Free backend hosting: where to deploy an API

Free backend hosting exists, but not in any shape you like: either you accept a server that sleeps when nobody is using it, or you write the API as functions that run per request, or you skip writing a backend and use one as a service. All three routes have genuine free plans; what changes is which kind of code they accept and what happens to the first request of the day.

Before looking at providers, work out which of the three is yours, because it rules out half the list. Each service’s concrete limits are on its page in the directory, which is reviewed when they change; here they would go stale.

Before choosing: what kind of backend do you have?

• A process that starts and listens — Express, FastAPI, Django, a Go binary. It needs a server or a container, and on a free plan that almost always means it shuts down without traffic.
• Stateless endpoints that respond and finish. They fit serverless or edge functions, which don’t sleep the same way but cap CPU time per request.
• CRUD on a database with sign-in. Chances are you don’t need to write a backend at all: a backend as a service gives you the API, the authentication and the access rules.

If you have long-lived WebSockets, queues or jobs that take minutes, read carefully: that’s where free plans fall short first.

1. Render: a real server that sleeps

Render runs web services from a repository or a Dockerfile, so it works for nearly any language. It’s the closest thing to what free Heroku used to be.

What to know about its free plan, per its own docs: free web services spin down after a few minutes without traffic and take on the order of a minute to come back, the free Postgres database expires after a while unless you upgrade, and background workers and cron jobs have no free instance type. Render explicitly says free instances aren’t meant for production.

Good for: a personal project’s API, a demo, a bot that gets few requests and can tolerate a slow start.

2. Cloudflare Workers: edge functions with a daily quota

Cloudflare Workers runs JavaScript and TypeScript on its network. There’s no server to go to sleep, but there are two limits to read: a daily request quota and a short CPU time per invocation on the free plan. For endpoints that look something up and respond, that’s plenty; for processing a large file, it isn’t.

In its favour: the same free plan includes D1, a SQL database, plus object storage, so a small API fits entirely inside Cloudflare. Against it: the runtime isn’t full Node, and some libraries need adapting before they work.

3. Deno Deploy: TypeScript with nothing to configure

Deno Deploy has a Free plan that its pricing page describes as being for personal use and smaller projects. You deploy from GitHub or the CLI, TypeScript needs no build step, and code is spread across several regions.

Good for: webhooks, small TypeScript APIs, integrations that need to respond fast. As with Workers, check the monthly request and CPU quota on its directory page before committing.

4. Vercel or Netlify functions next to your frontend

If your frontend already deploys to Vercel or Netlify, their serverless functions are the most convenient backend: same repository, same push to deploy, same domain, no CORS to set up.

Two caveats. Vercel’s Hobby plan restricts use to personal, non-commercial projects, by its own terms. And Netlify’s Free plan runs on a monthly credit limit consumed by production deploys, bandwidth, requests and functions, so a busy API eats the site’s credits; when they run out, Netlify pauses the projects. More options in hosting and deploy.

5. Supabase: the backend you don’t write

For many apps, the backend is a database with sign-in and permissions. Supabase gives you Postgres, an API generated from your tables, authentication, storage, and Edge Functions for logic that doesn’t fit in a query. Access rules are written as row-level security policies, inside the database itself.

What to know: the free plan caps the number of active projects and pauses projects after a period of inactivity. If you’re weighing it against Firebase, we cover that in Supabase vs Firebase. Other databases with a free plan are in data and backend.

What isn’t free any more

Search for “free backend hosting” and you’ll find older guides recommending services that have changed:

• Heroku stopped offering free dynos, free Postgres and free Redis on 28 November 2022.
• Fly.io gives new organisations no free tier and no monthly free allowance: there’s a short trial, then a card is required. Organisations on older plans keep what they had.
• Railway starts with a trial and then moves you to a Free plan with a small monthly credit, which covers very little time of an always-on service.

Free plans change several times a year, and so will this list. Each provider’s official pricing page is the one that counts.

Choosing in a minute

Your backend	Where to start	What you’ll notice
Express, FastAPI or Django server	Render	Slow start after inactivity
Short, stateless endpoints	Cloudflare Workers, Deno Deploy	CPU limit per request
API in the same project as the frontend	Vercel or Netlify functions	Usage terms and shared quota
CRUD with sign-in	Supabase	Inactivity pause

If the project is serious, the remaining pieces — email, analytics, error tracking — are in a free stack to launch a project, and the limits worth reading before any plan are in the free-plan limits nobody reads.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I deploy a Node.js backend for free? On Render if it’s a server listening on a port, accepting that it sleeps without traffic. If you can write it as functions, on Cloudflare Workers, Deno Deploy or Vercel and Netlify functions, which don’t sleep the same way but cap CPU time.

Why is the first request to my free API so slow? Because the free plan shuts the service down when it gets no traffic and starts it again on the next request. It’s normal behaviour on Render and other providers with free servers, not a bug in your code.

Is there still a free plan on Heroku? No. Heroku withdrew free dynos, free Postgres and free Redis on 28 November 2022. Its cheapest plans today are paid.

Can I use a free backend in production? For a small project, with the risk accepted, yes. Bear in mind that some providers explicitly advise against it, that there’s no uptime guarantee and that your users will be the ones who see a pause or a cold start.

How do I know a plan’s limits are still current? By checking the provider’s official pricing page, which is the only source that counts. The directory pages link to it and say when they were last reviewed.