The short answer
- Moving from Vercel Pro to GitHub Pages (free tier) at 1 seat saves $190 in the first year, after setup and upkeep time (Stackcut's model: modeled, not measured).
- GitHub Pages's official migration guide moves 2 kinds of data in full and 1 partly; 6 things stay behind. What moves
- 2 comparison pages checked, each labeled with who wrote it. What they claim
What Vercel and GitHub Pages cost
List prices from each vendor's pricing page, as stored in the Stackcut catalog. Each price links its source.
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly (per month) | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vercel Pro | $20/user/mo | not shown | $20/month platform fee with 1 deploying seat and $20 of monthly usage credit (extra deploying seats $20/month each; viewer seats free); Flat Rate CDN base tier included: 1M CDN requests and 1 TB data transfer a month (next tiers $20/month for 10M requests and 50 TB, $100 for 50M, $300 for 150M; a tier moves up at the next billing cycle); on demand: Fast Data Transfer $0.15/GB, Edge Requests $2 per 1M, Fluid Active CPU from $0.128/hour, provisioned memory from $0.0106/GB-hour, function invocations $0.60 per 1M; unlimited projects; 6,000 deployments a day; default spend alert at $200 |
- Vercel free plan: Hobby: personal, non-commercial use only; 1 developer seat; 100 GB Fast Data Transfer, 1M Edge Requests, 4 CPU-hours Active CPU, 360 GB-hours provisioned memory, 1M function invocations, 5,000 image transformations a month; 200 projects; 100 deployments a day; 1 hour of runtime logs; a feature that hits its limit pauses for up to 30 days vercel.com
- GitHub Pages free plan: Published site max 1 GB; soft bandwidth limit 100 GB/month; soft limit 10 builds/hour. Not allowed as free hosting for an online business, e-commerce or commercial SaaS docs.github.com
GitHub Pages's plans aren't in the Stackcut catalog yet; check GitHub Pages's own site.
What comparison pages say
Each claim as the page makes it, and who it favors. Vendor pages are labeled; weigh them accordingly.
2 pages compared, 0 of them written by one of the two vendors. Claims are the pages' own, paraphrased; prices in them may be older than the catalog prices above.
| About | The page says | Favors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Features | GitHub Pages has no server-side function support, while Vercel includes serverless functions for dynamic applications. | Vercel | NamasteDev independent |
| Price | GitHub Pages offers unlimited hosting for public repos at no cost; Vercel's free tier has bandwidth limitations. | GitHub Pages | NamasteDev independent |
| Performance | The article describes Vercel's CDN as optimized specifically for modern JavaScript frameworks, versus a more basic CDN on GitHub Pages. | Vercel | NamasteDev independent |
| Ease of use | GitHub Pages is simpler to set up for developers already using Git; Vercel adds automatic code splitting and is optimized for frameworks like React, Vue and Angular. | Even | NamasteDev independent |
| Features | GitHub Pages offers no serverless or backend support and needs manual setup for frameworks beyond Jekyll. | Vercel | CraftedTemplate independent |
| Price | GitHub Pages is described as 100% free for static sites, a clear cost edge over Vercel's usage-based billing at scale. | GitHub Pages | CraftedTemplate independent |
| Features | Vercel includes automatic deploy previews, rollbacks and environment management that GitHub Pages doesn't offer. | Vercel | CraftedTemplate independent |
Moving from Vercel to GitHub Pages
What GitHub Pages's importer carries over, what it leaves behind, and any help it offers switchers.
To GitHub Pages
Official guide nextjs.org · Tools: nextjs/deploy-github-pages (official template)
Moves: Static HTML/CSS/JS output for routes with no dynamic server functions (full); Server Components with no dynamic server functions (full); next/image (partial). nextjs.org
Doesn't move: Incremental Static Regeneration; Middleware and Proxy; Server Actions; Route Handlers that read the incoming Request, cookies, or dynamic params; next.config.js redirects, rewrites and headers; Draft Mode and Intercepting Routes. nextjs.org
Watch out for:
- GitHub Pages is not a Node.js server, so any per-request server logic errors out at build time rather than deploying broken nextjs.org
- basePath must match the repo name for a project site (username.github.io/repo) nextjs.org
Community guide github.com · Tools: nextjs-github-pages template
Moves: Static export plus GitHub Actions deploy workflow (full). github.com
Doesn't move: Image optimization, ISR, middleware and API routes: the README states GitHub Pages is not a Node.js server so dynamic logic isn't supported. github.com
Watch out for:
- "GitHub Pages is not a Node.js server. So dynamic logic that cannot be computed during the build process, are not supported." github.com
From each destination's own migration docs and switching pages, plus community write-ups where no official guide exists, each checked against its page. Confirm terms on the linked page before you rely on an offer.
How to leave Vercel
Export first, then cancel. Every step links the vendor's own help page, checked on the date shown.
How to leave Vercel
Export first
- Invoices: Team → Settings → Invoices → download each PDF (PDF). Invoices are also emailed to the team's invoice recipient; keep those emails. vercel.com
What you lose
- Team members other than the original owner
- Commercial use, on Hobby
Cancel
- Download every invoice PDF you need: a deleted team's invoice history can't be recovered.
- Move connected Stores and Domains to their new home first; the downgrade flow requires it.
- Dashboard → your team → Settings → Billing → Plan → Downgrade Plan.
- Refunds
- Not stated for a downgrade. Each invoice charges the coming cycle plus the previous cycle's extra usage.
- After you cancel
- All active members except the original owner are removed. Each account can have only one Hobby team, so you may have to delete or merge a team.
FAQ
Is GitHub Pages cheaper than Vercel?
Modeled, not measured: moving from Vercel Pro to GitHub Pages (free tier) at 1 seat saves $190 in the first year, after setup and upkeep time at $50/hour. It depends on your plan, seats and usage. the math
Can I move my Vercel data to GitHub Pages?
GitHub Pages's official guide moves: Static HTML/CSS/JS output for routes with no dynamic server functions; Server Components with no dynamic server functions; next/image. It doesn't move: Incremental Static Regeneration; Middleware and Proxy; Server Actions; Route Handlers that read the incoming Request, cookies, or dynamic params. nextjs.org
What do I lose when I leave Vercel?
Per Vercel's own pages, leaving or downgrading loses: Team members other than the original owner; Commercial use, on Hobby. vercel.com
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find_alternatives({"vendor": "Vercel"})