Choosing hosting
DormHost vs Vercel: which one for a student project?
Vercel is genuinely great at what it does: static sites, Next.js frontends and serverless functions, with a free tier that is hard to beat. It is not built for a full-stack project with a real backend and a database of its own, and that is the gap DormHost fills.
| Vercel | DormHost | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Frontends, Next.js sites, serverless functions | Small full-stack projects with a backend and a database |
| Backend | Serverless functions, on demand | A real process that runs on a machine |
| Database | A separate add-on, billed separately | MongoDB, PostgreSQL or MySQL on the same machine, included |
| WebSockets and bots | Not really a fit | Yes, on Awake, which never sleeps |
| Persistent storage | An object storage add-on | Included at /data, and it survives deploys |
| Price for a student project | Free tier is fine for static; a backend adds up | ₹99 a month, all in |
| Pay with UPI | No | Yes, plus cards and net banking |
The short answer.
Use Vercel for a frontend. If your project has a real backend, a database or anything that must stay running, DormHost is the fit.