Serverless Exit

The core argument is that serverless is not a universal solution; it shines for rapid iteration and unpredictable load, but when predictable traffic and strict performance SLAs emerge, the hidden costs and latency can erode its benefits. The author walks through real metrics from Vercel deployments, showing how per-invocation pricing can balloon and cold-start latency can become a reliability risk at scale.

To avoid a painful surprise, the article outlines a step-by-step evaluation framework: measure actual request volume, compare per-request cost against reserved instances, and benchmark cold-start latency against acceptable thresholds. It then details a migration path that starts with a hybrid approach-keeping latency-sensitive endpoints on dedicated VMs while moving non-critical workloads back to serverless, preserving developer velocity where it matters.

The piece also warns against common misconceptions: that serverless automatically reduces operational overhead or that scaling is always free. By exposing concrete data from a production Vercel app, it shows how technical debt can accumulate when teams over-rely on opaque platform abstractions. The final takeaway is a pragmatic decision-making checklist that helps engineering leaders balance cost, performance, and team capacity when deciding whether to stay serverless or exit to more traditional infrastructure.