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Vercel logoVercel · Feature trail

Real-time Data Serving at Scale

19 posts · May 2019 – Sep 2026

What this trail covers

Vercel's Edge Network provides a globally distributed infrastructure for caching and computing user requests close to the user. This enables both high performance for static assets and dynamic personalization by caching the results of dynamic requests. Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR) allows for granular, on-demand content updates, reducing build times and enabling content previews without developer intervention. The Edge Network caches at multiple levels (proxy, region, origin) and integrates with framework-defined infrastructure for seamless configuration. ISR can act as a full replacement for HTTP caching at the edge, offering time-based or on-demand regeneration strategies to keep dynamic content fresh with cached speeds.

All Vercel trails
  1. How we cut CDN metadata lookup latency by 91%This post details how Vercel reduced CDN metadata lookup latency by 91% by transitioning from per-path metadata caching to fetching metadata in bounded shards. The new approach uses sorted, alternating key-value JSONL records with inline Base64-encoded pointers for efficient binary searching within shards. Production experiments determined an optimal shard size of approximately 200 KB to balance LRU cache hits and regional cache hit rates. The migration was performed safely using offline checks and a production shadow mode.
  2. Introducing Flat Rate CDNIntroduced Flat Rate CDN for Pro teams, offering a predictable monthly bill for CDN usage instead of usage-based pricing. This includes CDN Requests, Fast Data Transfer, Blob Data Transfer, and Observability events. The new model provides built-in spike protection, no overages, and tiered capacity options ($20/mo for 1M requests/1TB, $100/mo for 10M requests/50TB, $300/mo for 50M requests/50TB). It leverages Vercel's premium network with private fiber for performance, even during traffic spikes, and rightsizes tiers monthly based on sustained usage without performance degradation or request rejection.
  3. Preventing the stampede: Request collapsing in the Vercel CDNIntroduced request collapsing to the Vercel CDN to prevent cache stampedes for Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR) routes. This mechanism ensures that when multiple requests for the same uncached ISR path arrive concurrently, only one request per region invokes a function to regenerate the page. The other requests wait and receive the cached response once it's available. This is achieved using a two-level distributed locking system (node and regional) and the double-checked locking pattern. Vercel automatically infers cacheability and applies request collapsing based on framework-defined infrastructure metadata, requiring no manual configuration.
  4. Personalization strategies that power ecommerce growthThis post details how Vercel's platform, specifically Next.js Middleware and hybrid rendering strategies (Static, Dynamic, SSR, PPR, CSR), enables architectural and content personalization for e-commerce growth. It highlights the use of Edge Middleware for network-level personalization (geo-targeting, A/B testing), feature flags for controlled rollouts, and performance optimizations like caching and lazy loading. It also mentions integration with third-party personalization engines via the Vercel Marketplace. The post contrasts common personalization mistakes (over-reliance on client-side, inefficient content management) with Vercel's approach, emphasizing incremental implementation and performance maintenance.
  5. ISR on Vercel is now faster and more cost-efficientThis post details improvements to Vercel's Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR) implementation. Key technical contributions include: 1. Regionalized caching: ISR cache entries are now stored in the same region as associated functions, reducing cache retrieval latency and improving revalidation speed. This is expected to improve TTFB by up to 80% for regional cache reads. 2. Automatic compression: ISR cache entries are now automatically compressed, reducing ISR write units, ISR read units, and Fast Origin Transfer (FOT) costs, leading to potential spend reductions of up to 65%. These changes require no configuration updates and are applied upon redeployment.
  7. Technical audits: Optimizing cost, performance, and productivityThis post details how Vercel conducts technical audits to identify and optimize bottlenecks impacting cost, performance, and productivity. It categorizes audits into Code Review, Web Performance, and Usage Audits, providing specific examples of issues and solutions related to rendering, caching, third-party scripts, image optimization, API waterfalls, serverless function efficiency, ISR, and data caching. It also outlines a diagnostic-first approach focusing on user experience, resource efficiency, and development velocity, and identifies common patterns like the trade-off between dynamic features and static optimization, and resource optimization for serverless functions and third-party integrations.
