Ample vs Vercel: which is better for full-stack apps built by AI agents? | Ample

The short version

For a front-end or Next.js site on a global CDN, Vercel is the better choice. For a full-stack app that needs a long-running server, background workers, a managed database or a persistent disk, which coding agents deploy without a person, Ample is the better fit: each app is a real process in its own VM.

Before you choose

You have an app in a repository, often written by Claude Code, Codex or Cursor, and you are choosing where it should run. Vercel runs backends as functions with a maximum duration; Ample runs them as ordinary processes. That one difference decides most cases.

Ample and Vercel side by side

Ample Vercel
Free plan $0 with no card. 2 apps running at once, 2 vCPU, 2 GB memory, 3 GB volumes, 1 GB bucket storage, 2 buckets. Hobby is $0 but for personal, non-commercial use only. Includes 4 hours of Active CPU, 1M function invocations and 100 GB transfer a month.
Paid plans Custom plans priced on volume (number of apps, limits, spending caps). No public list price; see pricing. Pro is $20 a month per deploying seat, including $20 of usage credit; usage above that is billed on demand.
Spending limit Free has a hard budget ($5 a month, $2 a day). At the cap, apps stop serving until the account is back under budget; nothing is deleted and nothing is billed. Hobby pauses at its limits. Pro has Spend Management: alerts by default, with an optional switch that pauses production for every project.
How apps run Each app runs as a normal long-running process in its own microVM with its own kernel. Backends run as Vercel Functions on Fluid compute, in microVMs, with a read-only filesystem and 500 MB of writable /tmp.
Long-running servers and workers Yes. Web services and background workers (--kind worker) run as ordinary processes. No always-on server or worker. Functions stop at their maximum duration (300 s on Hobby, up to 800 s on Pro); Vercel's own guide sends continuous workers to other platforms.
Languages Node, Python, Go, Ruby, PHP, Java, .NET, Elixir, Rust and static sites, detected from the repository. Node.js, Bun, Python, Go, Ruby, Rust and Wasm functions. Java, .NET and Elixir need the container runtime.
Docker images No. Ample builds from source; Dockerfile build steps are not run. Container runtime in beta: an image is served as a function with the same duration limits.
Databases Managed Postgres, MySQL, Redis and MongoDB, each in its own microVM, created automatically when the code needs one. No first-party database. Postgres, Redis and others come from Marketplace partners such as Neon, Upstash and Supabase.
Object storage S3-compatible buckets, optionally published through Ample's CDN. Vercel Blob (its own SDK).
Persistent disk Persistent volumes attached to the app. None. State belongs in an external service.
Custom domains and TLS Custom domains with automatic TLS. Custom domains with automatic Let's Encrypt certificates.
Regions No region choice. 19 compute regions behind a global CDN; Pro runs functions in up to 3.
Scheduled jobs Scheduled jobs: a command or HTTP request on a cron schedule (any time zone) or interval, with retries and run history (ample job create). Cron Jobs that call functions: once a day on Hobby, once a minute on Pro.
Agent access CLI, remote MCP server (OAuth), A2A endpoint and agent skills. Deploys are synchronous and return JSON with an exit code: 0 live, 1 failed, 2 needs input. Remote MCP server at mcp.vercel.com for approved clients, with a deploy tool; plugin, skills and llms.txt.
Agent signup without a person Yes. ample auth signup creates an account with no browser, card or CAPTCHA; a person claims it by email within 48 hours. No. A single HTML file can be deployed without login; other deploys need a Vercel account, or a third party deploys and hands over a claim link.

Competitor facts come from that company's own pricing pages and documentation, checked on the date shown in the sources. Plans change; follow the source links for current numbers.

Which one fits

Choose Ample when

Choose Vercel when

Move a Vercel project to Ample

  1. 1

Pull your environment variables

Copy production variables from Vercel into a local file that stays out of git. Database URLs from Marketplace providers keep working from Ample, or let Ample create a new database.

vercel env pull .env.production
  1. 2

Plan from the repository

Ample reads the repo (including vercel.json) and writes ample.toml with the services and resources it found. Exit code 2 means it has a question; answer it and re-run.

ample plan --write
  1. 3

Turn functions into a server

A framework app (Next.js, SvelteKit, Nuxt, FastAPI, Django) already starts as a server. File-based /api handlers need a small server around them, and each Vercel Cron Job becomes an Ample job that calls the same route (`ample job create --service web --schedule "" --request "GET /api/cron").

  1. 4

Deploy

The command waits until the app is live or failed and prints the URL. Read failures with ample logs <deployment_id> --kind build.

ample up
  1. 5

Point your domain

Add the domain to the app, update DNS to the target Ample prints, and keep the old app running until the new one answers on the domain.

ample domain add <app-name> www.example.com

Frequently asked questions

Can Ample host a Next.js app?

Yes. Ample builds the app and runs next start as a long-running server in its own VM. Features tied to Vercel's edge network, such as its image optimization CDN, run on the app server instead. See How to deploy a Next.js application.

Is Ample cheaper than Vercel?

Ample's Free plan runs two apps at $0 with a hard cap and can be used for any project. Vercel Hobby is also $0 but cannot be used commercially. Beyond the free plans, Ample prices custom plans on volume, so compare a quote with Vercel Pro's $20 per seat plus usage.

Does Ample have an MCP server like Vercel?

Yes. Ample's remote MCP server is at https://api.ample.computer/mcp, uses OAuth, and can plan, deploy, create databases and buckets, and read logs. Any MCP client can connect.

Can I keep my database on Neon or Supabase?

Yes. Pass the existing connection string as an environment variable and Ample will not create a new database.

Where these facts come from