Platform-as-a-service hosts run your code for you: connect a repo, they build it and keep it running. Free plans here usually trade uptime for price, so watch for apps that sleep when idle, monthly hour caps and plans that only give a one-time trial credit.
16 options · limits checked 1 Nov 2026 · ranked by free-tier score
16 app hosting
Serverless edge
Serverless functions and full-stack apps running on Cloudflare's edge network.
The catch: Each request gets only 10 ms of CPU, which heavy server-side rendering can exceed.
Edge runtime
Runs JavaScript and TypeScript apps on Deno's global network, deployed from GitHub or the CLI.
The catch: Egress is only 20 GiB a month, far below most static hosts.
Container platform
A developer platform for services, jobs and databases on its cloud or your own.
The catch: Compute and scaling are limited, and egress is billed at $0.06 per GB.
WebAssembly edge
Runs apps compiled to WebAssembly, including PHP and Python sites, on an edge network.
The catch: Your app must run on Wasmer's WebAssembly runtime, which not every library supports.
Serverless platform
Serverless hosting for web apps, APIs and async tasks, with built-in Redis.
The catch: Only 2 GB of outbound data and 60 build minutes a month.
Cloud platform
Hosts web services, static sites, cron jobs and databases from a Git repo.
The catch: The free service sleeps after 15 minutes, so the first visitor waits about a minute.
Container hosting
Deploys a Docker container from GitHub onto Back4app's managed platform.
The catch: 256 MB of RAM is too little for most Node or Python frameworks under load.
Managed PaaS
DigitalOcean's managed platform for static sites, web services and workers.
The catch: Only 1 GiB of transfer per free app, then you pay per GiB.
Scripts in the cloud
Write and run small TypeScript functions, APIs and cron jobs in the browser.
The catch: Each run is capped at one minute and cron jobs can run at most every 15 minutes.
Serverless containers
Runs any container image and scales to zero when there is no traffic.
The catch: You need a billing account, and anything past the free allowance is charged.
ML demo hosting
Hosts machine-learning demos and static pages next to models on the Hugging Face Hub.
The catch: New Docker and CPU Gradio Spaces now need a $9 PRO account; free is mainly static pages.
Python app hosting
Free hosting for Streamlit data apps deployed from a GitHub repo.
The catch: Apps sleep after 12 hours without visitors and wake only when someone opens them.
Usage-based PaaS
Deploys apps, workers and databases from Git or Docker with per-second usage billing.
The catch: $1 of monthly credit runs out quickly, so most always-on apps need the $5 Hobby plan.
Full-stack hosting
AWS hosting for static and server-rendered web apps, deployed from Git.
The catch: It is a time-limited new-account offer, not a forever-free plan.
Browser IDE + AI
A browser-based coding workspace with an AI agent that can build and publish apps.
The catch: The one free published app goes offline after 30 days, so it is not real hosting.
Serverless containers
Runs Docker containers and Git-built apps on a global serverless platform.
The catch: 0.1 vCPU is very slow, and the service scales to zero after an hour idle.
Still in old tutorials. Do not plan around them.
Zeabur is shutting down: shared-cluster services pause on 1 December 2026 and all servers and clusters close by 31 December 2026.
The original Deno Deploy (dash.deno.com) and its subhosting v1 API shut down on 20 July 2026; apps had to move to the new Deno Deploy.
Project hosting and user profiles shut down on 8 July 2025; code export stayed open until the end of 2025.
Free allowances (3 small VMs, 3 GB volumes, 100 GB transfer) ended for new organisations on 7 October 2024; new accounts get only a trial of 2 machine-hours or 7 days.
The free Starter plan with $5 of recurring monthly credit ended on 1 August 2023 (new sign-ups got a one-time $5 from 3 July 2023); it was replaced by a trial.
Free dynos, free Heroku Postgres and free Redis ended on 28 November 2022; the cheapest option is now the $5 Eco dyno, which sleeps after 30 min.
Heroku ended free dynos in November 2022. Render, Koyeb and Cloudflare Workers still have free plans for small apps, with limits such as sleeping after inactivity or a daily request cap. Each provider page lists the exact limits.
Many free container plans stop your app when nobody uses it and start it again on the next visit. That cold start can take several seconds. Edge platforms such as Cloudflare Workers and Deno Deploy avoid it.
Check a name, set up DNS and test the site once it is live. All free, in the browser.
Where to list a new site so search engines and people find it.