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SIAX vs Vercel: edge vs EU hosting
Vercel is the platform that defined modern frontend hosting. They build Next.js, and it shows: preview deployments for every pull request, zero configuration for most projects, streaming and incremental static regeneration that just works. If you're measuring time from git push to a working preview, Vercel is still the benchmark everyone else gets measured against — us included.
Their edge network is another genuine advantage. With well over a hundred points of presence worldwide, a visitor in Singapore or São Paulo gets static content from a server nearby. We run EU data centers in Germany and Finland with a CDN in front of static content — good for Nordic and European visitors, but not comparable to a global anycast network.
We ran siax.io on Vercel ourselves before moving it to our own platform, so this isn't a theoretical comparison. We didn't move because Vercel was bad — we moved because the bill was variable, because we wanted the database, jobs, and storage sitting next to the app instead of spread across four vendors, and because we sell EU data residency ourselves and needed to live by it.
Where SIAX is stronger
- A predictable bill. App Hosting from 99 kr/month at a fixed price, with no variable line items for function calls, bandwidth, image optimizations, or ISR reads. A page that suddenly gets a lot of traffic gives you visitors, not a nasty invoice.
- The whole stack with the same vendor: Managed Postgres from 89 kr/month, object storage 25 kr/100 GB, backup 19 kr/100 GB, email 19 kr/mailbox, git and CI 199 kr for ten users, monitoring free for up to ten checks.
- Long-running processes. Background jobs, queues, cron, and open WebSocket connections with no serverless time limits — the app runs as a regular container with its own filesystem.
- EU data residency without exception. Application data, build logs, databases, and backups stay in the EU, with a Swedish company with no US parent company connection.
- No lock-in. Your app is an OCI container built from a Dockerfile, the database is plain PostgreSQL, and storage speaks an S3-compatible API. If you want to move away, you do it without rewriting anything.
Where Vercel is stronger
- The developer experience. Preview deploys per pull request, comments directly on the preview, one-click rollback, zero configuration for Next.js. We come close; we don't come past.
- They build Next.js. New features — streaming, partial prerendering, on-demand revalidation — work first and frictionlessly on Vercel. With us, the same feature can require manual work in the Dockerfile and a standalone build.
- The global edge network. If you have users outside Europe, latency is measurably better on Vercel, and auto-scaling during traffic spikes happens without anyone lifting a finger.
- The surrounding services that only exist there: platform-level DDoS protection and firewall, image optimization, web analytics, integrations. Each one can be replaced individually, but you don't have to think about any of them.
Side by side
| SIAX | Vercel | |
|---|---|---|
| Price for a small production app | 99 kr/month, fixed. With Managed Postgres, 188 kr/month. Same amount regardless of traffic spikes within reasonable use. | The Hobby plan is free but cannot be used commercially. Pro costs around 20 USD per user per month plus variable usage. Prices change. |
| Variable costs | None. Bandwidth, build minutes, and requests are included in the monthly price. | Bandwidth, function invocations, image optimizations, and ISR reads are billed on top of the plan. The cost is hard to predict before the traffic arrives. |
| Global latency | EU data centers in Germany and Finland with a CDN in front of static content. Good in Europe, weaker in Asia and the Americas. | Over a hundred points of presence globally. Industry-leading, and something we don't match. |
| Next.js support | Runs Next.js as a container with a standalone build. Works well, but new platform features can require configuration. | The reference platform. Everything in the framework works on day one, because they write the framework. |
| Backend alongside frontend | Postgres, object storage, backup, queues, cron, and long-running jobs in the same environment and on the same invoice. | Serverless functions with time limits. Database and storage are purchased as separate products or from partners. |
| Data residency | All data in the EU without exception: app, database, logs, backups. | Region can be chosen for functions and database, but the edge network and parts of the control plane are global. |
| Certifications | None. Neither ISO 27001 nor SOC 2. We offer GDPR compliance, a data processing agreement, EU residency, and open source as auditability. | Third-party-audited SOC 2 and additional frameworks. Check their current status. |
| Lock-in | Open source all the way. Container, PostgreSQL, S3-compatible storage. Moving away requires no rewrite. | Edge middleware, ISR behavior, and platform-specific adapters turn a move to self-hosting into a real project. |
| Support | Swedish, direct contact with the people who run the platform. Included in the price. | Community and email on lower tiers, dedicated support on enterprise. English. |
Choose Vercel if…
Choose Vercel if your audience is global and latency outside Europe is a business concern — that's where their edge network wins and we have no equivalent. Choose Vercel if you're a small product team with no one who wants to touch infrastructure, if you're on the leading edge of Next.js features and want next week's release to work the day it ships, or if you're already using their ecosystem for previews and analytics. And one more thing that's decisive in some procurement processes: Vercel can point to third-party-audited SOC 2 — check their current status — we can't. We have neither ISO 27001 nor SOC 2. If your customer or your compliance function requires a vendor audit certificate, the choice has already been made for you.
Choose SIAX if…
Choose SIAX when the bulk of your traffic is in the Nordics or Europe, when the invoice needs to be the same number every month, and when the app is more than a frontend. As soon as you need a real database, background jobs, file handling, long HTTP calls, or a cron job that actually runs every night, the serverless model gets awkward and you start accumulating vendors. With us, everything is on one invoice, in the EU, built on open source you can take with you. It's also the right choice when legal or procurement requirements demand documented EU data residency for all data — not just for the function region.
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