To host a modern SaaS, the combination that wins most often is Vercel for the Next.js front-end and Cloud Run for the NestJS API. Vercel deploys your front-end to a global edge network with zero config; Cloud Run runs your back-end in a container, with scale-to-zero and full control over the runtime. The rest comes down to cost, load and the type of product. Here is how to decide.
Vercel: the Next.js front-end without friction
Vercel is the platform built by the creators of Next.js. A git push is enough: build, deployment, global CDN, HTTPS, per-branch previews and instant rollback are all included. For a React/Next.js front-end, there is nothing to administer.
- SSR, ISR and edge functions handled natively, as close as possible to the user.
- Preview deployments on every pull request: you test before you merge.
- Ideal for marketing sites, dashboards and the front-end of a SaaS.
- Limit: server execution is designed for short functions, not for a heavy back-end or long-running tasks.
Cloud Run: the API and the heavy lifting
Cloud Run (Google Cloud) runs any Docker container and exposes it over HTTPS. It is the natural home for a NestJS API, a PostgreSQL connection through Prisma, jobs, webhooks or AI processing that takes several seconds. You keep control over the runtime, memory and CPU.
- Scale-to-zero: no active container, no bill when nobody calls the API.
- Automatic scale-up to thousands of instances during a spike.
- Requests up to 60 minutes: perfect for long jobs and AI.
- No hard lock-in: a standard container redeploys elsewhere without a rewrite.
Costs: what you really pay
Both platforms have a generous free tier and bill on usage. Concretely, for a SaaS getting started:
- Vercel: free for a personal project, then ~$20/month per member on the Pro plan. The bill rises with bandwidth and function execution.
- Cloud Run: billed per request, CPU and memory consumed. A low-traffic back-end often costs a few euros a month thanks to scale-to-zero.
- Simple rule: while traffic is low, the two combined stay under €50/month. It grows in proportion to usage, not in surprise tiers.
The right question is not “which platform is cheapest”, but “which one lets you ship and scale without thinking about it”.
Scaling: cold and hot
Vercel absorbs front-end traffic spikes with no configuration: the CDN serves static content and functions scale automatically. Cloud Run delivers the same elasticity on the back-end, but adds a cold start (the time to wake a sleeping container) — a few hundred milliseconds, reducible by keeping a minimum warm instance for a small extra cost.
When to choose which
- Next.js front-end, marketing site, dashboard: Vercel, no hesitation.
- Business API, database, webhooks, AI, long tasks: Cloud Run.
- Full SaaS: both, each on its own turf — this is the stack we deploy by default at Khufu.
- Ultra-simple product with no real back-end: Vercel alone can be enough at first.
At Khufu, this Vercel + Cloud Run architecture is the one we ship in our V1s delivered in 7 days for €15,000: a fast front-end, an API that scales, and a hosting bill that stays aligned with your real traffic.