§02 · Hosting · Which app host?
App hosting and PaaS
Platforms as a service take your code or container and run it, with builds, TLS, scaling and logs handled for you. They range from frontend hosts built around static sites and serverless functions to full container platforms that run any long-lived process, and their free tiers differ a lot in whether apps sleep.
27 tools 20 with a free option Checked 28 Sept 2026
§1
Where we would start, by stage
Editorial picks from the data below, never paid. They change when prices or free tiers do; the full table is underneath.
Hobby $0–10/mo
Cloudflare Workers (incl. Pages) 100,000 requests a day free, no cold starts, with D1, KV and static assets on the same account.
Workers Paid from $5/mo
Indie up to ~$50/mo
Render Deploys any Docker image from Git; paid services never sleep and Postgres sits in the same region.
Starter instance from $7/mo
Startup up to ~$500/mo
Railway Usage-based from $5/mo, with Postgres, MySQL and Redis templates next to your services.
Hobby $5/mo including $5 usage
Scale-up usage-driven
Google Cloud Run Any container in 40+ regions, scales to zero, with a monthly free allowance per billing account.
From $0.000018 per vCPU-second (us-central1, instance-based)
Enterprise contracts
Vercel Built around Next.js and frontend frameworks on a global CDN; Hobby is non-commercial only, so teams start on Pro.
Pro from $20/mo plus usage
§2
All 27 compared
A to Z · never paid placement27 tools
| Tool | From | Free option | Runs | Free tier sleeps? | Managed DBs | Regions | Stages |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| alwaysdata alwaysdata.com · EU | €5/mo | Free tier | PHP, Python, Node.js, Ruby, Java and more, multi-version | No | MariaDB (MySQL), PostgreSQL | Europe (France) | |
| AWS Amplify Hosting aws.amazon.com · EU | Usage-based | Static, SPA and SSR (Next.js, Nuxt) | Serverless SSR, billed per request | Via AWS (DynamoDB, AppSync); not bundled | AWS regions; CloudFront 600+ PoPs | ||
| Azure App Service azure.microsoft.com · EU | $0.017/hr | Free tier | .NET, Java (Tomcat, JBoss EAP), Node.js, PHP, Python, containers | Free/Basic apps idle out; no scale to zero | Via Azure (Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, Postgres); not bundled | Most Azure regions worldwide | |
| CapRover caprover.com · OSS · EU | Free tier | Any container: Node.js, Python, PHP, Java, Ruby, .NET, Go | No; apps run on your servers | One-click MariaDB, MySQL, MongoDB, Postgres (self-run) | Wherever your servers are | ||
| Clever Cloud clever.cloud · EU | €6/mo | Trial | Node, Python, PHP, Java, Scala, Go, Rust, Ruby, .NET, Elixir, Haskell, Docker | No sleep; pay only while running, apps can be paused | PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis, Elasticsearch | Own data centers in France | |
| Cloudflare Workers (incl. Pages) workers.cloudflare.com · EU | $5/mo | Free tier | JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Rust, Wasm (V8 isolates) | No cold starts; billed on CPU time only | D1 (SQLite), KV, Durable Objects, Hyperdrive to Postgres/MySQL | 330+ cities, runs everywhere by default | |
| Coolify coolify.io · OSS · EU | $5/mo | Free tier | Any language (Nixpacks, Dockerfile, Docker Compose) | No; apps run on your own servers | Postgres, MySQL, MariaDB, Redis, MongoDB and more (self-run) | Wherever your servers are | |
| Deno Deploy deno.com | $20/mo | Free tier | JavaScript, TypeScript (Deno, with Node/npm compatibility) | Serverless isolates; billed on CPU and memory time | Deno KV; link or provision Postgres, Prisma | ||
| DigitalOcean App Platform digitalocean.com · EU | $5/mo | Free tier | Buildpacks or Dockerfile; any Linux AMD64 image | No on paid containers; Scale to Zero in private preview | Dev Postgres ($7); DO Managed Postgres, MySQL, MongoDB, Valkey, Kafka, OpenSearch | 13 (US, Canada, Europe, India, Singapore, Australia) | |
| Dokku dokku.com · OSS · EU | Free tier | Any via Heroku buildpacks or Dockerfile | No; apps run on your own server | Official datastore plugins (e.g. Postgres, MySQL, Redis) | Wherever your server is | ||
| Dokploy dokploy.com · OSS · EU | $4.50/mo | Free tier | Any via Nixpacks, Heroku buildpacks, Dockerfile, Compose | No; apps run on your servers | MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, MariaDB, Redis, libSQL (self-run) | Wherever your servers are | |
| Fly.io fly.io · EU | $1.94/mo | Any Docker/OCI image | Machines can auto-stop when idle (optional) | Managed Postgres | 18 (NA, EU, APAC, South America, Africa) | ||
| GitHub Pages pages.github.com | Free tier | Static only (HTML, CSS, JS); Jekyll or Actions builds | Static; nothing to sleep | None | Served globally | ||
| Google Cloud Run cloud.google.com · EU | Usage-based | Free tier | Any container; source deploys for Go, Node, Python, Java, .NET, Ruby | Scales to zero by default | Via Google Cloud (Cloud SQL, Firestore); not bundled | 40+ Google Cloud regions | |
