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European managed hosting

alwaysdata

French managed cloud hosting that runs PHP, Python, Node.js, Ruby, Java and other apps with unlimited sites, databases and mailboxes per account, including a free-for-life personal plan.

Visit alwaysdata.com ↗ Alternatives Free tier EU region
alwaysdata homepage
§1

Overview

alwaysdata is a French hosting company that sits between classic web hosting and a PaaS. One account can hold unlimited websites, each with its own language and version (PHP, Python, Node.js, Ruby, Java and others), plus unlimited MariaDB and PostgreSQL databases, mailboxes and aliases. You can run programs on demand, on a schedule or as background daemons, and every plan includes SSH, free Let's Encrypt certificates and automatic backups of files, email and databases.

The Free plan costs nothing for life for personal use: 1 GB of SSD, 256 MB of RAM and a quarter of a CPU with three days of backups and every Plus feature. Plus starts at €5 a month (excluding VAT) with 50 GB SSD, 1 GB RAM and one CPU, scalable to 8 CPUs and 8 GB, and longer backup retention. Max, from €369, is a dedicated managed server with 24/7 support.

It is a good fit for agencies and developers running many small PHP or Python sites with email in one place, especially in Europe. It does not offer container images, preview environments or autoscaling in the style of modern PaaS products.

§2

Pricing and plans

Free tier · no card

Free for life for personal use: 1 GB SSD, 256 MB RAM, a quarter CPU, 3 days of backups, all Plus features; no card required.

At the limit Not stated The vendor does not say what happens at the limit, or we have not found it yet.

Non-commercial only
Plan Price What you get
Free €0/mo Personal use, 1 GB SSD, 256 MB RAM, 1/4 CPU
Plus From €5/mo 50-500 GB SSD, 1-8 GB RAM, 1-8 CPU, unlimited sites, databases and mailboxes, 7-30 days of backups
Max From €369/mo Dedicated environment, 16 GB-2 TB RAM, 24/7 support, 30 days of backups

Prices exclude VAT. Plus capacity can be changed instantly; the exact price for larger sizes is shown in the configurator. A 30-day free period applies before paid billing. The free plan is for personal use only. Deploy methods are inferred from SSH access being included; we did not read a git-deploy page. Data-center locations beyond 'European cloud' were not stated on the pages we read.

Source: www.alwaysdata.com/en/pricing/ · prices as published, excluding tax.

§3

What it does

Unlimited sites and databases
No cap on websites, MariaDB/PostgreSQL databases or mailboxes per account.
Multi-language, multi-version
Choose the language and version per site: PHP, Python, Node.js, Ruby, Java and others.
Daemons and scheduled tasks
Run background services and cron-style jobs alongside websites.
Email hosting
Unlimited mailboxes and aliases with filtering, anti-spam and webmail.
Automatic backups
Files, email and databases backed up at no extra cost (3 to 30 days depending on plan).
§4

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

  • Permanent free plan without a card.
  • Unlimited sites, databases and mailboxes on one account.
  • European company with human support.
  • Low entry price for paid capacity (€5/month).

Limitations

  • The free plan is limited to personal use and 256 MB of RAM.
  • No container images, preview environments or autoscaling.
  • 24/7 support only on the Max plan.
  • Prices exclude VAT.
§5

Who it suits

Good for

  • Agencies hosting many small PHP or Python sites
  • European developers who want hosting and email together
  • Free personal projects

Look elsewhere if

  • Container-based or microservice architectures
  • Teams wanting Git-based preview workflows
§6

Alternatives to alwaysdata

Tool From Free option Stages
Railway Usage-billed PaaS
$5/mo Free tier
Cloudflare Workers (incl. Pages) Edge serverless platform
$5/mo Free tier
$5/mo Free tier
Sevalla Managed PaaS
$5/mo Free tier
Render Managed PaaS
$7/mo Free tier
Netlify Frontend and serverless platform
$9/mo Free tier

All app hosting and PaaS →

§7

Questions

Is alwaysdata free?

Yes, the Free plan is free for life for personal use with 1 GB SSD and 256 MB RAM, and needs no credit card.

Which languages does alwaysdata support?

PHP, Python, Java, Node.js, Ruby and others, with a choice of version per site.

Which databases does alwaysdata offer?

MariaDB (MySQL) and PostgreSQL, with no limit on the number of databases.

Sources read for this page