Vercel Blob
Usage BasedFile storage that feels native to Next.js.
Published 12 October 2026
Scores
Popularity3/5
Widely seen in Next.js tutorials and templates, but little known outside the Vercel ecosystem.
Learning Curve1/5
A single SDK with a handful of calls and dashboard setup, so a first upload works within minutes for anyone who knows Next.js.
Flexibility2/5
Covers uploads, listing, and public or private delivery, but has no storage classes, lifecycle rules, or bucket-level policy model like S3.
Performance4/5
Public blobs are cached on Vercel's CDN and client uploads bypass serverless functions, though blobs over 512 MB are never cached.
Portability2/5
A proprietary API and URL scheme mean moving to another store requires code changes and a data migration.
About Vercel Blob
Vercel Blob is a managed file storage service for user uploads, images, documents, and other assets. Files are stored as blobs in a store, each store can be public or private, and everything is accessed through the @vercel/blob SDK or a REST API rather than an S3 client.
The SDK offers put, list, head, copy, and del calls, and client uploads let a browser send a file straight to the store using a short-lived token from your server, so large files never pass through a serverless function. Multipart uploads handle files up to 5 TB. Public blobs are served from a unique URL through Vercel's CDN with caching.
Blob is designed to feel native in a Next.js project: setup is a few clicks from the Vercel dashboard, the access token is injected as an environment variable, and a starter template shows the upload flow. Because the API is plain HTTPS, a backend on any host can use it, although the tightest integration assumes the app is deployed on Vercel.
The trade-off against an S3-compatible store is portability. Blob has its own API and URL scheme, so code written against it does not move to another provider unchanged, and billing runs through your Vercel account alongside the rest of the platform.
Key Features
- JavaScript SDK with put, list, head, copy, and delete calls plus a REST API
- Client uploads straight from the browser using short-lived tokens
- Multipart uploads for files up to 5 TB
- Public and private stores, with unique URLs for public blobs
- Served through Vercel's CDN with caching
- Unlimited stores per project for separating environments or customers
- Setup and token management from the Vercel dashboard
Pros
- Fastest path to file uploads in a Next.js app deployed on Vercel
- Client uploads keep large files off serverless functions
- No separate account, since billing and access tokens live in Vercel
- Free Hobby allowance covers small projects and prototypes
- Private stores for files that should not be publicly reachable
Cons
- Proprietary API, so code is not portable to S3-compatible providers without changes
- Hobby limits block access once exceeded until the next 30-day window
- Delivery costs involve several line items, including data transfer and origin transfer
- Best experience assumes the app is hosted on Vercel
Vercel Blob Pricing
Usage Based- · 1 GB of storage
- · 10,000 simple and 2,000 advanced operations
- · 10 GB of blob data transfer
- · $0.023 per GB-month of storage
- · $0.40 per million simple and $5.00 per million advanced operations
- · About $0.05 per GB of blob data transfer, with regional pricing
Tech Stacks with Vercel Blob
Next.js + PostgreSQL
ProjectFull-stack Next.js app on PostgreSQL (self-managed or a serverless host like Neon), with Clerk, Auth0, or BetterAuth for auth, deployed to Vercel or a container host like Railway.
Programming
Databases
Hosting
Authentication
Next.js + MongoDB
ProjectA document-database pairing for Next.js: MongoDB stores flexible, schema-less JSON-like documents, accessed directly from Next.js Server Actions and Route Handlers via the official Node.js driver or Mongoose.
Next.js + SQLite
ProjectA lightweight Next.js starter backed by SQLite/libSQL, with no database server to provision, with a managed edge path (Turso), a Cloudflare-native path (D1), or a fully self-hosted path depending on how the app deploys.
Tools Related to Vercel Blob
Integrates with Vercel Blob(1)
Vercel Blob stores are created from the Vercel dashboard, which injects the access token into the project as an environment variable. The service also works from apps hosted elsewhere.
Alternatives to Vercel Blob(3)
Vercel Blob is the fastest setup for a Next.js app on Vercel, with a JavaScript SDK and client uploads. R2 uses the portable S3 API, has no egress fees, and works from any host.
Vercel Blob needs almost no setup on Vercel and offers client uploads through its SDK. Amazon S3 is the portable standard with far more controls, but requires IAM and bucket configuration.
Vercel Blob trades a proprietary API for effortless setup on Vercel projects. Backblaze B2 is S3-compatible, works from any host, and costs much less per TB for large libraries and backups.
