Vercel Functions vs Inquir Compute for backends
Vercel for the edge and previews; Inquir for APIs, webhooks, and jobs behind one gateway and pipeline surface.
Situation
Friction you might hit
Frontend teams love the Vercel workflow; backend-only services sometimes want fewer coupling assumptions to a particular Git host or edge topology.
Longer workloads or always-warm processes may not match edge function limits.
Where they lead
Where Vercel stays strong
Preview deployments and static asset integration are first-class.
If your product is mostly Next.js, staying inside that ecosystem can be faster than splitting hosting.
How Inquir fits
What shifts with Inquir
The built-in Monaco editor mirrors the “save and ship” feel while Inquir runs handlers in container isolation—not Vercel’s shared edge fleet.
Webhook routes, scheduled pipeline triggers, and async job queues are first-class in the server code—not a pile of third-party schedulers next to your functions.
Capabilities
Compare notes
Hosting boundary
Edge-first platform vs gateway plus container-backed functions.
Latency profile
Edge POPs vs warm containers and origin-style IO patterns.
Pricing model
Understand invocations and bandwidth on both sides for your traffic shape.
Steps
How to migrate APIs from Vercel to Inquir Compute
Extract pure handlers
Remove framework-specific adapters where possible.
Recreate routes
Model paths and auth in the gateway configuration.
Load test
Validate concurrency and IO patterns under realistic traffic.
Code example
Handler stays familiar
Gateway invokes with an HTTP-shaped event (path, headers, string body, queryStringParameters). Keep functions small; put framework glue at the boundary.
export async function handler(event) { return { statusCode: 200, body: JSON.stringify({ message: 'ok' }) }; }
Fit
Choose Inquir when…
When to use
- Backend logic fits container-backed functions more naturally than edge snippets.
- You want schedules (via pipelines), webhooks, and HTTP in one control plane.
When not to use
- Your team’s primary deliverable is a Vercel-native frontend with minimal custom backend.
FAQ
FAQ
Can I keep Next.js on Vercel and use Inquir for APIs?
Yes—treat Inquir as your API and worker tier while the UI stays where it is best served.
Is edge caching replicated?
Not by default. If edge cache is your main feature, weigh a CDN in front of your gateway.