Vercel is a cloud platform for front-end frameworks and static sites, optimized for serverless deployment and instant global delivery.
In essence, Vercel simplifies and optimizes the build → deploy → scale workflow for modern web applications.
Core Concepts:
- Jamstack-oriented: ideal for apps built with frameworks like Next.js (Vercel is the creator of Next.js), React, Vue, Svelte, etc.
- Serverless functions: easily define API endpoints as serverless functions (e.g., in
api/directories). - Automatic CI/CD: Git-based deployments triggered on push.
- Edge Network: content is cached and served globally via a CDN for low latency.
- Previews: every pull request gets its own URL for preview and testing.
Use Cases:
- Static sites
- Front-end for full-stack apps
- Headless CMS frontends
- Real-time previews and collaboration (e.g., with design teams)