Vercel, Netlify, or a Managed Host: Picking for a Sanity Site

A Next.js + Sanity site runs well on several platforms. Vercel and Netlify are the obvious names; a managed host is the third option people forget. They’re all capable, the differences are in the pricing model, how much control you get, and what happens when you need help.

Vercel and Netlify: the platform model

Both are polished, tightly integrated with Next.js, and fast to deploy. The trade-off is a usage-based pricing model that can be hard to predict, bandwidth, function invocations, and build minutes add up in ways that are fine for many sites and surprising for a few. You’re also working within their abstractions, which is a feature until you need something they don’t offer.

The managed-host model

A managed host gives you a more conventional server environment with predictable, flat pricing and more direct control over the runtime. The trade-off is that it’s less magical, you’re closer to the machine. For teams who want a bill they can predict and a place to run more than just the front end, that’s often the right trade.

What to weigh for Sanity specifically

Your Sanity content is hosted by Sanity regardless, so the decision is really about the front end: how you deploy, how ISR and revalidation behave, whether you’ll self-host the Studio too, and how predictable you need the cost to be.

Where we fit

SrvBot is the managed-host option: flat pricing, a real server environment, room to run the Studio next to the front end, and support that answers email. It’s the setup this site runs. We lay it out at /sanity.

The bottom line

There’s no wrong answer here, just different trade-offs. If predictable pricing and control matter more to you than platform polish, a managed host is worth a look. See how we compare at /sanity.