Platform Comparison & Decisions
Why we chose this architecture: comparing deployment options, cost analysis, and the rationale behind our technology stack decisions.
🎯 Backend: Cloud Run vs Alternatives
Cloud Run vs AWS Lambda vs Railway
Google Cloud Run
- ✅ Containerized (full control)
- ✅ Scales to zero (cost savings)
- ✅ Python-friendly
- ✅ Generous free tier
- ✅ No cold start optimization needed
- ✅ Integrated with GCP services
✨ Our Choice
VS
AWS Lambda
- ⚠️ 15min timeout limit
- ⚠️ Cold starts slower
- ⚠️ Limited to 10GB memory
- ✅ Massive scale potential
- ⚠️ Requires Lambda-specific code
Google Cloud Run
- ✅ Standard Docker containers
- ✅ Up to 32GB memory
- ✅ Long-running requests (1h timeout)
✨ Our Choice
VS
Railway
- ✅ Simple deployment
- ⚠️ Higher cost at scale
- ⚠️ Less enterprise features
- ⚠️ Newer platform
Why Cloud Run Wins:
- Mature, enterprise-ready platform
- Excellent Python/Docker support
- Cost-effective at any scale
- Integrated monitoring and logging
- Auto-scaling with zero minimum
🎨 Frontend: Vercel vs Alternatives
Vercel vs Netlify vs Cloudflare Pages
Vercel
- ✅ Built by Next.js creators
- ✅ Zero-config Next.js deployment
- ✅ Edge network (global)
- ✅ Automatic preview deployments
- ✅ Built-in analytics
- ✅ Serverless functions
- ✅ API rewrites (our use case!)
✨ Our Choice
VS
Netlify
- ✅ Good for static sites
- ⚠️ Less optimized for Next.js
- ⚠️ Slower build times
- ✅ Good plugin ecosystem
- ⚠️ Forms feature (not needed)
Vercel's Advantages for Our Stack:
- Native Next.js Support - Zero configuration
- Rewrites - Perfect for our API proxy pattern
- Edge Functions - Fast globally
- Analytics - Built-in performance monitoring
- Preview Deployments - Test before production
💰 Cost Analysis
Monthly Cost Breakdown
| Service | Usage | Free Tier | Estimated Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud Run (Backend) | 10K requests/day Avg 300ms response | 2M requests 360K vCPU-s | $5-20/month |
| Vercel (Frontend) | 50K page views/day 500 serverless invocations | 100GB bandwidth 100 GB-hrs compute | $0-10/month |
| Vercel (Docs) | 5K views/day Mostly static | Same as frontend | $0/month |
| Cloudflare | All traffic ~1M requests/day | Unlimited | $0/month |
| Supabase | Database + Auth 1GB storage | 500MB + 50K auth | $0-25/month |
| Firebase | Auth + Firestore 10K users | 50K auth 1GB storage | $0-15/month |
| n8n | Self-hosted Docker container | N/A | $0 (self-host) |
| Total Estimated: | $5-70/month | ||
At Higher Scale (100K requests/day):
- Cloud Run: $20-50/month
- Vercel: $20/month (Pro plan)
- Databases: $50-100/month
- Total: ~$100-170/month
Cost Optimization Tips
1. Use Cloud Run's Scale-to-Zero:
- Automatically scales down when idle
- No charges when not processing requests
- Cold start < 2 seconds (optimized)
2. Leverage Vercel's Free Tier:
- 100GB bandwidth (plenty for docs + light traffic)
- Unlimited static hosting
- Only pay for compute overages
3. Cloudflare Caching:
- Cache static assets at edge
- Reduces origin requests (saves Cloud Run costs)
- Free tier handles massive traffic
4. Optimize Database Queries:
- Add indexes (faster queries = less compute time)
- Use caching (Redis) for frequent queries
- Batch operations when possible
🏗️ Architecture Alternatives Considered
Monolith vs Microservices
What We Chose: Hybrid approach
Why Hybrid?
