Vercel & Render

Once your application is built, it needs to be accessible on the internet. Vercel and Render are two popular platforms that make deployment simple. Vercel excels at serverless frontend/API deployments, while Render handles containerized backend services.

Vercel

Vercel is optimized for frontend frameworks and serverless functions. It provides automatic HTTPS, global CDN, and preview deployments for every pull request.

Deploying a FastAPI App

Create a Vercel-compatible entry point:

python

# api/index.py
from fastapi import FastAPI
from fastapi.middleware.cors import CORSMiddleware

app = FastAPI()

app.add_middleware(
    CORSMiddleware,
    allow_origins=["*"],
    allow_methods=["*"],
    allow_headers=["*"],
)

@app.get("/")
def read_root():
    return {"message": "Hello from Vercel"}

@app.get("/api/data")
def get_data():
    return {"items": [1, 2, 3], "total": 3}

Configure with vercel.json:

json

{
  "builds": [
    { "src": "api/index.py", "use": "@vercel/python" }
  ],
  "routes": [
    { "src": "/(.*)", "dest": "api/index.py" }
  ]
}

Deploy with the Vercel CLI:

bash

# Install Vercel CLI
npm i -g vercel

# Deploy (interactive first time)
vercel

# Deploy to production
vercel --prod

Serverless Function Limits

Limit	Value
Execution timeout	10 seconds (free), 60 seconds (pro)
Memory	1024 MB
Payload size	4.5 MB
Cold start	~200ms for Python

Cold starts

Serverless functions spin down when idle. The first request after idle incurs a "cold start" delay. For Python, this is typically 200-500ms. If your API needs consistently low latency, consider Render or a container-based deployment.

Render

Render deploys Docker containers and supports persistent disks, background workers, and cron jobs — features that serverless platforms lack.

Deploying with Docker

1. Push your code to GitHub
2. In the Render dashboard, click New → Web Service
3. Connect your repository
4. Select Docker as the environment
5. Configure:
   • Name: tds-api
   • Region: Choose closest to your users
   • Instance Type: Free (512 MB RAM) or Starter ($7/month)
   • Dockerfile Path: ./Dockerfile

Render Configuration File

Create a render.yaml for infrastructure-as-code:

yaml

# render.yaml
services:
  - type: web
    name: tds-api
    runtime: docker
    dockerfilePath: ./Dockerfile
    envVars:
      - key: DATABASE_URL
        fromDatabase:
          name: tds-db
          property: connectionString
      - key: API_KEY
        sync: false  # Set manually in dashboard
    plan: free
    healthCheckPath: /health

databases:
  - name: tds-db
    plan: free
    postgresqlVersion: "16"

Environment Variables and Secrets

Both platforms handle secrets differently:

Vercel:

bash

# Set environment variables
vercel env add API_KEY
# Choose: Production, Preview, Development
# Paste the value when prompted

Render:

bash

# Use the dashboard: Settings → Environment
# Or use the render.yaml with sync: false for secrets

Never commit secrets

Always use environment variables for API keys, database passwords, and other secrets. Both Vercel and Render encrypt environment variables at rest. Never hardcode them in your source code or commit .env files.

Choosing Between Platforms

Factor	Vercel	Render
Best for	Frontend + API	Backend services
Deployment model	Serverless	Container
Cold starts	Yes	No
Persistent storage	No	Yes (disk)
Background workers	No	Yes
Free tier	100 GB bandwidth	750 hours/month
Custom domains	Free	Free
Preview deployments	Automatic	Automatic