Vercel

Overview

Vercel is a frontend cloud platform for deploying web applications, most commonly associated with Next.js (which Vercel created and maintains). For sites hosted on Vercel, the platform's infrastructure scripts are inherent to the deployment — they are the hosting layer. Vercel also offers two analytics products: Vercel Analytics (audience metrics) and Vercel Speed Insights (web performance monitoring). These optional analytics features add tracking beyond the essential hosting functionality, creating a dual-category consent situation similar to other hosting platforms with built-in analytics.

What This Script Does

Vercel's presence on hosted sites comes through three layers:

Hosting infrastructure (essential):

• Edge network and CDN delivery from Vercel's global infrastructure
• Serverless function execution and API route handling
• Image optimization via /_next/image and /_vercel/image endpoints
• Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR) and on-demand revalidation

Vercel Analytics (audience analytics):

• Tracks page views and unique visitors
• Records visitor geography (country, region) derived from IP address
• Collects traffic source and referral data
• Measures session duration and pages per session
• Script loaded from /_vercel/insights/script.js or via the @vercel/analytics npm package

Vercel Speed Insights (performance monitoring):

• Collects Core Web Vitals (LCP, FID/INP, CLS, TTFB)
• Measures real-user performance across device types and connection speeds
• Records navigation timing and resource loading metrics
• Script loaded from /_vercel/speed-insights/script.js or via the @vercel/speed-insights npm package

Cookies set:

• _vercel_jwt — authentication cookie for Vercel toolbar and preview deployments (development/preview only)
• Analytics visitor identification via sessionStorage or minimal cookies for unique visitor counting
• Speed Insights does not set persistent cookies

Data collected by analytics:

• Page URL and route parameters
• Visitor geography and device/browser information
• Traffic source, referral URL, and UTM parameters
• Web performance metrics (LCP, INP, CLS, TTFB, FCP)

Both analytics products are opt-in — site owners must explicitly install the packages and add the components to their application.

Consent & Compliance

Vercel spans essential and analytics consent categories. Under GDPR, the hosting infrastructure is strictly necessary — it delivers the website. Vercel Analytics and Speed Insights collect visitor data for analytics purposes and require consent under the ePrivacy Directive, even though they are privacy-conscious (no cross-site tracking, minimal cookie usage).

Vercel's analytics products are designed with privacy in mind — they use sampled data, avoid persistent identifiers where possible, and do not share data with advertising networks. However, the collection of visitor geography, device information, and browsing patterns still constitutes analytics processing under EU data protection law.

Under CCPA/CPRA, the analytics data should be disclosed in the privacy policy.

Should You Block This Without Consent?

Conditional. The hosting infrastructure cannot and should not be blocked — it is the site. Vercel Analytics and Speed Insights, if installed, collect visitor metrics that require consent under GDPR. Configure these analytics components to load only after consent is granted. If you do not use Vercel Analytics or Speed Insights, no consent configuration is needed for the hosting infrastructure alone.