Head-to-head
Vercel vs AWS WAF Bot Control
In short
Vercel splits AI crawlers from AI assistants on all plans for free; AWS WAF labels bots by category and name and can charge them, at USD 10 a month per web ACL plus request fees. On charging the rubric grades Vercel not published and AWS WAF Bot Control yes. For a platform engineer: Choose by where the app is hosted.
The sourced difference
Vercel splits AI crawlers from AI assistants on all plans for free; AWS WAF labels bots by category and name and can charge them, at USD 10 a month per web ACL plus request fees. Source, read 2026-11-04.
Side by side
| Question | Vercel | AWS WAF Bot Control |
|---|---|---|
| Tells a verified agent from a spoof | Yes IP, reverse DNS and Web Bot Auth; directory at bots.fyi |
Yes Web Bot Auth (rule set Version_4.0+), verified self-identifying bots |
| Per-purpose policy (train, search, answer, act) | Yes AI crawlers and AI assistants handled separately since 2026-10-29 |
Yes rules on bot category and name labels; prices can differ by bot identity and verification status |
| Charging for access | Not published support (checked 2026-11-04) |
Yes HTTP 402 x402 monetization on CloudFront, Coinbase x402 settlement in stablecoins |
| 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: Basic free; Deep Analysis USD 1 per 1,000 checks on Pro | published: USD 10/month per web ACL plus USD 1 or USD 10 per million requests after free allowance |
| Reporting | Yes Firewall tab BotID filter and Observability Plus metrics |
Yes Bot Control console dashboard, AI activity dashboard, CloudWatch metrics and logs |
| Where it runs | both: managed rulesets at Vercel's edge firewall; BotID verdict read in server code via checkBotId() | edge or regional: CloudFront edge and regional resources such as load balancers and API Gateway |
| Points, rank | 6 of 10, rank 6 (tied) | 8 of 10, rank 1 (tied) |
| Price read 2026-11-04 | 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. | Bot Control USD 10/month per web ACL. Common level: first 10M requests/month free, then USD 1.00 per million. Targeted level: first 1M requests/month free, then USD 10.00 per million. Standard AWS WAF web ACL and rule charges also apply; AI traffic monetization has no extra charge. |
Verdicts by reader
- Platform engineer
- Choose by where the app is hosted; both are managed rules with no app code.
- Security engineer
- Both verify Web Bot Auth, so signed agents pass either one.
- Publisher operations
- Only AWS can charge AI bots, and only on CloudFront web ACLs.
What each does not do
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).
AWS WAF Bot Control
- Monetize only works with CloudFront-associated web ACLs, not regional resources (Bot Control docs).
- Stripe payouts and Machine Payments Protocol are not live yet; settlement is via Coinbase x402 in stablecoins (what's new, 2026-06-15).
- Web Bot Auth is off unless the rule group version is pinned to Version_4.0 or later (Bot Control docs).
More: alternatives to Vercel, alternatives to AWS WAF Bot Control.
Sources
Last reviewed 2026-11-04