Head-to-head, indicative as of Oct 2026. Prices change — always confirm on the vendor page.
Quick read: pick Vercel if your workload is next.js and frontend-heavy products and its included egress fits your traffic shape; pick AWS Lightsail if you need simple sites that still want the aws backbone. For anything latency-sensitive at the edge, cold start row is the tiebreaker.
| Vercel | AWS Lightsail | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Frontend/platform | Simplified VPS |
| Free tier | Hobby tier free | 3 months free on first instances |
| Paid pricing (indicative) | Pro $20/user/mo; usage-metered functions | Flat from ~$5/mo (1GB) |
| Egress | Fair-use included on Pro | 1-5TB included by plan |
| Cold start | Minimal (edge-first) | N/A (always-on) |
| Regions | Global edge network | Major AWS regions |
| Best for | Next.js and frontend-heavy products | Simple sites that still want the AWS backbone |
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Last reviewed 2026-10-02 · NinjaOps SEO grid · DevOps blog