Free cloud hosting for developers

As a developer, I usually want to deploy applications with minimal or no upfront investment. The hosting free tiers options give a space for experimentation, learning, and the deployment of low-traffic personal projects or proofs-of-concept without immediate financial commitment.

Typical problem

Clouds want your money. Automatic transition to pay-as-you-go plan can lead to unexpected costs.

There are many tricks from providers offer free tiers with specific limits or hidden costs, such as data transfer fees or charges for additional features not included in the free tier.

This article provides a comparative analysis of truly free (sidenote: The term "free" in the context of cloud hosting is often subject to various interpretations. Cloud providers typically categorize their free offerings into three primary models: "Always Free", "12-Month Free Tier", "Trial Credits".) hosting solutions for both backend and frontend components.

Defining “Free” in Cloud Hosting

1. Always Free

These represent the most genuinely “truly free” offerings.

This model is highly desirable for long-term, cost-free operation of small-scale or hobby projects.

2. 12-Month Free Tier

These are promotional offers primarily extended to new customers, typically valid for a period of 12 months from the account signup date. They often provide access to more substantial resources, such as virtual machines or larger storage allocations, and they will automatically transition to standard pay-as-you-go rates once the 12-month period concludes or if usage exceeds the specified limits within that timeframe.

This model serves as a valuable introductory period for exploration and development, allowing users to experiment with a broader range of services, but it does not constitute a long-term “truly free” solution. Users must plan for potential costs after the promotional period.

3. Trial Credits

This category involves a one-time monetary credit (e.g., $300 for Google Cloud, $200 for Azure) provided to new users, typically with a limited validity period (e.g., 30 or 90 days). Services consumed under these credits are free only until the credit is exhausted or the trial period expires. After this, users are required to transition to a paid plan or a pay-as-you-go model.

Hidden Costs of Free Tiers

1. Inactivity Policies

Many free backend services tends to “spin down” or “go to sleep” after a period of inactivity. This mechanism is employed by providers to conserve resources and is particularly common for services that run on dedicated compute instances rather than serverless functions. Or you can lose your data.

2. Data Egress Charges

Data transfer out from a cloud provider’s network (egress) is a consistently significant and often overlooked cost trigger, even within free tiers.

This mechanism effectively ensures that a project with growing user engagement or data consumption will eventually contribute financially to the platform.

3. Resource Suspension vs. Overage Charges

Providers employ different strategies when free tier limits are reached.

Some, like Render for service hours, will suspend services, preventing further charges but also halting the application. This means the application becomes unavailable until the next billing cycle or until the user manually upgrades to a paid plan.

Others, such as Netlify for bandwidth, build minutes, and functions, will automatically transition to a pay-as-you-go model for overages, potentially incurring costs if not diligently monitored. This approach ensures service continuity but shifts the financial risk to the user.

4. Database Limitations

Free database offerings typically come with strict limitations on storage capacity, the number of operations (reads, writes, deletes), and concurrent connections. These limitations are designed to support small-scale development and testing.

This policy underscores the temporary nature of some “free” database services and the importance of understanding data persistence guarantees.

Cloud providers’ marketing strategy

“Free tiers” across major cloud providers is not a philanthropic gesture but a strategic business imperative. These offerings are designed to lower the barrier to entry for developers, allowing them to build projects on the platform without initial financial commitment. As projects mature, gain traction, or exceed the often-generous but finite free limits, users are incentivized to convert to paid plans.

Examples of free backend hosting plans

1. Back4app

Back4app is a free backend server hosting provider based on open-source technologies like Docker, Node.js, REST, GraphQL, Redis, and Parse Server. It offers a free tier plan for containers. This makes it suitable for projects requiring a flexible, open-source-based backend without immediate cost.

Trigger for Paid Usage:

• Exceeding the 100GB data transfer limit.
• The shared CPU implies that performance might be inconsistent under heavy load, pushing users towards paid plans for dedicated resources.

2. Firebase (Google-backed BaaS)

Firebase, a Google-backed Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform, simplifies backend deployment with a single command. It offers a generous free tier (Spark Plan) for various services, making it highly attractive for mobile and web application development.

1. Firebase Hosting: Provides storage, data transfer, free SSL, multiple sites, and custom domains. This is ideal for serving static frontend assets and small dynamic applications.

