Edge Caching Can Cut Next.js API Response Times from 240ms to Under 15ms

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Next.js App Router's Route Handlers, when deployed on serverless platforms like Vercel or AWS Lambda, often suffer from cold starts and database connection latency that can push response times to over 1,400ms under load. A technical guide published on DEV Community outlines how adding standard RFC 5861 Cache-Control headers and routing API traffic through an edge proxy can dramatically reduce serverless function invocations. By caching read-heavy endpoints at the edge, developers can serve over 95% of API requests without hitting the origin server, cutting median latency to around 11ms. When underlying data changes, cache invalidation can be triggered programmatically via Next.js Server Actions, ensuring users still receive fresh content. The approach is reported to reduce serverless invocations by nearly 96% and cut monthly cloud infrastructure costs by more than 75%.

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