Cheapest place for a hobby project that can sleep.
Prices checked
Free web service at Render leads 21 plans that can do this job, at no cost to you, checked .
Top 10
all 62 plans- 1
Free web service
Sized instance
Render · 512 MB RAM · sleeps when idlefree - 2
Free
Subscription
Netlify · no size, the compute is metered · always onfree - 3
Hobby workspace
SubscriptionRender · no size, the compute is meteredfree - 4
Hobby
Subscription
Vercel · no size, the compute is metered · always onfree - 5
Free
Subscription
Zeabur · no size, the compute is metered · sleeps when idlefree - 6
eNano
Sized instance
Koyeb · 0.1 vCPU · 256 MB RAM · always on$1.61/mo - 7
shared-cpu-1x
Sized instance
Fly.io · 1 vCPU · 256 MB RAM · always on$2.19/mo - 8
eMicro
Sized instanceKoyeb · 0.25 vCPU · 512 MB RAM · always on$2.68/mo - 9
Nano
Sized instanceKoyeb · 0.25 vCPU · 256 MB RAM · always on$2.68/mo - 10
shared-cpu-1x
Sized instanceFly.io · 1 vCPU · 512 MB RAM · always on$3.69/mo
Other ways to pick
What matters
- Sleeping is the whole saving
- A platform that stops your app while nothing calls it is not running a server for you, which is why it can give the tier away. Accept the cold start and this market is close to free.
- Free is a real price, not a discount
- These tiers are not trials. They renew, and the row says whether the provider states an expiry. What they are not is a promise: a free tier is the first thing a platform changes.
- A subscription is not a server
- Some rows here are account tiers with usage credit attached rather than a runtime of a stated size. They are listed with their tag, and the size column says the compute is metered.
- Move before you need to
- The cheapest paid step above a free tier is usually a few dollars, and every provider on this list keeps the app at the same address when you take it. The rankings have the paid ladder.
Or rent a VPS
Best VPS for a personal siteA platform runs the app for you; a virtual server hands you the machine, with root and the updates to run yourself, and meters nothing on top of its monthly price. The same job on one is Best VPS for a personal site: 377 plans clear 512 MB of RAM, 1 vCPU and a disk in the price, and the cheapest is Scaleway STARDUST1-S at $0.49 a month.
How we count
When nobody is waiting on the first request, a plan that stops while idle is the cheapest thing in this market, and several of them cost nothing at all. We count only plans with nothing, or under $10 a month, and 21 of the 62 rows we read qualify. The cheapest of them is Free web service at Render, free. What a plan meters on top of its price is on its platform's page, because on this market that is usually where the rest of the bill is.
This is the one list where a price of zero is the answer rather than a warning, so it counts every row in the index that costs nothing and every row under $10 a month, subscriptions included. What a free tier costs you instead is on each row: most of them stop the app when nothing calls it, and the first visitor after a quiet spell waits for it to start again. Nothing here measures how long that wait is, because the providers do not publish it. Free tiers also come with limits the price page states in prose rather than in numbers, so read the provider's own page before building anything on one. The price on each row is the plan's own monthly figure, free at the top of this list, with 5 GB of transfer included.
- Sized instance
- The price buys a runtime of a stated size for a month.
- Subscription
- The price buys an account with allowances; the compute is metered on top.
Frequently asked
- What is the cheapest way to a hobby project that can sleep?
- Free web service at Render, free. That is 512 MB RAM · sleeps when idle · transfer 5 GB. Read on 1 Nov 2026.
- What does this page assume?
- This is the one list where a price of zero is the answer rather than a warning, so it counts every row in the index that costs nothing and every row under $10 a month, subscriptions included. What a free tier costs you instead is on each row: most of them stop the app when nothing calls it, and the first visitor after a quiet spell waits for it to start again. Nothing here measures how long that wait is, because the providers do not publish it. Free tiers also come with limits the price page states in prose rather than in numbers, so read the provider's own page before building anything on one.
- Why do only 21 plans qualify?
- The job needs nothing, or under $10 a month. The other 41 rows we read are still in the index; they just cannot do this job as described.
- Does the app stop when nothing calls it?
- On 3 of the 21 qualifying plans the provider states it does, and the row says so. The first request after a quiet spell then waits for the app to start again, which nothing here measures because the providers do not publish it.
- How current are these prices?
- Prices are read every 3 days from 9 platforms' own public pages and keyless APIs, and this ranking recomputes with them. Last refresh: 1 Nov 2026.