2. Cloud Firestore (NoSQL Database): The free tier includes exactly one free database per project.

3. Cloud Functions (Serverless): The Blaze Plan (which includes a no-cost tier) offers up to 2M invocations/month.

4. Other Services: Firebase also includes free tiers for Authentication (50k monthly active users), Cloud Messaging (FCM), and Crashlytics.

Trigger for Paid Usage:

• Exceeding any of the daily or monthly limits for storage, data transfer, document operations, function invocations, or compute time will trigger charges under the Blaze Plan.
• The free tier for Cloud Firestore is limited to one database per project, and certain features like TTL deletes or backup data require billing to be enabled.

3. Cloudflare Workers

Cloudflare Workers provide a serverless execution environment at the edge, ideal for highly performant and globally distributed backend logic. Generally, Cloudflare offers a generous free tier for its core CDN and DNS services, and Workers typically have a free usage allowance for a certain number of requests per day.

Trigger for Paid Usage:

• Exceeding the daily free request limit
• Requiring more advanced features like increased compute time or persistent storage would lead to charges.

4. AWS (Amazon Web Services)

AWS offers a comprehensive suite of services with various free tier components, categorized into “12-Month Free,” “Always Free,” and “Trials”.

1. EC2 (Compute): 750 hours per month of t2.micro or t3.micro instances (Linux or Windows) for 12 months. This is sufficient to run one instance continuously for a year.

2. Lambda (Serverless Functions): Always Free, offering 1 million free requests per month and 400,000 GB-seconds of compute time per month. This is highly suitable for event-driven backend logic without managing servers.

3. DynamoDB (NoSQL Database): Always Free, providing 25 GB of storage and enough capacity to handle up to 200 million requests per month (25 provisioned Write Capacity Units and 25 provisioned Read Capacity Units).

4. RDS (Relational Database Service): 750 hours per month of db.t2.micro or db.t3.micro instances (MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, SQL Server Express) for 12 months, plus 20 GB of database storage.

5. S3 (Object Storage): 5 GB of standard storage, 20,000 Get Requests, and 2,000 Put Requests per month for 12 months. While primarily for storage, S3 can serve static assets for frontend.

6. Data Transfer: 15 GB of bandwidth out aggregated across all AWS services for 12 months. CloudFront, AWS’s CDN, offers 1 TB of data transfer out per month as part of its 12-month free tier.

Trigger for Paid Usage:

• For 12-month free tier services, charges apply after 12 months or if usage exceeds the monthly limits within that period.
• For “Always Free” services like Lambda and DynamoDB, exceeding the specified monthly limits will incur costs based on pay-as-you-go rates.
• Exceeding the aggregated 15GB outbound data transfer limit is a common trigger for costs.

5. Google Cloud (GCP)

Google Cloud offers a robust “Free Tier” with “Always Free” products and a $300 credit for new customers.

1. Compute Engine: One e2-micro instance per month (US regions only) as an “Always Free” component. This provides a basic virtual machine for backend operations.

2. Cloud Run: A fully managed environment for stateless containers, offering 2 million requests per month as “Always Free”. This is excellent for containerized backend services.

3. Cloud Functions: A serverless environment with 2 million invocations per month as “Always Free”.

4. Firestore (NoSQL Database): 1 GB storage, 50,000 document reads/day, 20,000 document writes/day, 20,000 document deletes/day, and 10 GiB outbound data transfer/month, all “Always Free”.

5. Cloud Build: 120 build-minutes per day “Always Free”.

6. Cloud Storage: 5 GB-months Standard Storage “Always Free”.

Trigger for Paid Usage:

• Exceeding any of the “Always Free” monthly limits will result in charges.
• For new customers, the initial $300 credit covers usage beyond the free tier for a limited period (e.g., 90 days), after which standard pay-as-you-go rates apply.

6. Microsoft Azure

Azure provides a “Free Account” for new customers, including free monthly amounts of 20+ popular services for 12 months and 65+ “always-free” services, along with a $200 credit for 30 days.

1. Virtual Machines: 750 hours each of B1s, B2pts v2 (Arm-based), and B2ats v2 (AMD-based) burstable VMs for Windows and Linux, free for 12 months.

