Deploying Your MERN App on Vercel

The MERN stack—MongoDB, Express.js, React, and Node.js—is one of the most popular tech stacks for full-stack web development. After building your MERN app locally, the next step is to deploy it and make it accessible online. While platforms like Heroku are commonly used, Vercel offers a modern, fast, and developer-friendly way to deploy frontend and serverless backend functions. In this blog, we'll walk through how to deploy your MERN app on Vercel.

Understanding Vercel’s Strengths

Vercel is ideal for deploying React frontend apps and API routes as serverless functions. However, Vercel does not natively support long-running Node.js backend servers like Express. So, to deploy a MERN stack on Vercel, the typical solution is:

  • Deploy the frontend (React) on Vercel
  • Deploy the backend (Node/Express) on another platform (like Render or Railway)

Use MongoDB Atlas for the database

Step 1: Prepare Your React Frontend

Go to your React project and make sure it’s ready for production:

npm run build

Push your project to GitHub (if not already):

git init

git add .

git commit -m "Initial commit"

git remote add origin <your-repo-url>

git push -u origin main

Step 2: Deploy React Frontend to Vercel

Go to vercel.com and log in.

Click “Add New Project” and import your React project from GitHub.

Set the build command to npm run build and the output directory to build.

Set environment variables like:

REACT_APP_API_URL=https://your-backend-service.com

Click Deploy. Vercel will build and host your frontend instantly.

Step 3: Deploy Node.js Backend

Host your Node.js/Express backend on a platform like Render or Railway.

Make sure the backend:

Connects to MongoDB Atlas

Has CORS enabled for frontend access

Deploy and get the live backend URL.

Step 4: Connect Frontend to Backend

Update your React frontend to call the backend using the live API URL (stored in REACT_APP_API_URL or similar).

Conclusion

Deploying your MERN app with Vercel gives you lightning-fast frontend performance and flexibility to scale. By decoupling your frontend and backend, you ensure smooth CI/CD workflows and easier debugging. With React on Vercel and Node.js on platforms like Render, your full-stack project is production-ready in no time.

Learn MERN Stack Training Course

Read More:

How MongoDB Powers Scalable Web Applications

Exploring the Basics of Express.js for Beginners

How to Create Your First MERN Stack App

Managing State in React with Context API

Visit Quality Thought Training Institute

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