Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Vercel VS WebPagetest

Compare Vercel VS WebPagetest and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Vercel logo Vercel

Vercel is the platform for frontend developers, providing the speed and reliability innovators need to create at the moment of inspiration.

WebPagetest logo WebPagetest

Run a free website speed test from multiple locations around the globe using real browsers...
  • Vercel Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-05
  • WebPagetest Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-05

Vercel features and specs

  • Easy Deployment
    Vercel offers a straightforward and user-friendly process for deploying static sites and serverless functions. It integrates seamlessly with platforms like GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket, allowing developers to deploy directly from their repositories.
  • Fast Performance
    Vercel optimizes delivery through its global CDN, which ensures fast load times for users all around the world. It provides edge caching and real-time purging that contribute to high-performance web applications.
  • Serverless Functions
    Vercel supports serverless functions, enabling developers to build and deploy backend functionality without needing to manage server infrastructure. This can save time and resources, particularly for smaller projects.
  • Integration with Next.js
    Vercel is the creator of Next.js, a popular React framework, and offers seamless integration with it, providing advanced features like static site generation, server-side rendering, and API routes.
  • Scalability
    Vercel can handle increased traffic automatically, scaling web applications to accommodate a growing number of users without additional configuration.
  • Preview Deployments
    Every pull request can generate a unique preview deployment, allowing teams to preview changes in a live environment before merging. This enhances collaboration and speeds up the development process.

Possible disadvantages of Vercel

  • Cost
    While Vercel offers a free tier, the pricing can become expensive for larger projects or enterprises, particularly if they require more bandwidth, build minutes, or advanced features.
  • Serverless Limitations
    Serverless functions on Vercel have limits on execution time and computational power. This can be a constraint for compute-heavy tasks or long-running processes.
  • Vendor Lock-in
    Deploying heavily integrated projects with Vercel's proprietary features may make it difficult to migrate to another platform without significant rework.
  • Limited Backend Customization
    While Vercel supports serverless functions, it does not offer the same level of backend customization and control as traditional server hosting environments.
  • Learning Curve for Beginners
    Although easy deployment is a pro, beginners might find it complex to understand concepts like serverless architecture, environment variables, and project structure in the beginning.
  • Limited Language Support
    Vercel primarily supports JavaScript/TypeScript for serverless functions, potentially limiting the use for developers who prefer other programming languages for backend development.

WebPagetest features and specs

  • Detailed Performance Metrics
    WebPagetest provides extensive performance metrics, including Time to First Byte (TTFB), Speed Index, and First Contentful Paint, allowing for a deep understanding of website performance.
  • Real Browsers
    Tests are conducted using real browsers, which ensures that the results are closely aligned with real user experiences.
  • Geolocation Testing
    Supports testing from various locations worldwide, which is useful for understanding performance in different markets.
  • Advanced Testing Options
    Offers advanced options such as scripting for complex interactions, multi-step transactions, and authenticating users.
  • Free and Open Source
    WebPagetest is free to use and its code is open-source, allowing for community contributions and customizable implementations.
  • Video Capture
    Provides video capture of the loading process, giving a visual representation of loading performance.
  • Waterfall Charts
    Generates detailed waterfall charts that help identify bottlenecks in resource loading.

Possible disadvantages of WebPagetest

  • Complexity for Beginners
    The extensive options and detailed metrics may be overwhelming for beginners who are not familiar with web performance testing.
  • Intermittent Performance
    As a free service, sometimes the performance can be inconsistent due to high demand or limited resources.
  • Dated Interface
    The user interface of the website is somewhat dated and could benefit from modernization to improve user experience.
  • Limited Instant Support
    Lack of immediate support options can be a downside; users often have to rely on forums and community support.
  • Potential for Inconsistent Results
    Results might vary between tests due to variability in internet speed, server conditions, and other external factors.
  • Configuration Overhead
    Advanced testing options require a significant amount of configuration, which can be time-consuming.

Analysis of WebPagetest

Overall verdict

  • Yes, WebPagetest is considered a good tool for evaluating website performance. It is widely used by developers and performance engineers for its accuracy and the depth of information it provides.

Why this product is good

  • WebPagetest is highly regarded for its detailed performance analysis capabilities, offering in-depth insights into page speed and other performance metrics. It allows users to run tests from multiple locations, on various devices and browsers, which is crucial for assessing a website's performance under different conditions. The tool provides a comprehensive waterfall chart and numerous other diagnostic features that help identify performance bottlenecks and potential optimization areas.

Recommended for

    WebPagetest is recommended for web developers, performance engineers, SEO specialists, and anyone interested in optimizing website speed and performance. It is especially useful for those who need detailed insights into page load processes and performance optimization opportunities.

Vercel videos

Zeit Now - What is it?