  8. Life of a Vercel request: Navigating the Edge NetworkThis post details how Vercel's Edge Network routes requests from the nearest Point of Presence (PoP) to the closest compute-capable Edge Region, and when necessary to a developer-designated region closer to your backend. It explains how requests become 'Edge Requests' after passing platform defenses and WAF evaluations, and how Fast Data Transfer (FDT) ensures rapid data movement between the visitor's browser and edge regions, bypassing public internet bottlenecks.
  9. From CDNs to Frontend CloudsThis post discusses the limitations of traditional CDNs and IaC for modern dynamic web applications, highlighting how they fail to meet demands for speed, global presence, scalability, dynamism, reliability, and security. It introduces the concept of 'frontend clouds' and Vercel's 'Framework Defined Infrastructure' as solutions that abstract away complex infrastructure, allowing developers to focus on innovation. The post contrasts the static nature of CDN caching with the need for dynamic content delivery and efficient cache invalidation, and explains how client-side solutions can lead to performance issues. It emphasizes the comeback of the frontend engineer role with the rise of meta-frameworks and the importance of infrastructure supporting these advancements. The core principles of application delivery (fast, global, scalable, dynamic, reliable, secure) are outlined as essential for exceptional user experiences and application performance.
  10. Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR): A flexible way to cache dynamic contentThis post details Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR) as a modern server-side caching strategy that combines SSG and SSR benefits. It explains ISR's advantages like cached speeds with live content, selective regeneration, on-demand invalidation, and guaranteed cache durability. It highlights how Vercel's ISR integrates with framework-defined infrastructure and scales automatically, acting as a replacement for edge HTTP caching. The post outlines ISR's position in the caching stack (CDN, ISR, application-level, client-side) and provides implementation examples for time-based and on-demand ISR in SvelteKit and Astro, respectively. It also details real-world scenarios where ISR shines, including e-commerce, news websites, and AI-powered applications, and lists framework adoptions.
  11. Latency numbers every frontend developer should knowThis post provides a frontend developer's perspective on latency numbers, drawing inspiration from Jeff Dean's work. It details various latency estimates for different network conditions (Wifi, 5G, LTE, 3G), server distances (same cloud region, same continent, other side of Earth), and processing times (frame budget, JS/HTML/CSS parsing). It also discusses human perception of time related to responsiveness and sluggishness, and mentions React Server Components as a technology to move network waterfalls to the server for improved performance.
  12. Leonardo generates 4.5M images daily with Next.js and Vercel | Customers | VercelThis post details how Leonardo.Ai leveraged Vercel's platform, specifically its caching and CDN capabilities, to achieve a 95% reduction in page load times and cut build times from over 10 minutes to 2 minutes. It highlights the impact of Vercel's developer experience (DX) strengths, such as Preview Deployments, and the effectiveness of Vercel Monitoring in identifying and resolving issues in serverless functions. The post also mentions Vercel's use of AWS Bedrock's managed foundation models for AI-powered development tools.
  13. The Frontend Cloud: Resiliency for global web applicationsThis post details how Vercel's Frontend Cloud provides resiliency for global web applications through automatic scaling, high availability by default with regional failover, durable caching, backend failover capabilities using Edge Config, instant rollback, and recurring resiliency testing. It emphasizes how these features ensure business continuity and customer trust by defending against threats and rapidly resolving service interruptions.
  14. The user experience of the Frontend CloudThis post details how Vercel's Frontend Cloud leverages its Edge Network to achieve both speed and personalization. It explains the limitations of traditional CDNs and how Vercel's Edge Network extends caching to dynamic requests. It highlights Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR) as a mechanism for granular, on-demand content updates, reducing build times and enabling content previews. The post also outlines the lifecycle of a user request within the Edge Network, detailing caching layers (TLS, hostname lookup, deployment fetching, routing, in-memory storage) and how serverless functions are integrated for dynamic data, ultimately optimizing TTFB and developer experience.
