Why Hugging Face Spaces Performs Better Than Vercel for BaatCheet

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Why Hugging Face Spaces Performs Better Than Vercel for BaatCheet

What is BaatCheet?

BaatCheet is a real-time video conferencing application that allows users to create and join virtual meeting rooms for face-to-face communication. The name "BaatCheet" comes from Hindi, meaning "conversation" or "chat." The application features:

• Instant room creation and joining
• Real-time video and audio streaming
• Text chat alongside video conferences
• Screen sharing capabilities
• Low-latency peer-to-peer connections using WebRTC
• Socket.IO for signaling and real-time event handling

Architecture Differences

1. Container-based vs Serverless

   • Hugging Face Spaces: Uses a persistent container-based deployment that stays running
   • Vercel: Uses serverless functions that "sleep" after inactivity, requiring "cold starts"

2. WebSocket Performance

   • Hugging Face Spaces: Better suited for long-lived WebSocket connections
   • Vercel: Designed primarily for HTTP requests, with WebSocket connections subject to timeouts (typically 10s)

Impact on BaatCheet's Room Joining

The room joining process in BaatCheet involves:

1. Establishing a Socket.IO connection
2. Initializing media streams
3. Emitting a 'join-room' event
4. Waiting for peer connections

On Vercel, if the function has gone cold, this entire sequence faces additional latency:

• 2-5 seconds for the serverless function to wake up
• Potential timeouts during WebSocket handshakes
• Delays in media stream negotiation

Technical Specifics

BaatCheet's architecture using Socket.IO for real-time communication:

// Server-side (affected by cold starts on Vercel)
const io = new Server(server, {
    cors: {
        origin: "*",
        methods: ["GET", "POST"]
    }
});

// Client-side
this.socket = io(window.location.origin);
this.socket.emit('join-room', roomId); // This call experiences delay on Vercel

Recommendations

1. Keep Vercel functions "warm" with regular ping mechanisms (check out wakey-wakey)
2. Implement connection retry logic with exponential backoff
3. Add performance monitoring to identify specific bottlenecks
4. Consider a hybrid approach: Vercel for static assets, HF Spaces for WebSocket server

Conclusion

For optimal real-time performance in BaatCheet, Hugging Face Spaces remains the better deployment option due to its container-based architecture that better supports persistent WebSocket connections required for video chat applications.