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Vercel vs Stackap

Vercel is a hosted deployment platform that runs your app on its infrastructure; Stackap is software that runs on a server you own and gives you the same push-to-deploy loop on it.

The short answer

The difference is who runs the machines. With Vercel, they do, and you get a global network, per-branch previews and a large ecosystem in exchange for usage-based pricing. With Stackap, you do, on one server, and you get a fixed and very low cost in exchange for owning the operations.

For an app that is a conventional Next.js or static site with a database behind it, both will serve it. The question is which trade you want.

Side by side

	Vercel	Stackap
Who runs the servers	Vercel	You, on a server you rent
Deploy trigger	Push to a connected Git host	Push to Stackap's own git, or `stackap deploy`
Branch previews	Yes	Not included
Global edge delivery	Yes	Not included; one server in Germany today
Serverless and edge functions	Yes	Not included; apps run as ordinary containers
Next.js support	First-party, by the same company	Generated Dockerfile; one large site measured at 96 s build
Rollback	Yes	Yes, one command to the previous deployment
Cost shape	Plans plus usage	The cost of the server
Moves with you	Tied to the platform's features	Standard containers and Postgres

Choose Vercel if

Visitors are spread across the world and latency matters to you.
Your team relies on preview URLs and review workflows for every branch.
You use platform-specific features such as edge middleware or its image service at scale.
You would rather pay than operate.

Choose Stackap if

Your hosting bill is the thing you want to change and your traffic fits on one machine. One test showed about 700 requests per second from a single 4-CPU server on real pages.
You want your app, its database and its files in one place that you control.
You are happy to run tests before pushing, since there is no built-in test gate.
You want rollback, health-checked deploys and HTTPS without assembling them, and one place for the app, its database and its files.

What the money looks like

Vercel is billed by plan and usage, and the details change, so check its pricing page for the current numbers. Stackap's cost follows the server you choose, not your traffic.

Do the sum with your own bill, not ours. The difference is largest when a bill is large and a team has someone comfortable with a terminal, and smallest when an app sits comfortably inside a free plan.

Early-access scope

No preview deployments, no edge network, no serverless functions: the three things people most often miss when leaving a hosted platform.
Delivery from a single server in Germany is slower for distant visitors, and nothing in front of it caches the pages.
Stackap is invite-only early access, so you cannot simply sign up.

Questions

Can Stackap run Next.js apps that use server rendering?

Yes, as a long-running container. Features that rely on a vendor's edge network will not behave the same.

Is Stackap a drop-in replacement?

No. It covers the common path for conventional apps and is open about what it leaves out.

Facts about other products on this page were last checked on 2026-10-03. Check their own pages before you decide.

Stackap is in early access. Tell us what you run and we will reply with a straight answer about whether it fits.

Ask for an invitation

Last updated 2026-10-03.