AWS Amplify vs Vercel: Complete Pricing Comparison for Next.js Applications

When choosing a hosting platform for your Next.js application, understanding the true cost is crucial for making an informed decision. Both Vercel and AWS Amplify offer powerful deployment solutions, but their pricing models differ significantly. This comprehensive comparison analyzes the actual costs based on official pricing from both platforms, helping you determine which solution fits your budget and requirements.

The Pricing Challenge

Both platforms have strengths, but understanding their pricing structures is essential:

Vercel's Challenge: The free Hobby tier is strictly for personal, non-commercial use. Any business use requires the Pro plan at $20/month per team member, creating immediate baseline costs regardless of traffic.

AWS Amplify's Challenge: While there's no per-seat cost, the pricing structure involves multiple components (builds, bandwidth, storage, compute) that can be complex to predict without understanding your usage patterns.

Key Question: Which platform offers better value for your specific use case?

Vercel Pricing Structure

Hobby Plan (Free Forever)

Cost: $0/month

Included Resources:

• 100 GB Fast Data Transfer
• 1M Edge Requests
• 1M Function Invocations
• 4 hours Active CPU (Vercel Functions)
• 360 GB-hrs Provisioned Memory
• 1M ISR Reads, 200K ISR Writes
• 5K Image Transformations
• Unlimited deployments

Restrictions: Personal and non-commercial use only

Pro Plan ($20/month per seat)

Base Cost: $20/month per team member

Included Resources:

• $20 usage credit (can offset overages)
• 100 GB Fast Data Transfer
• 1M Edge Requests
• 1M Function Invocations
• 4 hours Active CPU (Vercel Functions)
• 360 GB-hrs Provisioned Memory
• 10 GB Fast Origin Transfer
• 1M ISR Reads, 200K ISR Writes
• 5K Image Transformations
• 1 GB Blob Storage
• Team collaboration + free viewer seats
• Advanced spend management

Overage Pricing: Usage beyond included amounts is charged separately (pricing varies by resource type)

Key Consideration: Team costs scale with size. A 5-person team = $100/month base cost before any usage overages.

AWS Amplify Pricing Structure

Free Tier (First 12 Months)

Cost: $0/month (for eligible usage)

Included Resources:

• 1,000 build minutes
• 15 GB data served
• 5 GB storage
• 500,000 requests
• 100 GB-hours SSR compute

Note: New AWS customers starting July 15, 2025 receive up to $200 in AWS Free Tier credits usable within 12 months

Pay-As-You-Go Pricing

Build & Deploy:

• Standard builds: $0.01/minute
• Enhanced builds: $0.025/minute
• Turbo builds: $0.10/minute

Hosting:

• Data transfer: $0.15/GB served
• Storage: $0.023/GB/month
• Requests: $0.30 per million

SSR Compute (if applicable):

• $0.20 per GB-hour

Firewall (optional):

• $15/month per Amplify app + WAF costs

Key Advantages:

• No per-seat pricing (unlimited team members)
• No base monthly fee (pay only for usage)
• Multiple sites per project included
• Public SSL certificates included

Cost Comparison Methodology

To provide accurate comparisons, we'll analyze costs across different scenarios based on:

• Team Size: Solo developer vs. team of 5
• Traffic Levels: Small (10K visitors/month), Medium (100K visitors/month), Large (500K visitors/month)
• Deployment Frequency: 1 build/week (typical for production)
• Average Page Size: 2MB (including assets)
• Build Time: 5 minutes per build (standard Next.js app)

Comparison 1: Solo Developer with Small Traffic

Scenario: 1 developer, 10,000 visitors/month, 20 GB data transfer/month, 4 builds/month

Vercel Hobby (Free)

• Base cost: $0
• Data transfer: 20 GB (within 100 GB free)
• Edge requests: ~30K (within 1M free)
• Total: $0/month
• Limitation: Cannot be used for commercial projects

Vercel Pro

• Base cost: $20/month (1 seat)
• Data transfer: 20 GB (within 100 GB included)
• All other usage within included limits
• Total: $20/month

AWS Amplify

• Builds: 4 builds × 5 min × 0.01 = 0.20
• Data transfer: 20 GB × 0.15 = 3.00
• Storage: 1 GB × 0.023 = 0.02
• Requests: 30K × 0.30/million = 0.01
• Subtotal: $3.23/month
• With Free Tier (first 12 months): $0/month (all usage covered)
• After Free Tier: $3.23/month

Winner: AWS Amplify (96% savings) - After free tier: 3.23 vs 20

Comparison 2: Solo Developer with Medium Traffic

Scenario: 1 developer, 100,000 visitors/month, 200 GB data transfer/month, 4 builds/month

