You've finally built that Next.js application that you're proud of. Now it's time to deploy it to the world, but you have no idea which provider is best for hosting your Next.js application. You're not alone!
In this post, we consider the best hosting providers for Next.js applications, and which one can be the best fit for your application.
We will consider the following factors:
- Developer Experience/Ease of Deployment
- Scalability
- Cost
- Security
How to choose the best hosting provider for your Next.js application?
There are many hosting providers available, and choosing the best one for your application depends on various factors, such as the type of application, the number of users, the traffic, and the budget.
Here are some of the most popular hosting providers for Next.js applications:
- Vercel: Vercel is the de-facto hosting provider for Next.js Next.js applications, since Next.js is itself built by Vercel.
- Netlify: Netlify rose to prominence for their Jamstack offering, offering, but today they offer a great hosting solution for Next.js applications.
- AWS: Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the most famous Cloud Provider around, and likely the most trusted provider overall. You can use OpenNext to more easily deploy your Next.js application to AWS.
- Cloudflare Pages: Cloudflare offers lighting fast hosting using Cloudflare Workers and the best pricing overall for managed services.
- Railway: Railway is a cloud platform that provides a simple and fast way to deploy your Next.js application (and pretty much any Docker container). Great UI, great support, offers continuous servers that can also scale to zero.
- Fly.io: Similar to Railway, Fly.io also provides continuous servers that that can be deployed to multiple regions and an attractive pricing model.
- Your own VPS: Use a VPS from providers such as Digital Ocean, Linode or Hetzner, Contabo or OVH. This is the the cheapest (and arguably most performant) option, but requires you to manage the server yourself.
Optimizing for Easy Deployment and Developer Experience
When it comes to developer experience and ease of deployment, Vercel and Netlify stand out from the crowd. Both platforms offer:
- Git-based deployments with automatic builds and deployments on every push
- Preview deployments for pull requests
- Built-in analytics, performance monitoring and observability tooling
- Easy environment variable management
- Team collaboration features
- CLI tools for local development and deployment
- Serverless functions
- A very good free plan
Vercel has a slight edge here since they're the creators of Next.js, and therefore have more in-depth knowledge to support some of the new features that Next.js offers. This has been a criticism from the Next.js community, since there is the belief that Vercel hides the true power of Next.js behind their infrastructure.
In general, once you connect a repository to any of these platforms, your application will just work.
NB: while these are the most beginner-friendly options, they are also the most expensive. While you can start for free, at scale you may find these to be pricey.
✅ Use Vercel with Next.js if you're a beginner or just want to get started with Next.js. Vercel is the easiest to use, and the most beginner friendly option. At scale, Vercel is the most expensive, but it's the easiest to use.
A special mention for Railway
Railway, in my experience, is on par with Vercel when it comes to developer experience and ease of deployment. The only difference is Railway use a Docker container to deploy Next.js (which works with a single click), while Vercel uses their Serverless lambda-based infrastructure.
The biggest advantage of Vercel is that the platform itself is primarily built for Next.js, while Railway is a general-purpose platform that can be used for any Docker container (be it a Postgres database, a Redis cache, or a Next.js application).
Railway is an incredible option if you want to deploy multiple containers and host your whole platform on their infrastructure.
Railway also supports by default multi-region deployments, scale to zero (great for staging environments) and a thriving Discord community.
✅ Use Railway with Next.js if you want to enjoy a great developer experience, want a managed Docker environment, and/or want to deploy multiple containers. Railways costs less than Vercel/Netlify, but it's more expensive than a VPS or Cloudflare and possibly AWS (at scale).
As a beginner, Railway is also a great option for you.
Optimizing for Scalability
When scalability is your primary concern, cloud providers like AWS and Cloudflare Pages offer the most robust solutions:
AWS provides unmatched scalability through services like:
- Amazon ECS or EKS for container orchestration
- Auto Scaling Groups for handling traffic spikes
- CloudFront for global content delivery
- RDS for database scaling
- Lambda for serverless functions
Cloudflare Pages, powered by their global network of data centers, offers:
- Automatic edge deployment to 275+ cities worldwide
- Built-in DDoS protection
- Unlimited bandwidth on all plans
- Automatic asset optimization
AWS is the best option for larger applications
AWS is hands down the most trusted Cloud provider in the world, powering many of the largest SaaS companies. While not the cheapest, it's often regarded as the most stable and reliable provider.
Assuming you're a large team, with experienced AWS administrators, it's likely that AWS is the best option for you.
AWS "Wrappers"
We need to mention that there are also a number of AWS Wrappers that can be used to deploy Next.js applications to AWS. These are a great option to make using AWS easier with a higher-level abstraction layer.
Two of the most popular are:
- SST, which stands for Serverless Toolkit, which helps compose and build full stack applications on any Infrastructure. They also started OpenNext, which is a tool that makes it easier to deloy Next.js applications outside of Vercel. Both Netlify and Cloudflare recently announced collaboration to improve OpenNext.
- FlightControl, a PaaS that helps deploy any application to AWS. Thanks to its UI and tooling, it makes managing AWS resources a much easier task.
When to use AWS with Next.js
✅ Use AWS with Next.js if you have in-house experience with AWS and use AWS for other services. AWS is the most trusted provider, and you can use OpenNext to more easily deploy your Next.js application to AWS.
If you use AWS and want to use AWS Lambda, then OpenNext is the best way to deploy your Next.js application to AWS Lambda.
Cloudflare Workers
Cloudflare does not use Node.js but a [different JS runtime which is increasingly compatible](https://developers.cloudflare. com/workers/runtime-apis/) with the Node.js API.
