Vercel's Hobby tier is free with generous limits for personal and small projects, and Pro is $20 per user per month with commercial usage, team collaboration, and higher limits. For a developer or small team deploying a modern app, the entry cost is essentially zero and the step up is predictable.
Vercel's free Hobby tier and low-cost Pro plan win for developers and small teams.
Vercel's Hobby tier is free with generous limits, and Pro is $20/user per month. Pantheon's pricing starts higher with CMS-oriented tiers. Vercel wins for developers and small teams deploying modern applications.
Pantheon's pricing is structured around CMS hosting tiers and starts higher, with plan scopes oriented toward WordPress and Drupal site management. For a frontend or full-stack team that does not need CMS-specific infrastructure, that is paying for capabilities and a pricing model built for a different workload.
Route-specific evidence
Vercel Hobby is free with generous limits, letting developers deploy and iterate on modern projects at no cost.
Vercel Pro is \$20 per user per month with commercial usage, team features, and higher limits -- a clear, low step up.
Pantheon's plans start higher and are scoped around CMS hosting tiers rather than modern app deployment needs.
Checks before publishing
Vercel
Confirm edge-first platform, instant preview deploys, edge functions, ISR, Next.js integration, and current Hobby/Pro pricing at vercel.com.
Pantheon
Confirm container-based CMS platform scope, WordPress and Drupal workflow, multi-site governance, and current tiers at pantheon.io.
Buyer fit
Use Vercel when modern frontend, full-stack, or edge-first deployment is the primary decision driver for the team.
Exception
Use Pantheon when traditional WordPress or Drupal CMS hosting and governance is the core requirement.