Vercel Pro

• Base cost: $20/month (1 seat)
• Data transfer: 200 GB
  • Included: 100 GB
  • Overage: 100 GB (~$15 estimated based on typical CDN costs)
• Usage credit: $20 applies to overages
• Total: ~$20-35/month (depending on exact overage rates)

AWS Amplify

• Builds: 4 builds × 5 min × 0.01 = 0.20
• Data transfer: 200 GB × 0.15 = 30.00
• Storage: 5 GB × 0.023 = 0.12
• Requests: 300K × 0.30/million = 0.09
• Subtotal: $30.41/month
• With Free Tier (first 12 months): ~$28/month (15 GB data + other limits covered)
• After Free Tier: $30.41/month

Winner: Comparable (Vercel 20-35 vs Amplify 28-30)

Comparison 3: Team of 5 with Medium Traffic

Scenario: 5 developers, 100,000 visitors/month, 200 GB data transfer/month, 20 builds/month

Vercel Pro

• Base cost: 20/month × 5 seats = 100/month
• Data transfer: 200 GB
  • Included: 100 GB
  • Overage: 100 GB ($15)
• Usage credit: $20 applies to overages
• Total: ~$100-115/month

AWS Amplify

• Builds: 20 builds × 5 min × 0.01 = 1.00
• Data transfer: 200 GB × 0.15 = 30.00
• Storage: 5 GB × 0.023 = 0.12
• Requests: 300K × 0.30/million = 0.09
• Subtotal: $31.21/month
• With Free Tier (first 12 months): ~$29/month
• After Free Tier: $31.21/month

Winner: AWS Amplify (73% savings) - 31 vs 100-115

Comparison 4: Team of 5 with Large Traffic

Scenario: 5 developers, 500,000 visitors/month, 1 TB (1,000 GB) data transfer/month, 20 builds/month

Vercel Pro

• Base cost: 20/month × 5 seats = 100/month
• Data transfer: 1,000 GB
  • Included: 100 GB
  • Overage: 900 GB (~$135 estimated)
• Usage credit: $20 applies to overages
• Total: ~$215/month

AWS Amplify

• Builds: 20 builds × 5 min × 0.01 = 1.00
• Data transfer: 1,000 GB × 0.15 = 150.00
• Storage: 10 GB × 0.023 = 0.23
• Requests: 1.5M × 0.30/million = 0.45
• Subtotal: $151.68/month
• With Free Tier (first 12 months): ~$149/month
• After Free Tier: $151.68/month

Winner: AWS Amplify (29% savings) - 152 vs 215

Quick Comparison Table

Scenario	Vercel Pro	AWS Amplify	Savings	Notes
Solo, 10K visitors	$20	3 (0 first year)	85-100%	Can't use Vercel Hobby commercially
Solo, 100K visitors	$20-35	$28-30	0-20%	Comparable costs
Team of 5, 100K visitors	$100-115	$29-31	73%	Per-seat cost dominates
Team of 5, 500K visitors	$215	$149-152	29%	Bandwidth becomes factor

Additional Cost Factors

SSL Certificates

• Vercel: Included (free, automatic)
• Amplify: Included (free, automatic via AWS Certificate Manager)

Custom Domains

• Vercel: Unlimited (free)
• Amplify: Unlimited (free)

Preview Deployments

• Vercel: Unlimited (included in all plans)
• Amplify: Free (included)

Build Concurrency

• Vercel Pro: No queues, faster builds
• Amplify: First-come-first-served, can be slower during high demand

Analytics & Monitoring

• Vercel: 10K Speed Insights events, 50K Web Analytics events (included)
• Amplify: Use CloudWatch (pay-per-use, typically $2-10/month)

Image Optimization

• Vercel: 5K transformations/month included
• Amplify: Not included (use CloudFront + Lambda@Edge or third-party CDN)

Key Pricing Insights

When AWS Amplify Wins on Cost

1. Teams with 3+ developers: The per-seat pricing on Vercel ($20/month per developer) quickly adds up. Amplify has zero per-seat costs.
2. Moderate to high traffic: Once you exceed Vercel's included limits, bandwidth costs become significant. Amplify's $0.15/GB is competitive but avoid the per-seat baseline.
3. Multiple projects: No per-seat cost means you can host multiple projects without multiplying team costs.
4. Predictable traffic patterns: You can accurately forecast Amplify costs based on bandwidth and build frequency.

When Vercel Wins on Cost

1. Solo developers with low traffic: If you're within Hobby plan limits and it's a personal project, Vercel is free.
2. 1-2 person teams with moderate traffic: The $20-40/month base cost might be comparable to Amplify once you factor in bandwidth.
3. Included features matter: If you heavily use Image Optimization, Speed Insights, or Web Analytics, the included quotas add value.