2. Azure SQL Database: Up to 10 databases with 100,000 vCore seconds of serverless tier and 32 GB of storage each, “Always Free”.

3. Azure Functions: A serverless compute service, included in the “Always Free” services, though specific usage limits are not detailed in the provided snippets.

4. Azure Cosmos DB for MongoDB: An “Always Free” dedicated MongoDB cluster with 32 GB storage.

5. Azure Blob Storage: 5 GB locally redundant storage (LRS) hot block with 20,000 read and 10,000 write operations, free for 12 months.

6. Data Transfer: The first 100 GB/month of egressed data is free to all customers in all Azure regions.

Trigger for Paid Usage:

• The $200 credit must be used within the first 30 days.
• After 12 months, or if usage exceeds the monthly limits for the 12-month free services, standard pay-as-you-go rates apply.
• Exceeding the 100 GB/month free egress limit will also incur charges.

7. Railway

Railway offers a unique “free tier” model that provides a one-time $5 in usage credits to new users. This credit can be used for various resources like RAM, CPU, and network egress.

• Free Tier Model: Unlike “Always Free” tiers, Railway’s free offering is not perpetual. Once the initial $5 credit is exhausted, services stop running until the user upgrades to a paid plan. This applies even if the application was previously live.

• Hobby Plan: The Hobby plan costs $5/month and includes $5 of usage monthly. If usage exceeds $5, the user is charged the delta. This means the Hobby plan is effectively free if usage stays within $5, but it’s a paid subscription with a credit.

Features: Railway supports Git-based deploys, persistent storage, and built-in database support for PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, and MongoDB. It charges based on actual usage (RAM hours, CPU hours, storage, network egress).

Trigger for Paid Usage:

• The primary trigger is the exhaustion of the one-time $5 trial credit, which immediately stops services.
• For the Hobby plan, exceeding the $5 monthly usage credit incurs additional charges.
• Railway’s model is designed to quickly transition users to a paid structure once they demonstrate any significant usage.

8. Render

Render offers an “always-on” free tier for certain services, including static sites, web services with limits, and free PostgreSQL databases.

1. Service Hours: Free Tier Service instances have a collective total of 750 hours of free execution per month.

2. Bandwidth: 100GB outbound bandwidth per month (unlimited inbound).

3. Build Minutes: 500 Starter-tier minutes per member per month, shared among all members.

4. Databases: Free PostgreSQL databases are offered, but they are deleted after 90 days if not upgraded to a paid plan.

Trigger for Paid Usage:

• Inactivity: Free web services may enter sleep mode after a period of inactivity (e.g., 15 minutes), leading to slower response times.
• Custom Domains: Not available on the free tier; users must use Render’s subdomain.
• Service Hours: Exceeding 750 hours of free execution suspends all Free Tier Services for the remainder of the month, with no overage charges. To restore service, an upgrade to a paid instance type is required.
• Bandwidth: Exceeding the free bandwidth allotment results in automatic overage charges ($30 for an additional 100 GB block).
• Build Minutes: Exceeding free pipeline minutes causes deployments to fail by default, though users can configure to allow overage charges.
• Database Persistence: The 90-day deletion policy for free PostgreSQL databases necessitates an upgrade for long-term data persistence.

Examples of Truly Free Frontend Hosting Plans

Frontend hosting primarily involves serving static files (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images) and often integrates with CDNs for faster content delivery.

1. Netlify

Netlify is highly popular for static site and JAMstack deployments, offering a “Free & Starter” plan that is genuinely free forever with no credit card required for basic usage.

• Bandwidth: 100GB per month.
• Build Minutes: 300 minutes per month.
• Serverless Functions: 125,000 invocations per site per month.
• Edge Functions: 1 million invocations per month.
• Storage: 10 GB storage.

Features: Continuous Deployment from Git (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket), free SSL support, custom domains, and deploy previews. It is excellent for developers working with frameworks like React or Vue.js.

Trigger for Paid Usage:

• If a site exceeds its monthly usage limits (bandwidth, build minutes, function invocations), it enters a suspended state until the first of the next month.
• All sites on a Free account will be suspended if one site exceeds its limits.
• To restore service, an upgrade to a usage-based plan is required.
• Overage charges apply for additional bandwidth ($55 per 100GB), build minutes ($7 per 500 minutes), and function invocations ($25+ for serverless, $2/month for Edge Functions).

