The Two Giants of Static Hosting
Cloudflare Pages and Vercel are the top two options for hosting modern static and Jamstack sites. Here’s how they compare.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Cloudflare Pages | Vercel |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier bandwidth | Unlimited | 100GB |
| Build minutes (free) | 500 builds/mo | 6000 min/mo |
| Concurrent builds | 1 | 1 |
| Edge functions | Workers | Edge Functions |
| Preview deployments | Yes | Yes |
| Analytics | Built-in | Pro plan |
| Forms | Via Workers | Pro plan |
Performance
Both deliver excellent performance. Cloudflare has a slight edge globally due to their massive CDN network (330+ cities vs Vercel’s ~100+).
Developer Experience
Vercel wins on DX:
- Better Git integration
- Faster builds for Next.js/Astro
- More polished dashboard
- Better error handling
Cloudflare Pages wins on scale:
- Unlimited bandwidth at any tier
- Workers platform for backend logic
- DDoS protection included
- R2 storage for assets
Pricing at Scale
For a site with 500GB bandwidth/month:
| Platform | Cost |
|---|---|
| Cloudflare Pages | Free |
| Vercel | $20/mo (Pro) |
For a site needing serverless functions:
| Platform | Cost |
|---|---|
| Cloudflare Workers | 100K requests/day free, then $0.30/million |
| Vercel Functions | 100GB-hours free on Pro, then pay-as-you-go |
Recommendation
Choose Cloudflare Pages if:
- You need unlimited bandwidth
- You want a generous free tier for production
- You’re building a content-heavy site
- You want DDoS protection out of the box
Choose Vercel if:
- You’re using Next.js (best integration)
- Developer experience is a priority
- You need advanced preview deployments
- Team collaboration features matter
Note: Features and pricing may change. Check official documentation.