| Heroku heroku.com · EU | $5/mo | Node, Ruby, Python, Java, PHP, Go, Scala, Clojure, .NET; others via buildpacks | Eco dynos sleep after 30 min; Basic and up always on | Heroku Postgres, Key-Value Store (Redis) | Common Runtime: US, EU; Private Spaces: 10 regions | ||
| Koyeb koyeb.com · EU | $29/mo | Native builds for core runtimes, any Docker image | Scale-to-zero available | Serverless Postgres (with pgvector) | 7 core regions (US, EU, Asia); 50 on-demand on Scale | ||
| Leapcell leapcell.io | $12.90/mo | Free tier | Node.js/TypeScript, Python, Go, Rust | Serverless scales to zero; persistent servers optional | PostgreSQL, Redis-compatible KV | US, Japan/Asia and others | |
| Netlify netlify.com | $9/mo | Free tier | Static sites; JavaScript/TypeScript functions | Serverless functions; free projects pause at credit cap | Netlify Database (managed Postgres), Blobs | Global CDN, 100+ edge locations | |
| Northflank northflank.com · EU | $2.70/mo | Free tier | Any language via buildpacks or Dockerfile | No; Sandbox services are always on | Managed addons (databases, caches, queues) | 6+ managed regions; 600 BYOC regions | |
| PythonAnywhere pythonanywhere.com | $10/mo | Free tier | Python (WSGI: Django, Flask, web2py, Bottle) | Web apps stay up; consoles and tasks limited by CPU-seconds | |||
| Railway railway.com · EU | $5/mo | Free tier | Any language via builders or Dockerfile | Optional Serverless mode sleeps idle services | Postgres, Postgres HA, MySQL, Redis, MongoDB templates | 4: California, Virginia, Amsterdam, Singapore | |
| Render render.com · EU | $7/mo | Free tier | Node, Python, Go, Rust, Ruby, Elixir, any Docker image | Free web services sleep after 15 min; paid never | Postgres, Key Value (Redis-compatible) | 5: Oregon, Ohio, Virginia, Frankfurt, Singapore | |
| Scalingo scalingo.com · EU | €7.20/mo | Trial | Ruby, PHP, Node.js, Python, Java, Go, Elixir, Scala, Clojure, Meteor | No; containers never sleep | PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, caching, Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, InfluxDB | Europe only (France), incl. SecNumCloud region | |
| Sevalla sevalla.com · EU | $5/mo | Free tier | Any language via Git builds, Dockerfile or image | No sleeping; autoscaling available | 5 managed database types with daily backups | 25 data centers; static sites on 260+ PoPs | |
| Upsun upsun.com · EU | €9/mo | Trial | 12+ runtimes (e.g. PHP, Python, Node.js) declared in YAML | Idle environments pause after 15 days | PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB, Redis, MongoDB, Elasticsearch and more as services | 14 regions on AWS, Azure, GCP, IBM Cloud, OVHcloud | |
| Vercel vercel.com · EU | $20/mo | Free tier | Node.js, Bun, Python, Go, Ruby, Rust, Wasm, Edge | Serverless, scales to zero (functions) | Blob storage; databases via Marketplace partners | Global CDN; functions in one region (iad1) by default | |
| Zeabur zeabur.com · EU | $5/mo | Free tier | Auto-detected languages and frameworks, Dockerfile | No; services run on a dedicated server | Deployed as services/templates on your server | Depends on server provider; clusters in 10 regions |
No tools match these filters.
§3
How to choose an app host
- Frontend-first hosts (Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare) suit static sites and serverless functions; container platforms (Render, Railway, Fly.io) suit long-running servers, workers and websockets.
- Check whether the free or cheapest tier sleeps when idle, and how long a cold start takes.
- Usage-based pricing (bandwidth, function invocations, build minutes) can grow faster than a flat plan. Estimate your traffic against the published overage prices.
- See whether a managed database is available in the same region, or you will pay latency on every query.
- Commercial use is not allowed on some hobby tiers; read the plan terms before launching a paid product on one.
Questions
What replaced the Heroku free tier?
Heroku ended free dynos in 2022. Render, Koyeb and Fly.io are common replacements for small servers, and Vercel, Netlify and Cloudflare cover static sites and serverless functions. Each has different sleep and usage limits, shown in the table.
Which PaaS does not sleep on the free tier?
It changes often, which is why the table has a "Free tier sleeps?" column with the date it was checked. Serverless platforms scale to zero by design but start in milliseconds; container platforms that sleep can take several seconds to wake.
§4
Comparisons and pricing changes
Recent changes
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Netlify adds Pro credit tiers with rollover
Netlify · source ↗
-
Zeabur adjusts dedicated server and VPS prices
Zeabur · source ↗
-
Render replaces per-seat plans with flat workspace plans and cuts included bandwidth
Render · source ↗
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Zeabur shuts its usage-billed shared cluster to new projects
Zeabur · source ↗
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Koyeb closes its free Starter plan to new users
Koyeb · source ↗