The Hidden Cost Factor: Developer Time

Vercel's Value: Zero-config deployments, instant previews, seamless Next.js integration can save hours of setup and troubleshooting. Critically, Vercel offers exclusive Next.js optimizations including:

• Edge Functions with ultra-low latency execution at the edge
• Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR) with better caching and invalidation
• Next.js-specific features like Image Optimization, Font Optimization, and automatic code splitting
• Edge Middleware for advanced routing and personalization
• Native support for latest Next.js features (often available before other platforms)

Amplify's Trade-off: More configuration required, less polished DX, potential troubleshooting time. Amplify doesn't support some advanced Next.js features like Edge Runtime, Edge Middleware, or Vercel's optimized ISR implementation. However, costs are dramatically lower for teams.

ROI Calculation: If Amplify saves your 5-person team 85/month (1,020/year), but requires 5 extra developer hours/year at $100/hour, Vercel might win on total cost. However, if setup is one-time and hosting cost savings compound monthly, Amplify wins. Consider whether your app needs Vercel's exclusive Next.js optimizations - if you rely heavily on Edge Functions, ISR, or cutting-edge Next.js features, Vercel may be the only viable option regardless of cost.

When to Choose Vercel

Choose Vercel if:

1. You need advanced Next.js features (Edge Functions, Edge Middleware, optimized ISR, cutting-edge Next.js support)
2. Performance at the edge is critical (ultra-low latency with edge compute)
3. You're a solo developer with a personal project (Hobby plan is free)
4. Team is 1-2 people and traffic is low-moderate (costs are comparable)
5. Developer experience is paramount (zero-config, instant previews, seamless integration)
6. You heavily use included features (Image Optimization, Analytics, Speed Insights)
7. Time-to-market is critical (faster setup, less configuration)
8. Budget accommodates premium pricing for better DX and exclusive features

When to Choose AWS Amplify

Choose AWS Amplify if:

1. Your app doesn't require Edge Functions or advanced Next.js features (standard SSR/SSG is sufficient)
2. Team has 3+ developers (saves $40-80+/month in per-seat fees)
3. Cost optimization is a priority (especially for small-medium businesses)
4. Traffic is moderate to high (bandwidth costs dominate, no seat fees)
5. You're already using AWS services (S3, Lambda, DynamoDB, etc.)
6. You want infrastructure control (access to underlying S3/CloudFront config)
7. Multiple projects/sites (no per-seat multiplication)

Pricing Summary by Scenario

Solo Developer

• Low traffic (personal project): Vercel Hobby (free) wins
• Low traffic (commercial): Amplify wins (85% savings: 3 vs 20)
• Medium traffic: Comparable ($28-35 both platforms)
• High traffic: Amplify wins slightly (lower baseline)

Small Team (2-3 developers)

• Any traffic level: Amplify wins (30-70% savings)
• Per-seat fees become significant: 40-60/month baseline vs 0

Medium-Large Team (5+ developers)

• Any traffic level: Amplify wins significantly (70%+ savings)
• Example: 5 devs, 100K visitors = 100+ (Vercel) vs 30 (Amplify)

Enterprise Scale

• Both become expensive: Consider custom solutions (ECS, CloudFront + S3 direct)
• Amplify still wins on per-seat costs: But contact both for enterprise pricing

The Real Cost Comparison

Factor	Vercel Pro	AWS Amplify	Winner
Base monthly cost (1 dev)	$20	$0	Amplify
Per additional developer	+$20	$0	Amplify
Bandwidth (per GB)	~$0.15*	$0.15	Tie
Build time	Free	$0.01/min	Vercel
Setup complexity	Very easy	Moderate	Vercel
Free tier generosity	Good (Hobby)	Excellent (12 months)	Amplify
Edge Functions	Included	Not available	Vercel
Edge Middleware	Included	Not available	Vercel
Image optimization	Included	Extra cost	Vercel
Analytics	Included	Extra cost	Vercel
Infrastructure control	Limited	Full	Amplify

*Estimated based on typical overage patterns

Bottom Line Recommendations

Choose Vercel if: You need Edge Functions, Edge Middleware, or cutting-edge Next.js features; value developer experience over cost; have a small team (1-2 people); or need zero-config deployment.

Choose Amplify if: Your app works with standard SSR/SSG (no edge compute required), you have a team of 3+ developers, cost optimization matters, or you want to avoid per-seat pricing that scales with team size.

For most businesses with development teams: Amplify offers 30-75% cost savings, primarily by eliminating per-seat fees. The trade-off is more configuration, slightly less polished developer experience, and lack of support for advanced Next.js features like Edge Functions and Edge Middleware. Evaluate your technical requirements first - if you need Vercel's exclusive optimizations, cost savings may be secondary.

Next Steps

Ready to try AWS Amplify and see the cost savings yourself? Check out our step-by-step deployment guide for Next.js on AWS Amplify.

Note: Pricing information accurate as of January 2026. Always verify current pricing on Vercel's pricing page and AWS Amplify's pricing page before making decisions.