The Cloudflare runtime is incredibly fast and price-efficient, and the Cloudflare Pages ecosystem is increasingly improving when it comes to Developer Experience and Features (most recently, with the introduction of first-class Observability tooling thanks to the Baselime acquisition).
This means that to use Next.js on Cloudflare Workers, you need to set Next.js to use the edge runtime across all your pages.
Issues with Cloudflare Workers and Next.js
The shortcoming of this approach is the impossibility of using some common libraries (such as Nodemailer) or other Node.js API (most notably, the File System API, which allows you to read and write files on the filesystem).
Using the edge runtime may require the skills to use a different approach, or using external services, which makes me discourage beginners from using Cloudflare Workers.
In addition, I did find some issues that come up, although they're usually not directly related to Cloudflare itself, but some incompatibilities introduced by a Next.js upgrade. This means, sometimes, you may need to wait until the Cloudflare Pages team released a fix for these issues.
You can find some of these issues in the [Next on Pages Github Repository] (https://github.com/cloudflare/next-on-pages).
NB: Cloudflare is my favorite provider for hosting Next.js applications, but this is totally subjective, and you should choose the provider that best fits your needs.
✅ Use Cloudflare Workers with Next.js if you're comfortable with the trade-offs of not using a Node.js runtime, while enjoying incredible performance at a VPS-like price.
Optimizing for Cost
Cost optimization varies significantly based on your application's needs.
A VPS Solution is hands-down the most cost-effective option for predictable workloads. You can start with a basic droplet for $4-5/month, and then scale up as your application grows.
Self-hosted VPS solutions (Digital Ocean, Linode, Hetzner):
- Most cost-effective for predictable workloads
- Basic droplets start at $4-5/month
- Complete control over resources
It's also important to mention Cloudflare Workers which offer an incredible free tier and very cost effective hosting for serverless functions.
The issue with self-hosted VPS solutions
The main issue with self-hosted VPS solutions is that they require you to manage your own infrastructure, which can be a challenge for some teams. If you are not familiar with DevOps, you may find this to be a barrier to entry.
A special mention for Coolify
Coolify makes it easier to deploy any application to your own VPS infrastructure. Coolify will handle a ton of the complexity for you, and you can focus on your application.
Coolify will handle:
- Automatic SSL/TLS certificate management
- Pre-configured Docker containers
- Server Automations
- Monitoring and Alerting
- Notifications
- Automatic backups
- Free SSL Certificates
- Pull Request Deployments
- ... and more!
✅ Use Coolify with Next.js if you want to deploy your application to your own VPS infrastructure while enjoying the incredible price-performance benefits of using a VPS.
Optimizing for Security
Security considerations are crucial when choosing a hosting provider:
Managed platforms (Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare):
- Automatic SSL/TLS certificate management
- Built-in DDoS protection
- Regular security updates
- Automated backup systems
- Team access controls and audit logs
Self-managed solutions (AWS, VPS):
- Complete control over security configurations
- Custom firewall rules and network policies
- Ability to implement specific compliance requirements
- Responsibility for security updates and patches
Security-wise, you may want to let your hosting provider handle the security configurations for you, and then delegate the security updates and patches to your team.
This, of course, doesn't change the fact you need to secure your own application regardless of the hosting provider you choose.
The issue with self-managed solutions
Self-managed solutions are also a challenge for some teams. You may find yourself in a situation where you need to manage your own security configurations and firewall rules, which can be a challenge for some teams.
It's also important to mention that self-managed solutions are not as scalable as managed solutions, which can be a challenge for some teams.
Making the Final Decision
To choose the right hosting provider, consider these questions:
- What's your team's technical expertise?
- For teams without DevOps expertise, managed platforms like Vercel, Netlify or Railway are ideal
- For teams with DevOps capabilities, AWS or self-hosted solutions offer more control
- What's your budget constraint?
- For side projects or MVPs, use the generous free tiers of Vercel or Netlify
- For cost-sensitive production apps, perhaps a VPS or self-hosted solution would be a better fit
- What are your scaling requirements?
- For very large-scale applications, choose Cloudflare Pages or AWS
- If toy're not afraid of the command line, then using a VPS will offer great performance and cost-efficiency at scale
- For regional applications, any provider will suffice
Conclusion - the best hosting provider for your Next.js application
The best hosting provider for your Next.js application depends on your specific needs and constraints.
- For beginners, Vercel provides the optimal balance of features, ease of use, and scalability.
- If cost is a major concern (while keeping incredible DX), consider Railway or Fly.io.
- For enterprise applications with specific requirements, AWS offers the most flexibility and control.
- If you're good with Linux and Docker, then a VPS is a great option and the most price-efficient solution.
- CLoudflare is incredibly fast and price-efficient, excellent DX, and offers a great developer experience, but the Node.js incompatibilities may offer more challenges when it comes to developing Next.js applications.
Deploying Makerkit, the Next.js SaaS Template for production-ready SaaS applications
Makerkit, the Next.js SaaS Boilerplate for building SaaS products, is a production-ready starter kit for building SaaS products. It's a great choice for developers who want to build a SaaS product quickly and easily.
Any of the hosting providers mentioned in this post can be used to deploy Makerkit. The choice of hosting provider depends on your specific needs and constraints. For most teams, Vercel provides the optimal balance of features, ease of use, and scalability. If cost is a major concern, consider Railway or Fly.io. For enterprise applications with specific requirements, AWS offers the most flexibility and control.