2. Vercel

Vercel is a cloud platform primarily designed for web and full-stack developers, excelling in static site and frontend application hosting, particularly for Next.js. Its Hobby plan is free and aimed at personal, non-commercial projects.

• Projects: Up to 200 projects.
• Domains per Project: 50 custom domains per project.
• Data Transfer: 100 GB of Fast Data Transfer.
• Serverless Functions: 100,000 invocations and 100 GB-Hours of execution per month. Maximum duration is 60s.
• Edge Function Execution: 1,000,000 execution units.
• Build Minutes: 6,000 build minutes per month.

Features: Serverless architecture, static website and frontend application hosting, serverless functions, and continuous deployment builds.

Trigger for Paid Usage:

• The Hobby plan is explicitly for “non-commercial, personal use only”.
• Exceeding usage limits on the Hobby plan typically requires waiting 30 days for the feature to reset, or upgrading to a Pro plan.
• The Pro plan offers 10x more data transfer, 1 million Serverless Function requests, and 1000 GB-hours of execution.
• Vercel can become expensive quickly once free limits are hit for high-traffic sites.

3. GitHub Pages

GitHub Pages offers free hosting for static sites directly integrated with GitHub repositories.

Features: Free SSL support, direct integration with GitHub.

Limitations: Only suitable for static sites; does not support dynamic content or database-driven applications.

Trigger for Paid Usage:

• Not directly applicable as it’s purely for static content. Any dynamic requirements would necessitate a different hosting solution.

4. AWS Frontend Components

Beyond backend, AWS services can host frontend applications.

1. Amazon S3: As mentioned, 5 GB of standard storage for 12 months, ideal for hosting static websites. Static websites hosted on S3 are low cost, highly reliable, and scalable.

2. Amazon CloudFront (CDN): 1 TB of data transfer out per month for 12 months. This is crucial for distributing frontend assets globally with low latency.

Trigger for Paid Usage:

• Exceeding S3 storage or request limits, or CloudFront data transfer limits after 12 months, will incur charges.

5. Google Cloud Frontend Components

Google Cloud also offers options for frontend hosting.

1. Cloud Storage: 5 GB-months Standard Storage “Always Free”. This can serve as a highly scalable and durable storage for static website assets.

2. Cloud Run: While capable of hosting dynamic backends, Cloud Run can also serve static sites and frontend applications, with 2 million requests per month “Always Free”.

Trigger for Paid Usage:

• Exceeding the storage limits for Cloud Storage or the request limits for Cloud Run will lead to charges.

6. Azure Frontend Components

Azure’s free tier also extends to frontend hosting.

1. Azure Blob Storage: 5 GB locally redundant storage (LRS) hot block with 20,000 read and 10,000 write operations, free for 12 months. This is suitable for storing and serving static website content.

Trigger for Paid Usage:

• Exceeding Blob Storage limits or the 12-month free period will incur costs.

How to implement a zero-cost strategy?

I prefer my service to be suspended instead of extra change when exceeding limits or to pay small fixed price. I want to receive only the expected bills.

1. Choose Providers Wisely: Prioritize Netlify and Render for their more explicit suspension policies on free tiers. Vercel’s Hobby plan also tends towards limiting usage upon exceeding free limits.
2. Set Up Alerts: Use the provider’s tools to get notifications well before you reach any limits (e.g., at 50%, 75%, 90%).
3. Manual Intervention: When you receive alerts, be prepared to manually scale down or stop your services.
4. Design for Free Tier: Architect your application to be as resource-efficient as possible.
5. Test Limits: Conduct tests under realistic load.
6. Understand Inactivity Policies: For backend services, be aware of “sleep mode” policies. For production-like environments, consider if the cold start latency is acceptable.
7. Consider Hybrid Approaches: For full-stack applications, a hybrid approach might be optimal: use a specialized frontend host (e.g., Netlify, Vercel) for static assets and serverless functions, and a separate backend provider (e.g., Firebase, AWS Lambda/DynamoDB) for database and core API logic. This can maximize free tier.

By evaluating these factors and economic models, users can maximize cost savings while ensuring their applications remain performant and available.