✅ Simpler than microservices
- One backend to deploy
- Easier debugging
- Shared database connections
✅ More scalable than pure monolith
- Frontend scales independently
- Backend auto-scales
- Services can be split later if needed
✅ Cost-effective
- No service mesh overhead
- No inter-service API calls
- Simpler infrastructure
When to split into microservices:
- Individual services need independent scaling
- Teams grow (> 10 backend developers)
- Different SLAs required per service
- Regulatory compliance requires isolation
🌍 Multi-Region vs Single-Region
Current: Single Region (us-central1)
Chosen Configuration:
- Backend: us-central1 (Iowa)
- Frontend: Global edge (Vercel)
- Docs: Global edge (Vercel)
Why This Works:
Latency Breakdown:
| User Location | Edge Latency | Backend Latency | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| US West | ~20ms | ~30ms | ~50ms ✅ |
| US East | ~15ms | ~50ms | ~65ms ✅ |
| Europe | ~25ms | ~120ms | ~145ms ⚠️ |
| Asia | ~30ms | ~180ms | ~210ms ⚠️ |
When to Go Multi-Region:
-
20% users outside US with latency complaints
- Regulatory requirements (data residency)
- Need for < 100ms global latency
- Budget allows (2-3x cost increase)
💵 Scaling Cost Projections
Growth Scenarios
| Traffic Level | Requests/Day | Monthly Cost | Per-Request Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| MVP / Beta | 1K-10K | $5-20 | ~$0.002 |
| Launch | 10K-100K | $20-100 | ~$0.001 |
| Growth | 100K-1M | $100-500 | ~$0.0005 |
| Scale | 1M-10M | $500-2K | ~$0.0002 |
| Enterprise | 10M+ | $2K-10K+ | ~$0.0001 |
Cost Optimization at Scale:
-
Committed Use Discounts (Google Cloud)
- 1-year: 37% discount
- 3-year: 55% discount
-
Vercel Pro Plan ($20/month)
- Better analytics
- Password protection
- Custom redirects
- Priority support
-
CDN Optimization
- Aggressive caching
- Image optimization
- Compression
Break-Even Analysis:
- Vercel Free → Pro: ~100K page views/month
- Database Free → Paid: ~1GB data or 50K active users
- Cloud Run always pay-per-use (no fixed costs)
🔧 Technology Stack Decisions
FastAPI vs Flask vs Django
Why FastAPI:
| Feature | FastAPI | Flask | Django |
|---|---|---|---|
| Performance | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐ |
| Async Support | ✅ Native | ⚠️ Limited | ✅ ASGI |
| API Documentation | ✅ Auto-generated | ❌ Manual | ⚠️ DRF only |
| Type Safety | ✅ Pydantic | ❌ Manual | ⚠️ Serializers |
| Learning Curve | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Our Choice | ✨ Yes | - | - |
Next.js vs Remix vs SvelteKit
Why Next.js 16:
- ✅ Largest ecosystem - Most packages, tutorials, support
- ✅ Vercel optimization - Native deployment, edge functions
- ✅ App Router - Modern React architecture
- ✅ Server Components - Better performance
- ✅ Image optimization - Built-in
- ✅ Type safety - Excellent TypeScript support
When to consider alternatives:
- Remix: If you prioritize web fundamentals over React ecosystem
- SvelteKit: If bundle size is critical (smaller than React)
- Astro: If content-heavy, mostly static (not our case)
📊 Decision Matrix
Why This Architecture?
Ranking our requirements (1-5, 5=critical):
| Requirement | Priority | Our Solution | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Developer Experience | 5 | Next.js + FastAPI | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Deployment Speed | 4 | Vercel + Cloud Run | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Cost Efficiency | 5 | Scale-to-zero + Free tiers | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Performance | 4 | Edge + Cloud Run | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Scalability | 4 | Auto-scaling | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Maintainability | 5 | Clean separation | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Security | 5 | Cloudflare + Platform | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Observability | 3 | Native tools | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Overall Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.6/5)
🔄 Future Considerations
When to Evolve the Architecture
Our architecture is designed to evolve. Here's when to consider changes:
Split Backend into Microservices When:
- Traffic > 1M requests/day on specific endpoints
- Need different SLAs for different APIs
- Team size > 10 backend developers
- Regulatory compliance requires isolation
Add Multi-Region When:
-
30% users outside US
- Latency requirements < 100ms globally
- Data residency regulations apply
- Budget supports 2-3x infrastructure cost
Move to Kubernetes When:
- Need fine-grained control over orchestration
- Complex service mesh requirements
- Hybrid cloud strategy
-
50 microservices
Current Status: ✅ Perfect for MVP → Growth phase (0-1M users)
💡 Architecture Philosophy
We chose technologies that:
- ✅ Start cheap and scale efficiently
- ✅ Provide excellent developer experience
- ✅ Have strong ecosystems and community support
- ✅ Can evolve without complete rewrites
- ✅ Offer built-in observability and security
Result: An architecture that grows with your business without breaking the bank.