
• Standard tier: $9/month with 100GB bandwidth, 250MB storage
• No hidden fees: Transparent pricing with no per-user charges
• Azure Enterprise Agreement compatibility for large organizations

Fly.io: Global Edge Infrastructure

Fly.io offers solid global infrastructure with edge deployment capabilities that rival or exceed Vercel's performance.

Why Fly.io Doesn't Suck

Fly.io is basically what Vercel should have been - global edge deployment that actually works:

• SOC 2 and HIPAA compliance without the enterprise extortion
• SSO that works (SAML, OIDC, whatever your security team wants)
• Deploy to 30+ regions without paying per-region bullshit fees
• Actually scales based on geographic demand (not just US East Coast)

Pricing is pay-per-use with no minimum commitments. Scale to zero when not in use. Way more predictable than Vercel's surprise bills.

Making the Business Decision

When evaluating alternatives to Vercel, consider:

Immediate Cost Impact

Add up platform fees, team seats, and infrastructure costs. Most alternatives save you like 70-90% vs Vercel Enterprise, but your mileage may vary.

Migration Complexity

Container platforms (Cloud Run, Fly.io) are easier to migrate to. Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) take more work but give you more flexibility.

Compliance Requirements

All these platforms have enterprise compliance, but if you need specific shit (HIPAA, FedRAMP) some cloud providers are better.

Team Expertise

Use what your team already knows. If you're on AWS, stick with Amplify. Microsoft shop? Azure makes sense.

Bottom line: There are way better options than paying Vercel $22k for basic SSO. Pick one that doesn't fuck you on vendor lock-in and actually grows with your business.