Introducing Flat Rate CDN

Vercel has introduced Flat Rate CDN for Pro teams, addressing customer feedback about unpredictable CDN costs driven by viral launches or traffic surges. The new model replaces usage-based billing with a fixed monthly fee, eliminating surprise overages while maintaining premium network performance. All new Pro teams receive Flat Rate CDN by default, with existing teams able to opt in. Usage is tracked at the team level, covering all projects without individual capacity management.

The pricing model is designed to align costs with typical usage profiles, allowing teams to select a tier that matches their needs. Each tier includes built-in spike protection, ensuring temporary traffic increases do not trigger additional charges. The default tier is included with Pro, while higher tiers offer increased request and data transfer capacity. Teams can monitor usage through the Usage page or CLI, including absorbed spikes, without performance degradation.

Vercel highlights a case where a team using the $20/month Flat Rate CDN tier experienced a viral product launch that would have cost tens of thousands under usage-based pricing. Instead, their bill remained at $20 for the month. The model also avoids performance caps common in other providers, ensuring consistent service during traffic spikes.

Flat Rate CDN was released in limited beta in May and has since changed how teams operate on Vercel. Customers report reduced billing anxiety and more flexibility in adopting caching strategies, such as Cache Components, without cost concerns. The model also simplifies monitoring by reducing the need to track bot traffic or seasonal spikes.