Where Render's free tier stops
Render Render's free tier gives you one web service with 512 MB RAM and 0.1 CPU, for up to 750 instance hours per workspace per month. It spins down after 15 minutes with no inbound traffic and takes about a minute to spin back up on the next request. There is no autoscaling, no SSH access, no persistent disk, and no one-off jobs, and outbound traffic on SMTP ports 25, 465, and 587 is blocked.
Switch table
| Render | Leapcell | Koyeb | Vercel | Deno Deploy | 8base | Netlify | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| services or active apps | 1 web service (single instance, no autoscaling) | 20 projects | 1 web service and 1 Postgres database per organization | 1 project | Up to 10 apps active at a time | 1 frontend application per project | 1 preview server |
| bandwidth or transfer per month | Not included on the free web service | 2 GB data transfer per month | 100 GB outbound per month | 100 GB Fast Data Transfer per month | 20 GiB egress bandwidth | 2 GB per month | 300 credits per month |
| build minutes or build time | Not included on the free web service | 60 minutes of build execution per month | Unknown | Unknown | Up to 10 hours of Active CPU per month | Unknown | 1 concurrent build |
| team seats or members | Not included on the free web service | Unknown | Unknown | 1 developer seat | Up to 3 team members | 1 team member | 1 free member |
| storage | No persistent disk on the free web service | Redis 1 GB bandwidth; log storage 100 MB | 2 GB SSD on web service; 1 GB Postgres storage | 1 GB Blob storage per month | 1 GiB of Deno KV storage | 0.5 GB of files | Blob storage included; capacity not specified |
| database capacity | Not included on the free web service | Managed PostgreSQL included; storage not fully specified | Free Postgres database with 1 GB storage, 0.25 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 5 hours active time/month | 1 GB Blob storage; 10,000 Blob simple ops; 2,000 advanced ops | No bundled managed database | 2,500 database rows; 0.5 GB files | Netlify Database Basic; capacity not specified |
| Card required | - | No | Unknown | Unknown | No | Unknown | Unknown |
| First paid tier | - | Hobby, varies by usage | Pro, $29/mo +compute | Pro, $20/mo | Pro, $20/month | Developer, $25/mo | Personal, $9/month |
The alternatives
Leapcell
FTV 56 / 100Leapcell's free Hobby plan gives you 20 projects, support for Next.js, Python, Go, Rust, and more, plus monthly quotas for serverless usage, Redis, builds, logs, and async tasks. You get up to 3 vCPUs and 4 GB RAM per project, 100,000 serverless invocations, 3 GB-hours of serverless duration, 2 GB of transfer, 100,000 Redis commands, 60 build minutes, and 7-day metrics retention. It also includes custom domains with SSL, logs, and traffic analytics. Compared with Render, it offers much more compute per project and a broader serverless workload model. It falls short on workspace-style simplicity and does not give you Render's managed hosting primitives in the same way. Switch if you want a free app platform with more per-app headroom and can work within a project-centric model.
- Beats Render: More compute per project: up to 3 vCPUs and 4 GB RAM
- Falls short: Less workspace-oriented and fewer managed hosting primitives
- Who should switch: Switch here if your free app needs more CPU and memory than Render's 0.1 CPU, 512 MB service cap.
Koyeb
FTV 34 / 100Koyeb's free tier includes one web service and one Postgres database per organization, with 512 MB RAM, 0.1 vCPU, 2 GB SSD, 100 GB outbound bandwidth, and community support. The free Postgres also includes 1 GB of storage, 0.25 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, and 5 hours of active time per month at $0 per hour. That makes it a simple way to run a tiny web app plus a database without monthly spend, with a bandwidth allowance Render's free web service does not have at all. It falls short on breadth, since you only get one web service and one database. Switch if your main constraint is bandwidth or you only need a single small service and database.
- Beats Render: 100 GB outbound bandwidth per month, and a bundled free Postgres database
- Falls short: Only one free web service and one free Postgres database per org
- Who should switch: Switch here if you need a bandwidth allowance or a bundled free database, which Render's free web service doesn't include.
Vercel
FTV 53 / 100Vercel's free Hobby plan is for personal, non-commercial use and includes deployment from a repo, automatic CI/CD, a global CDN, DDoS mitigation, traffic and performance insights, 1M Edge Requests, 100 GB Fast Data Transfer, 1 GB Blob storage, and 1 developer seat. It also includes Functions, Workflow events, Queues API operations, rate limiting, image transformations, and built-in security features like WAF protection. Compared with Render, it gives far more edge and frontend-oriented delivery capacity and much richer client-side platform features. It falls short if you want the classic always-on service and database model that Render emphasizes. Switch if your workload is a web app or frontend-heavy deployment and you value edge delivery over workspace-based hosting.
