Does Laravel Work With Vercel?
Laravel and Vercel don't integrate directly, but you can deploy Laravel APIs to serverless functions or use Vercel for frontend with Laravel backend elsewhere.
Quick Facts
How Laravel Works With Vercel
Laravel is a full-stack framework optimized for traditional server architecture, while Vercel specializes in edge-deployed frontend frameworks and serverless functions. You cannot directly deploy a Laravel monolith to Vercel since it requires persistent server state and long-running processes. However, there are two viable patterns: (1) Use Laravel as a headless API backend deployed elsewhere (AWS, DigitalOcean, Railway) and deploy a decoupled frontend (Next.js, Vue, React) to Vercel, or (2) Use Vercel's serverless functions to replace specific Laravel endpoints, though this requires breaking apart your application. The first approach is more practical—Vercel excels at serving your SPA frontend with optimal performance via its edge network, while Laravel handles business logic, database operations, and authentication from a dedicated backend. You'd communicate via REST or GraphQL APIs with proper CORS configuration.
Best Use Cases
Vercel Frontend + Laravel Backend Setup
npm create next-app@latest && composer create-project laravel/laravel backend# next.config.js (Vercel frontend)
module.exports = {
env: {
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL || 'http://localhost:8000'
}
}
// pages/api/proxy.js - Optional: Next.js API route
export default async function handler(req, res) {
const apiUrl = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL
const response = await fetch(`${apiUrl}/api/data`, {
headers: { 'Authorization': `Bearer ${req.headers.authorization}` }
})
const data = await response.json()
res.status(200).json(data)
}
# Laravel config/cors.php
'allowed_origins' => [explode(',', env('ALLOWED_ORIGINS', 'http://localhost:3000'))],
'allowed_methods' => ['*'],
'supports_credentials' => true,Known Issues & Gotchas
CORS errors when frontend on Vercel calls Laravel API on different domain
Fix: Configure CORS in Laravel using barryvdh/laravel-cors package: add allowed origins, methods, and credentials
Session/cookie authentication fails across domains due to SameSite restrictions
Fix: Use token-based auth (JWT, Laravel Sanctum) instead of sessions for cross-domain API calls
Cold starts on serverless functions if trying to run Laravel endpoints on Vercel
Fix: Keep Laravel on traditional hosting; use Vercel only for static/frontend code or lightweight API routes
Database connections limited in serverless; Laravel ORM expects persistent connections
Fix: Use connection pooling (PgBouncer for PostgreSQL) or managed serverless databases with built-in pooling
Alternatives
- •Next.js API routes + Next.js deployment on Vercel (full stack, simpler architecture)
- •Remix + Express/Node backend (better server-side rendering support than Laravel on edge)
- •Nuxt 3 + Laravel backend (Vue alternative with similar separation of concerns)
Resources
Related Compatibility Guides
Explore more compatibility guides