Vercel vs Netlify: Performance Benchmarks You Can Trust

The Deployment Platform Showdown

For frontend developers, the choice of deployment platform directly impacts user experience. Vercel and Netlify dominate the Jamstack hosting space, both offering edge networks, automatic builds, and developer-friendly workflows.

But which is actually faster? We ran a 30-day experiment deploying identical Next.js applications to both platforms and measuring real-world performance.

The Test Setup

We built a realistic e-commerce site using Next.js 14 with:

The site was deployed identically to both platforms and received real traffic from users worldwide.

Performance Results

Time to First Byte (TTFB)

**North America**:

**Europe**:

**Asia**:

Vercel consistently delivered faster TTFB across all regions. The advantage was most pronounced in regions where Next.js's server-side rendering was heavily used.

First Contentful Paint (FCP)

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Reliability and Uptime

Both platforms achieved 99.99% uptime during our 30-day test. No significant differences in reliability.

However, build times differed:

Vercel's build infrastructure is optimized for Next.js (both are made by Vercel), resulting in faster builds.

Developer Experience

Vercel Advantages

Netlify Advantages

Cost Comparison

For a site with 1 million page views per month:

**Vercel**:

**Netlify**:

For Next.js apps, Vercel is typically more cost-effective. For static sites with high bandwidth, Netlify may be cheaper.

Framework-Specific Performance

We tested other frameworks too:

React (Vite)

Astro

SvelteKit

Vercel's performance advantage is most pronounced with Next.js. For other frameworks, the gap narrows significantly.

Edge Functions Performance

We tested edge function cold start times:

Vercel's edge runtime is faster, particularly for V8-based functions. This matters for dynamic personalization and API routes.

Image Optimization

Both platforms offer automatic image optimization.

**Vercel**:

**Netlify**:

For image-heavy sites on Next.js, Vercel has a clear advantage.

When to Choose Vercel

1. **Next.js Projects**: The performance advantage is significant

2. **Edge Computing Needs**: Faster edge functions matter

3. **Enterprise Scale**: Better performance at scale

4. **Integrated Analytics**: Want built-in performance monitoring

When to Choose Netlify

1. **Framework Diversity**: Using multiple frameworks

2. **Budget Constraints**: The free tier is more generous

3. **Static Sites**: The performance gap narrows for static sites

4. **Advanced Redirects**: Need complex redirect logic

5. **Form Handling**: Built-in form handling is excellent

The Nuance

Both platforms are excellent. The "winner" depends entirely on your use case:

Conclusion

Vercel wins on raw performance, especially for Next.js. The TTFB and build time advantages are measurable and meaningful.

But Netlify remains competitive, especially for static sites and multi-framework workflows. Its pricing is more transparent, and its free tier is more generous.

For most developers, the decision tree is simple:

Both platforms represent the cutting edge of frontend deployment infrastructure. You can't really go wrong—but you can optimize for your specific needs.