Infrastructure Decisions · judgement tool
Do I need a load balancer?
Do I need a load balancer? Answer a few real conditions and get a Not yet / Probably yes / Yes-priority verdict — every factor tagged official fact, calculation, StackSays rule or estimate. No fabricated industry threshold.
A judgement tool, not a tool ranking · thresholds are StackSays rules, not industry standards · official facts verified 2026-07-17 · share the URL to share your answers
Your situation
The recommendation updates as you answer. Share the URL to share it.
Recommendation
Not yet
Based on the factors you set — 0 pushing toward adopting, 1 against.
Why it might be premature
- -18 On a PaaS — PaaS/serverless platforms load-balance and health-check across instances for you (official) — you don't run oneofficial fact
When to reassess
You need an LB once you run multiple instances for capacity or HA on infrastructure you manage — not on a PaaS that does it for you.
Minimal implementation
On a PaaS, rely on the platform's built-in balancing. On your own VMs, put a managed LB (cloud LB) or a reverse proxy (nginx/Caddy) in front once you have 2+ instances.
Risk of not doing it
Single point of failure and no horizontal scaling if you self-host; on a PaaS, none.
Cost & complexity once adopted
Low on a PaaS (included). Self-managed means an LB/proxy to configure, health-check and secure.
This is a judgement tool, not a leaderboard. The StackSays rule and StackSays estimate factors are StackSays logic and opinion; the official fact factors link to official sources below. No industry-standard threshold is implied — the answer is driven by the conditions you set.
Official facts cited
| Source | Verified |
|---|---|
| Vercel Edge Network — platform routing/scaling (official) | 2026-07-18 |
| AWS — What is load balancing (official) | 2026-07-18 |
Only the factors tagged “official fact” rest on these sources; rules and estimates are StackSays logic and are labeled as such.