  15. How the at-home workout sensation, Hydrow, cut authoring times from weeks to minutes | Customers | VercelThis post details how Hydrow migrated from Shopify Liquid and WordPress to a headless architecture using Contentful, Next.js, and Vercel. Key technical contributions include: leveraging Next.js Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR) with Contentful webhooks for near real-time content updates and fast static page delivery; utilizing Vercel's managed infrastructure (AWS S3 for static assets, AWS Lambda for Serverless Functions, and global edge network/cache) for scalable and performant content delivery; implementing Vercel's preview environments for author workflows, enabling real-time visualization of unpublished content; and employing Vercel's Edge Middleware to deliver personalized user experiences and conduct A/B testing based on customer data. The post highlights the reduction in authoring time from weeks to minutes and a 50% improvement in Core Web Vitals.
  16. An Introduction to Streaming on the WebThis post introduces the Web Streams API, explaining its core concepts like ReadableStream, WritableStream, and TransformStream. It details how chunks are handled, the mechanism of backpressure through flow control, and its application in scenarios like Server-Sent Events (SSE) and Fetch API responses. The post also highlights the use of Web Streams in Vercel's platform for efficient data processing and real-time updates.
  17. How Vercel helps mmm.page manage over 30,000 sites | Customers | VercelThis post details how mmm.page migrated from an Amazon S3 single-page application to Vercel for their viewer experience, utilizing Server-Side Rendering (SSR) and Vercel's custom domain and SSL certificate management. It highlights the benefits of Vercel's caching for reducing database load and enabling mass cache updates, contributing to the overall scalability and performance of the mmm.page platform.
  18. A/B Testing and Feature Flags with sub-millisecond performanceIntroduced Edge Config, a globally distributed, ultra-low latency data store for configuration data, optimized for fast reads and infrequent writes. It enables dynamic data storage replicated to all Vercel regions, ensuring instant availability. Edge Config integrates with Edge Middleware for dynamic routing, feature flagging, and A/B testing, with lookups returning in 0ms and 99% under 10ms. It supports integration with experimentation tools like LaunchDarkly and Statsig, allowing changes without new deployments. The post also demonstrates dynamic routing with Edge Middleware for blocking IPs and user-agents.
  19. Replacing Google Optimize with the Vercel Edge NetworkThis post details how Vercel's Edge Network, specifically Edge Config and Routing Middleware, can be used to replace Google Optimize for A/B testing and personalization. It highlights sub-millisecond configuration read times, elimination of client-side CLS by serving experiments at the edge, and integration with existing data solutions for tracking results. It also notes that for new projects, Vercel Functions with Node.js runtime and Fluid Compute are recommended.
  20. Streaming from serverless Node.js and Edge Runtime on VercelThis post details Vercel's implementation of HTTP response streaming for serverless Node.js environments, overcoming AWS Lambda's native limitations. It describes the architecture involving an Edge Location, Serverless Function Invocation Service, and a custom bridge code within Lambda to establish a secure socket connection for transferring response streams. This enables faster Time To First Byte (TTFB) and First Contentful Paint (FCP), efficient handling of large payloads, and reduced memory usage.
  21. How a global agency built a web innovation engine in two months | Customers | VercelThis post details how Globacore, a digital agency, leveraged Vercel's Global Edge Network for edge computing and caching to deliver high-performance, low-latency virtual experiences for global audiences during the pandemic. It highlights their shift from physical to digital experiences, the establishment of a web foundation with Next.js and Vercel, and the reliance on Vercel's enterprise plan for scale and uptime SLAs. The use of Vercel's Preview Deployments for client review and collaboration is also mentioned.
  22. Hashnode runs the fastest blogs on the web with Vercel | Customers | VercelThis post details how Hashnode, a blogging platform built on Next.js, migrated to Vercel to manage custom domains at scale and improve performance. Vercel's Edge Network was instrumental in providing fast load times and optimized images, resulting in perfect Lighthouse scores for Hashnode-hosted blogs. The migration allowed Hashnode to save time on infrastructure management and focus on delivering user value.