More videos:

  • Review - Gorillaz - The Now Now ALBUM REVIEW
  • Review - Now 100 Hits Forgotten 70's - The NOW Review
  • Review - Deploy Node.js Application to Zeit Now - FreeCodeCamp - Timestamp Microservice 04
  • Review - AT&T TV Now 2020 Review - Is it GOOD now??
  • Review - Serverless Fullstack made easy with Next.js, Prisma 2, and Zeit Now #3: Set up Zeit Now

WebPagetest videos

WebPageTest - The State of the Web

More videos:

  • Tutorial - How To Use WebPageTest.org - For Beginners

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Vercel and WebPagetest)
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Website Monitoring
0 0%
100% 100
Cloud Computing
100 100%
0% 0
Performance Monitoring
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Vercel and WebPagetest. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Vercel and WebPagetest

Vercel Reviews

Top 10 Vercel v0 Open Source Alternatives | Medium
First things first, let’s talk about Vercel v0. You might be wondering, “What exactly is Vercel v0, and why should I care?” Well, my friend, Vercel v0 is a game-changing AI-powered development platform that’s been turning heads in the tech world. It’s designed to revolutionize the way we build and deploy web applications, making the process faster, smoother, and more...
Source: medium.com
5 Best Vercel Alternatives for Next.js & App Router
Vercel has become the go-to platform for hosting modern web applications built with frameworks like Next.js. However, as your application scales, Vercel's pricing model and lack of flexibility can become limiting.
Source: il.ly
Best Serverless Backend Tools of 2023: Pros & Cons, Features & Code Examples
Vercel is a platform for frontend developers for deploying code to an optimized production environment. Even though it doesn’t offer stateful features you’d expect from a BaaS like authentication or databases, it is trivial to copy/paste code from a third-party service like Auth0 for authentication and MongoAtlas for API development.
Source: www.rowy.io
Exploring alternatives to Vercel: A guide for web developers
In recent years, Vercel has emerged as a leading platform for deploying modern web applications, especially those built with frameworks like Next.js. Its seamless integration with Git, automatic deployments, and serverless functions have made it a go-to choice for many developers. However, Vercel can be quite expensive, especially for projects that scale, making it important...
Source: fleek.xyz
5 Free Heroku Alternatives with Free Plan for Developers
Vercel is last in my list and it is more like leys you host JavaScript based web apps and static websites. Since JS apps are in so much demand these days; you will find this platform easier to deploy your apps directly from GitHub/GitLab. It can even act as CI/CD pipeline for your projects. If you created a front end of an app then you can use it for deploying it. It lets...

WebPagetest Reviews

We have no reviews of WebPagetest yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Vercel seems to be a lot more popular than WebPagetest. While we know about 601 links to Vercel, we've tracked only 51 mentions of WebPagetest. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Vercel mentions (601)

  • Build an AI-Powered Meditation App with Genkit, Flutter, and ElevenLabs Voice
    Before going to the Flutter code, publish this code to GitHub. Then open vercel.com, connect your repository, and deploy it. - Source: dev.to / about 19 hours ago
  • Deploying a MERN full-stack web application on vercel.com (with Express and Vite as a monorepo)
    Create an account at Vercel with GitHub and authorize Vercel to see your private repo(s). - Source: dev.to / 10 days ago
  • Build a Personal Portfolio Website (2-Minute Tutorial)
    Upload your folder to Netlify, GitHub Pages, or Vercel — and boom, your portfolio is online! - Source: dev.to / 13 days ago
  • How to Build a simple REST API with Node, Express and MongoDB
    For deployment, you can host your server on platforms like Heroku and Vercel. Both platforms offer free tiers, making it easy to deploy your REST API. - Source: dev.to / 21 days ago
  • ArNext - Next.js framework that supports Arweave and Vercel simultaneously
    ArNext is a NextJS-based framework that lets you deploy the same codebase both on Vercel and Arweave. - Source: dev.to / 19 days ago
View more

WebPagetest mentions (51)

  • A PageSpeed insight report, but for every page in your domain
    Trust neither. The most optimal option I've found is webpagetest.org Its been quite handy lately. This tool does look interesting. Source: about 2 years ago
  • How are you all accurately checking your website load time? Not sure PageSpeedInsights is very helpful.
    Webpagetest.org is another. Pagespeedinsights and lighthouse are great for identifying page load issues to fix, but actual page load times will always vary between the user and your web server. Universal analytics has some page load timings but that's going away soon and nothing afaik is in GA4. I've seen an example of building a page load timer in tag manager and dumping the results into an event. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Extreme confusing over Speed Index results -- webpagetest.org
    So I am working on rebuilding our company's site with a new stack. I am running tests using webpagetest.org, and I am having trouble fully understanding the speed index results as well as the film strip view. The page renders quite fast everywhere I test it. Google Lighthouse shows it in the 90s + for performance score, however when I test the page on webpagetest, I get load times of 77 seconds (NOT MS) which is... Source: about 2 years ago
  • Does anyone else experience pure ecstasy when they get 100 on Lighthouse? 😩
    Webpagetest.org is great, and checking OP's site they have done an incredible job, I don't think I have ever made or seen an Ecom site this slick. Super clean waterfall view. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Performance scores for Google Lighthouse/Insights seem to be very inaccurate
    Thanks for the recommendation regarding webpagetest.org, another user made a similar recommendation so I will check it out. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Vercel and WebPagetest, you can also consider the following products

Next.js - A small framework for server-rendered universal JavaScript apps

GTmetrix - GTmetrix is a free tool that analyzes your page's speed performance. Using PageSpeed and YSlow, GTmetrix generates scores for your pages and offers actionable recommendations on how to fix them.

Netlify - Build, deploy and host your static site or app with a drag and drop interface and automatic delpoys from GitHub or Bitbucket

PageSpeed Insights - PageSpeed is addon for ...

GitHub Pages - A free, static web host for open-source projects on GitHub

Google Lighthouse - Lighthouse is an open-source, automated tool for improving the quality of web pages.