Vercel Functions
Frontend-friendly functions and deploy previews.
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Vercel Functions scores 7.1/10 for free value in Functions. The main constraint: Hobby limits apply; function duration/request limits depend on runtime.
Free value score
7.1 / 10Show the math
Key metrics
What you get
Hobby limits apply; function duration/request limits depend on runtime.
Simple web APIs for frontend apps.
Gotchas
- 1M invocations/month
Hobby plan includes 1 million function invocations per month; cannot purchase additional usage on the free tier.
- 4 hrs Active CPU/month
Hobby plan includes only 4 hours of active CPU compute time per month for Vercel Functions under the Fluid compute model.
- 360 GB-hrs memory/month
Hobby plan includes 360 GB-hours of provisioned memory per month; exceeding this is not purchasable on Hobby.
- 100 GB data transfer/month
Fast Data Transfer is capped at 100 GB per month on the Hobby plan.
- 12 functions per deployment
Hobby plan is limited to 12 bundled Vercel Functions per deployment when not using a framework that consolidates them.
- Single region only
Hobby plan deploys functions to a single region (iad1 by default); multi-region deployment requires Pro or Enterprise.
- Single developer seat
Hobby plan supports only one developer; team collaboration and additional seats require upgrading to Pro.
- Personal use only
Vercel explicitly states the Hobby plan is for personal, noncom use; production commercial apps must upgrade to Pro.
- Functions archived after inactivity
Production deployment functions are archived after 2 weeks of no invocations (preview deployments after 48 hours), adding at least 1 second to the first cold start after archival.
- No cold start prevention
Cold start prevention (keep-alive/warmed instances) is a Pro-only feature; Hobby functions always cold start after archival.
- 1-hour runtime log retention
Hobby plan retains only 1 hour of runtime logs, making debugging production incidents very difficult.
- No build minutes included
Build minutes (standard, enhanced, turbo, elastic machines) are not included on the Hobby plan and must be purchased; CI/CD builds consume metered build time.
- No custom environments
Hobby plan has no custom deployment environments; only production and preview environments are available.
- No webhook triggers for deployments
Webhook-triggered deployments are not available on the Hobby plan.
Sources
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"Active CPU | 4 CPU-hrs ... Provisioned Memory | 360 GB-hrs ... Function Invocations | First 1,000,000 ... Function Duration | First 100 GB-Hours"
https://vercel.com/docs/plans/hobby -
"Active CPU | 4 CPU-hrs | Usage-based ... Invocations | 1 million | Usage-based ... Fast Data Transfer | 100 GB | 1 TB ... Fast Origin Transfer | Up to 10 GB | Usage-based"
https://vercel.com/docs/limits -
"| Hobby | 10s | 60s (1 minute) | | Pro | 15s | 300s (5 minutes) |"
https://vercel.com/docs/limits -
"As the Hobby plan is a free tier there are no billing cycles. In most cases, if you exceed your usage limits on the Hobby plan, you will have to wait until 30 days have passed before you can use the feature again ... the Hobby plan restricts users to noncom, personal use only."
https://vercel.com/docs/plans/hobby
