Head-to-head
Arcjet vs Vercel
In short
Arcjet verifies known bots by IP and reverse DNS inside application code through its SDK; Vercel verifies by IP, reverse DNS and Web Bot Auth at its edge and splits AI crawlers from AI assistants in a managed ruleset since 2026-10-29. For a security engineer: Vercel accepts Web Bot Auth signatures.
The sourced difference
Arcjet verifies known bots by IP and reverse DNS inside application code through its SDK; Vercel verifies by IP, reverse DNS and Web Bot Auth at its edge and splits AI crawlers from AI assistants in a managed ruleset since 2026-10-29. Source, read 2026-11-04.
Side by side
| Question | Arcjet | Vercel |
|---|---|---|
| Tells a verified agent from a spoof | Partial IP data and reverse DNS for known bots; Web Bot Auth not mentioned in docs (checked 2026-11-04) |
Yes IP, reverse DNS and Web Bot Auth; directory at bots.fyi |
| Per-purpose policy (train, search, answer, act) | Partial allow or deny by bot name or category (e.g. CATEGORY:AI) per route |
Yes AI crawlers and AI assistants handled separately since 2026-10-29 |
| Charging for access | Not published support (checked 2026-11-04) |
Not published support (checked 2026-11-04) |
| Lets signed commerce agents through | Not published Visa TAP or Mastercard Agent Pay support (checked 2026-11-04) |
Not published Visa TAP or Mastercard Agent Pay support (checked 2026-11-04) |
| Cost | published: from USD 25/month plus USD 5 per 1M web requests | published: Basic free; Deep Analysis USD 1 per 1,000 checks on Pro |
| Reporting | Partial request decision logs with 1 to 24 hours retention on self-serve plans |
Yes Firewall tab BotID filter and Observability Plus metrics |
| Where it runs | app: SDK calls in application code | both: managed rulesets at Vercel's edge firewall; BotID verdict read in server code via checkBotId() |
| Points, rank | 3 of 10, rank 11 (tied) | 6 of 10, rank 6 (tied) |
| Price read 2026-11-04 | Individual USD 25/month, Startup USD 299/month, Enterprise custom; usage USD 5 per 1M web requests and USD 50 per 1M agent requests; free plan 10,000 requests/month (hard stop) after a 15-day trial. | BotID Basic free on all plans; Deep Analysis USD 1 per 1,000 checkBotId() calls on Pro, custom on Enterprise; AI Bots managed ruleset on all plans. |
Verdicts by reader
- Platform engineer
- On Vercel hosting, the managed ruleset is a toggle; Arcjet works on any host but every rule is code.
- Security engineer
- Vercel accepts Web Bot Auth signatures; Arcjet docs do not mention Web Bot Auth (checked 2026-11-04).
- Publisher operations
- Vercel can block training crawlers while keeping answer fetchers; Arcjet can do it per route with CATEGORY rules.
What each does not do
Arcjet
- No Web Bot Auth or cryptographic agent verification in bot protection docs (checked 2026-11-04).
- Does not run at the CDN edge; requests reach the app before Arcjet decides (concepts page).
- No AI crawler monetization or pay-per-crawl (docs read 2026-11-04).
Vercel
- No charging or pay-per-crawl for AI crawlers (BotID and firewall docs read 2026-11-04).
- BotID Deep Analysis is not on the Hobby plan; it is listed for Pro and Enterprise only (BotID pricing table).
- BotID does not inspect passive page views; it only runs where the app calls checkBotId() (BotID docs).
More: alternatives to Arcjet, alternatives to Vercel.
Sources
Last reviewed 2026-11-04