Laravel Vapor

Overview

Laravel Vapor is a serverless deployment platform for Laravel applications, running on AWS Lambda. It suits teams building on Laravel that want deployment and infrastructure management in one service; its AWS account requirement and Sandbox restrictions make it a poor fit for projects that need to avoid AWS or use those excluded features.

Its strongest case is the combination of Laravel-tuned autoscaling, deployment controls and managed services, with monitoring and team permissions alongside them. The trade-off is that Vapor’s subscription does not include AWS cloud costs.

Key features

Vapor provides auto-scaling web and queue infrastructure tuned for Laravel, plus zero-downtime deployments and rollbacks. That makes it a focused choice for Laravel teams managing releases and changing workload demands, rather than a general deployment platform for unrelated frameworks.

It manages environment variables and secrets, as well as databases, Redis caches, SQS queues, networks and CloudFront CDN. Custom domains and DNS management are supported, and Vapor handles certificate issuance and renewal. This breadth can reduce the number of separate infrastructure tasks a team must coordinate, though it does not remove the need for an active AWS account.

Application, database and cache metrics provide visibility into performance, with alerts when performance is poor. Vapor documentation also describes Slack notifications and Sentry integration. Collaborators can receive assigned permissions, including restrictions against deleting databases or caches—a useful safeguard for teams sharing operational access.

Deployments use CI/CD. Queue workers, managed databases and staging environments are supported, and backup retention is three days. That short retention period is worth weighing if longer recovery history matters to your workflow.

Pricing

The Sandbox plan covers one project and 10 deployments. It is the limited starting point for evaluating Vapor or managing a small project, but it excludes API Gateway versions, load balancers, firewalls and custom domains. Its price is custom pricing.

Unlimited Monthly costs $39 a month, billed at $39 /month. It allows unlimited projects and deployments, making it the straightforward paid option for teams that deploy across multiple projects or often. AWS cloud costs are not included, so the subscription is not the full infrastructure bill.

Unlimited Annual costs $399 a year, billed at $399 /year, and also includes unlimited projects and deployments. It suits teams prepared to commit annually; the monthly plan avoids that annual commitment. Both paid plans leave AWS cloud costs outside the subscription.

Platforms

Vapor is available through API and web. It requires an active AWS account to deploy projects or create resources. Applications must be compatible with PHP 7.3+ and Laravel 6.0+; supported PHP versions include 8.2, 8.3, 8.4 and 8.5.

Who it's for

Vapor is best suited to Laravel teams already willing to run on AWS and looking for a managed path through deployments, scaling, data services and operational visibility. Its permissions can help teams divide access without giving every collaborator unrestricted power.

Look elsewhere if AWS is not an option, if the application falls outside the PHP and Laravel compatibility requirements, or if a Sandbox project needs custom domains, load balancers, firewalls or API Gateway versions. Teams needing backup retention beyond three days should also consider that limit.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Laravel-focused deployment and scaling: autoscaling web and queue infrastructure is tuned for Laravel, with zero-downtime deployments and rollbacks.
• Broad infrastructure management: databases, Redis, SQS, networks, CDN, domains and certificates sit alongside environment and secret management.
• Useful team controls: granular permissions can prevent collaborators from deleting databases or caches.
• Unlimited paid usage: both paid plans allow unlimited projects and deployments.

Cons

• AWS is mandatory: an active account is required to deploy or create resources, and AWS costs are additional to either paid subscription.
• Sandbox exclusions: API Gateway versions, load balancers, firewalls and custom domains are unavailable to Sandbox projects.
• Compatibility is specific: applications need PHP 7.3+ and Laravel 6.0+.
• Short backup retention: backups are retained for three days.

Alternatives

For a broader look at this category, browse Web Frameworks. The alternatives below are free and offer free plans, but their platform coverage differs from Vapor’s API and web availability.

• Buffalo is a free-plan alternative with Linux, macOS, web and Windows platform coverage; consider it when that coverage is a better fit.
• Express is a free-plan alternative for Linux, macOS and Windows.
• Echo is a free-plan alternative for Linux, macOS and Windows.
• Koa is a free-plan alternative for Linux, macOS and Windows.
• Nuxt is a free-plan alternative available on web.
• FastAPI is a free-plan alternative available on web.
• Flask is a free-plan alternative available on web.
• Next.js is a free-plan alternative available on web.

Verdict

Choose Laravel Vapor if your team builds compatible Laravel applications on AWS and wants deployments, scaling, infrastructure management and operational visibility under one roof. Its focused feature set and team safeguards are compelling, but AWS costs sit outside the subscription and the Sandbox plan rules out several important capabilities. If either constraint conflicts with your needs, another platform is the better choice.