Vercel cron, KV and Blob: self-hosted equivalents

• Vercel Cron
• Vercel KV
• Vercel Blob
• Vercel Postgres
• Edge Config
• Analytics and Speed Insights
• Preview deployments
• Migration order

Moving a Next.js app off Vercel is usually easy for the app itself. The harder part is the platform products the app quietly depends on: cron jobs, KV storage, blob storage and Postgres. Each has a straightforward self-hosted equivalent.

§Vercel Cron

Vercel Cron calls an API route on a schedule defined in vercel.json. On your own server, options include:

• A scheduled task in your deployment platform that runs curl against the same route
• A small cron container
• A job scheduler in the app, such as a worker using a queue with repeatable jobs

Keep the route, but protect it with a secret header so only your scheduler can call it.

§Vercel KV

Vercel KV is a Redis-compatible store. Self-host Redis or Valkey in a container, with persistence enabled if the data matters. Update the client to use a standard Redis connection string. If code uses the @vercel/kv package, switching to ioredis or redis usually takes a few lines.

§Vercel Blob

For file uploads, use S3 compatible storage: a managed bucket from Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2 or Hetzner, or MinIO on a separate server. Replace the upload calls with the AWS SDK pointed at the new endpoint. Plan a one-time copy of existing files and update stored URLs.

§Vercel Postgres

Run Postgres in a container on the same server or a dedicated one. Migrate with pg_dump and pg_restore. Set up scheduled backups to object storage from day one, since the managed service handled that for you.

§Edge Config

Edge Config stores small configuration values read at low latency. A simple replacement is environment variables for rarely changing values, or a small table in Postgres cached in memory.

§Analytics and Speed Insights

Self-hosted analytics such as Plausible or Umami cover page views. For performance data, the web-vitals library can send metrics to your own endpoint.

§Preview deployments

If your workflow relied on preview URLs per pull request, look for a deployment platform that creates previews on your own server with wildcard domains.

§Migration order

1. Replace storage products while still on Vercel, pointing to the new services
2. Verify everything works
3. Move the app itself

Doing it in this order means the final cutover is just a DNS change.

For a comparison of platforms that replace Vercel’s deployment experience on your own servers, see this guide to self-hosted Vercel alternatives.

Disclosure: I work on Peon.