The first known collection of N. vogelii was made in 1961 on Mount Api in Gunung Mulu National Park by forest botanist J.

[2] In 1969, botanist Shigeo Kurata examined this specimen and noted that it did not fall within the known variation exhibited by N. fusca.

[4] This specimen was collected as a seedling in the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak in 1997 and subsequently raised to maturity by Art Vogel, botanist and former conservatory manager of the Hortus Botanicus Leiden.

[3] Some time prior to its description, N. vogelii entered cultivation through Ch'ien Lee's Malesiana Tropicals plant nursery under the name "Nepenthes spec.

[5] Few specimens of this species are deposited in herbaria, likely due to its epiphytic growth habit, which makes it hard to find without the aid of binoculars.

[2] Nepenthes vogelii typically occurs as an epiphyte in submontane or tall lower montane forest.

[2][8] On Mount Mulu, N. vogelii occurs in a narrow elevational band (1200 to 1500 m) where its distribution does not overlap with those of the likewise epiphytic N. fusca and N. hurrelliana, which grow below 1200 m and above 1500 m, respectively.