- Beats Render: Much larger edge and transfer quotas: 1M Edge Requests and 100 GB transfer
- Falls short: More frontend and edge focused, less centered on always-on services and databases
- Who should switch: Switch here if you care more about web delivery and edge compute than Render-style service hosting.
Deno Deploy
FTV 58 / 100Deno Deploy's free plan includes 1M inbound HTTP requests per month, 20 GiB of egress bandwidth, up to 5 custom domains, 10 hours of Active CPU per month, 150 GiB-hours of memory time, up to 10 apps active at a time, up to 3 team members, 1 GiB of Deno KV storage, KV read and write quotas, log streaming with 1 day of retention, and an analytics dashboard. It also includes community support via Discord. Against Render, it offers a much larger monthly request allowance and multiple apps per organization instead of a single service. It falls short if you need Render's managed Postgres, or a more general app platform beyond Deno and edge-style deployments. Switch if you want generous request headroom for TypeScript-first serverless apps.
- Beats Render: 1M requests per month across up to 10 apps
- Falls short: No managed Postgres, and less aligned with general-purpose app hosting
- Who should switch: Switch here if you are deploying TypeScript or JavaScript apps and need more free request headroom.
8base
FTV 45 / 1008base's free plan covers backend web app building with serverless functions, GraphQL API access, CLI access, community support, 1 team member, 1 frontend application per project, previewing and deployment, asset storage, theming, CI/CD environments, authorization profiles, authentication, custom functions, GraphQL subscriptions, custom API domains with SSL, database views, custom indexes, hosting region selection, encryption, backup and restore, and a frontend CDN. The free tier also includes up to 2,500 database rows, 0.5 GB of files, 1 GB-hour of serverless computing, 2 GB of bandwidth, 100,000 GraphQL API calls, 100,000 subscription events, and up to 5 client app users. Compared with Render, it gives you a more opinionated backend and data layer. It falls short on general hosting flexibility and has very small storage and usage limits. Switch if your free project is more of a backend app or GraphQL product than a general deployment target.
- Beats Render: Built-in backend and GraphQL features with 100,000 API calls
- Falls short: Much smaller storage and compute headroom than Render's app-hosting focus
- Who should switch: Switch here if you want a free backend-first platform with GraphQL and data modeling built in.
Netlify
FTV 43 / 100Netlify's free plan is free forever and includes 300 credits per month, deploys from AI, Git, or API, unlimited deploy previews, custom domains with SSL, Functions and AI models, Netlify Database Basic, Blob storage, firewall traffic rules, a global CDN, 1 member, 1 concurrent build, 1 preview server, and short retention windows for observability and logs. It is a strong fit for static sites and frontend apps that benefit from previews and a simple Git-based workflow. Compared with Render, it offers a wider set of frontend deployment paths and unlimited previews, but it is more constrained on build concurrency and monthly credits. Switch if your use case is a site or frontend app where preview workflows matter more than service count.
- Beats Render: Unlimited deploy previews
- Falls short: Only 1 concurrent build and 300 credits per month
- Who should switch: Switch here if your main need is frontend previews and simple static or app hosting.
Two quick picks
Vercel
Vercel is the closest drop-in for builders shipping web apps from Git with previews, CDN delivery, and deployment automation. The workflow feels familiar to teams moving away from Render's app hosting, even though the platform is more frontend and edge oriented.
Deno Deploy
Deno Deploy gives the most obvious free headroom on monthly request volume, with 1M inbound requests and room for multiple apps in one organization instead of Render's single service. It is the best fit when raw request volume is what you want the most room on.
Frequently asked questions
Which alternative is closest to Render for a general web app with a database?
Koyeb is the nearest if you want a small always-free web service plus Postgres. Leapcell is also close if you want more compute per app and can work in a project-based model.
Which alternative gives the highest free bandwidth?
Koyeb stands out with 100 GB outbound per month. Vercel also offers 100 GB Fast Data Transfer, which is strong for frontend delivery.
Which alternative has the best free tier for TypeScript apps?
Deno Deploy is the best fit for TypeScript-first serverless apps, with 1M requests, 20 GB egress, and Terraform support.
Which alternative is best if I need unlimited deploy previews?
Netlify is the clear choice because its free plan includes unlimited deploy previews, though its build concurrency and credits are limited.
Bottom line
For the most common Render free-tier miss, Vercel is the best alternative: it is the easiest move if you are deploying a Git-connected web app and want previews, CDN delivery, and automatic CI/CD without changing your workflow too much. If you are specifically hitting Render's single-service or instance-hour limits, Deno Deploy is better for raw request headroom, but Vercel is the most straightforward replacement for many frontend and app deployment setups.
Read the full listing for Render. Scores use the FTV methodology at /ftv. Browse more alternatives on /alternatives, or head-to-head comparisons on /compare.