  23. Hashnode runs the fastest blogs on the web with Vercel | Customers | VercelThis post details how Hashnode, a blogging platform built on Next.js, migrated to Vercel to manage custom domains at scale and improve developer experience. By leveraging Vercel's Edge Network, Hashnode guarantees fast load times and optimized images for its users' blogs, enhancing search engine visibility and achieving perfect Lighthouse scores.
  24. Introducing Edge Config: Globally distributed, instant configurationIntroduced Edge Config, a globally distributed, ultra-low latency data store optimized for near-instant reads of configuration data. Edge Config pushes data to every Vercel region at write time, enabling reads in 5ms or less and 99% of reads under 15ms. This is ideal for A/B testing, feature flags, dynamic redirects, and custom request blocking rules without redeployments. Integrated with Statsig and HappyKit for experimentation and feature flagging.
  25. How the world’s biggest YouTuber served millions of users on VercelThis post details how basement.studio leveraged Vercel's platform to handle peak traffic for MrBeast's storefront, including implementing interactive mini-games ('Lambo Jump', 'Slap to Win') and integrating with Shopify's Admin API for discount codes. The development team focused on balancing performance, entertainment, and the buying flow, while also addressing security concerns related to game exploits. The use of Axiom for observability during the launch is also highlighted.
  26. Building a viral application to visualize train routesThis post details how Chronotrains, an interactive map application, leverages Vercel's Edge Network and Next.js API Routes with caching to handle viral traffic (over a million visits) and maintain seamless performance. It highlights the use of API Routes deployed as Vercel Functions for caching 'isochrone' results, PostgreSQL for storing pre-computed journey data, and Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR) to reduce database load and scale during high traffic. The application's architecture is presented as a case study for easy full-stack deployment and scaling on Vercel.
  27. Curve fitting for charts: better visualizations for Vercel AnalyticsIntroduced curve fitting (specifically polynomial regression) to Vercel Analytics charts to improve trend visualization and delta calculation. This addresses the issue of noisy data points obscuring trends and inaccurate delta measurements based solely on first and last points. The implementation involves selecting an optimal polynomial order by balancing Mean Squared Error (MSE) on training and test datasets to avoid overfitting.
  28. Hashicorp uses ISR to iterate faster on VercelIntroduces on-demand Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR) as a feature of Next.js 12.1, allowing for specific page cache invalidation via API calls. Demonstrates how HashiCorp uses ISR and on-demand ISR to manage versioned documentation, reducing build times and enabling faster content updates without full site rebuilds. Provides code examples for `getStaticPaths`, `getStaticProps` with `revalidate`, and an API route for on-demand revalidation. Highlights the benefits of reduced build times, faster iteration cycles, and more effective caching for large-scale projects.
  29. Visualize Team Usage With Sophisticated Usage DashboardIntroduced a dedicated Usage overview dashboard for Pro and Enterprise plans, visualizing resource usage for Teams across Networking (Bandwidth, Requests), Functions (Invocations, Executions, Errors, Timeouts, Throttled), and Builds (Queued, Build Time, Number of Builds). This replaces manual CSV downloads and provides automated insights and actionable recommendations within each section.
  30. Next.js: Server-side Rendering vs. Static GenerationThis post introduces Server-side Rendering (SSR) and Static Generation (SSG) in Next.js. It details how SSR pre-renders pages on every request for up-to-date data, while SSG pre-renders pages at build time for maximum performance. The post also introduces Incremental Static Generation (ISG) as a way to update statically pre-rendered pages after build time, and Client-side Fetching as a method to fetch data on the client after initial static generation. It provides examples for an e-commerce app, demonstrating per-page configuration for data fetching strategies.
  31. Introducing Serverless Pre-Rendering (SPR)Introduced Serverless Pre-Rendering (SPR) as an industry-defining feature of the Smart CDN. SPR allows for the best of static (speed, reliability) and dynamic (versatility) by serving a static version of a page while computing a new copy in the background via a Serverless Function. Only one background invocation is made at a user-defined interval, minimizing backend traffic and cost. This is achieved with a single line of code using the `Cache-Control: s-maxage=1, stale-while-revalidate` header, enabling dynamic data rendering with static-like performance from the CDN edge.