--- title: "Arcjet vs Vercel | Agent Ready Crawlers" description: "Arcjet vs Vercel: rubric grades side by side, the sourced difference and verdicts for platform engineers, security engineers and publisher ops." canonical: https://agentreadycrawlers.com/compare/arcjet-vs-vercel-botid site: "Agent Ready Crawlers" last_updated: 2026-11-04 section: "Comparisons" --- # Arcjet vs Vercel | Agent Ready Crawlers > Arcjet vs Vercel: rubric grades side by side, the sourced difference and verdicts for platform engineers, security engineers and publisher ops. Source: https://agentreadycrawlers.com/compare/arcjet-vs-vercel-botid Site: Agent Ready Crawlers Last reviewed: 2026-11-04 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](https://vercel.com/changelog/block-ai-crawlers-and-assistants-independently-with-managed-rules), 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](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/vendors/arcjet/alternatives/), [alternatives to Vercel](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/vendors/vercel-botid/alternatives/). ## Sources - [vercel.com: block ai crawlers and assistants independently with managed rules](https://vercel.com/changelog/block-ai-crawlers-and-assistants-independently-with-managed-rules) read 2026-11-04 - [arcjet.com: pricing](https://arcjet.com/pricing) read 2026-11-04 - [vercel.com: botid](https://vercel.com/docs/botid) read 2026-11-04 - [docs.arcjet.com: concepts](https://docs.arcjet.com/bot-protection/concepts) read 2026-11-04 - [vercel.com: vercels bot verification now supports web bot auth](https://vercel.com/changelog/vercels-bot-verification-now-supports-web-bot-auth) read 2026-11-04 - [docs.arcjet.com: reference](https://docs.arcjet.com/bot-protection/reference) read 2026-11-04 - [vercel.com: verified bots](https://vercel.com/docs/botid/verified-bots) read 2026-11-04 Last reviewed 2026-11-04