Deploy for Free
You can deploy instances of some Render service types free of charge:
- Web services (web apps in Node.js, Python, Rails, etc.)
- PostgreSQL databases
- Redis instances
Free instances have important limitations, and you should not use them for production applications. However, they’re perfect for testing out a new technology, working on a hobby project, or previewing Render’s developer experience!
You can also deploy static sites on Render for free.
Web services and static sites count toward your monthly allotments of free outbound bandwidth and pipeline minutes. View your free usage in the Render Dashboard.
Create a Free instance
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Sign up for Render if you haven’t yet.
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From the Render Dashboard, click New:
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Select Static Site, Web Service, PostgreSQL, or Redis. Free options aren’t available for other service types.
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During the service creation flow, you choose an instance type to run your service on (unless it’s a static site). Choose Free:
That’s it! When you finish creating and deploying your service, it runs on a Free instance.
Need help deploying your favorite framework? See our quickstarts.
For details on limitations of Free instance types, see the sections below.
Free web services
Free web services support many (but not all) features available to web services on paid instance types. Supported features include:
- Custom domains
- Managed TLS certificates
- Pull request previews
- Log streams
- Rollbacks (only to the two most recent previous deploys)
The limitations below are specific to web services on the Free instance type. To avoid these limitations, you can create a web service on any paid instance type.
Spinning down on idle
Render spins down a Free web service that goes 15 minutes without receiving inbound traffic. Render spins the service back up whenever it next receives a request to process.
Spinning up a service takes a few seconds, which causes a noticeable delay for incoming requests until the service is back up and running. For example, a browser page load will hang momentarily.
Monthly usage limits
Render grants 750 Free instance hours to each user and team per calendar month. A Free web service consumes these hours as long as it’s running (spun-down services don’t consume Free instance hours). Any remaining Free instance hours expire at the end of each month.
Additionally, Free web services count toward your monthly allotments of free outbound bandwidth and pipeline minutes. View your free usage in the Render Dashboard.
Exceeding usage limits
If you exceed either usage limit (instance hours or outbound bandwidth) during a given month, all of your Free web services become suspended for the remainder of that month. To restore a suspended service before the start of the next month, you need to move that service to a paid instance type.
Free usage resets on the first of each month, at which point any suspended Free web services become available again.
Tracking usage
View your usage details from the Free Usage section of your Billing page on the Render Dashboard:
Render notifies you via email when you’re approaching a usage limit, and then again if you exceed that limit.
Other limitations
- Render might restart a Free web service at any time.
- Free web services don’t support the following features of paid instance types:
- Scaling beyond a single instance
- Persistent disks
- Running one-off jobs
- Shell access from the Render Dashboard
- Your Free web services aren’t available on the private network shared by your paid services in the same region.
- Free web services can’t listen on reserved ports
18012or19099.
Free PostgreSQL
The limitations below are specific to PostgreSQL databases on the Free instance type. To avoid these limitations, you can create a database on any paid instance type.
Single-instance limit
Only one Free PostgreSQL database can be active for any given Render user or team.
90-day limit
Free PostgreSQL databases on Render automatically expire 90 days after creation. An expired Free database is inaccessible unless you upgrade it to a paid instance type.
After a Free database expires, you have a grace period of 14 days to upgrade it to a paid instance type. After the grace period, Render deletes the database (along with all of its data).
Render notifies you via email when you’re approaching a Free database expiration, and then again when you’re approaching the end of the grace period.
Other limitations
- Render might restart a Free PostgreSQL database at any time.
- Free PostgreSQL databases don’t support any form of backups.
Free Redis
The limitations below are specific to Redis instances on the Free instance type. To avoid these limits, you can create a Redis instance on any paid instance type.
Single-instance limit
Only one Free Redis instance can be active for any given Render user or team.
Ephemeral storage
Free Redis instances are not backed by a persistent disk. Whenever an instance restarts, all of its data is lost.
Other limitations
- Render might restart a Free Redis instance at any time (thereby deleting its data).
- If you upgrade a Free Redis instance to a paid instance type, all of its data is lost.
Static sites
Static sites are free to deploy on Render. As with web services, they count toward your monthly allotments of free outbound bandwidth and pipeline minutes. View your free usage in the Render Dashboard.