Free Cloud Zone
Your casual guide to free(ish) cloud goodies. Build, ship, and learn without dropping cash upfront.
Hey there, fellow builder! If you're a dev tinkering with side projects, learning new stacks, or just trying to ship something without paying upfront, welcome! This spot rounds up the best free and free-tier offerings from cloud providers. We're talking compute power, storage, databases, auth tools, and more – all with zero or super-low cost to get started.
A quick heads-up: "Free" usually means limits (sleeping apps, bandwidth caps, or time-bound credits), and things change (looking at you, Heroku 2022 vibes). Always pop over to the official links for the freshest details – we've included them right in the tables so you can click through easily.
Jump to the free tier category you're interested in:
Frontend Apps & Static Web Sites
Deploy static sites, SPAs, and full-stack frameworks instantly
Run Backend Code
Serverless functions, APIs, and event-driven workloads
Databases
Relational SQL and NoSQL databases for your data
Storage
Object storage, CDN, and file hosting services
Other Services
Authentication, email, messaging, CDN, and CI/CD automation
Architecture Scenarios
Real-world stack examples and getting started guides
Frontend Apps & Static Web Sites
Platforms for hosting static websites, JAMstack apps, and front‑end projects. Most include build/CD, bandwidth, and asset quotas along with free HTTPS and custom domains.
| Provider | Platform | Free Tier | CI/CD | Custom Domain | SSL | Limits | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS Amplify Hosting | AWS | Static or full‑stack frontends ~1 000 build minutes/mo; 5 GB CDN storage; 500 000 SSR req + 100 GB‑hr compute 15 GB data transfer out/mo free Multiple sites per project | Built‑in CI/CD with Git branches/environments | Yes | Yes | ~1 000 build minutes/mo, 5 GB CDN storage, 500 000 SSR req, 100 GB-hr compute, 15 GB data transfer/mo | Integrates with full AWS backends (Lambda, DynamoDB, etc.) |
| Azure Blob Storage static site | Microsoft Azure | Static website feature of Azure Storage Uses Azure free trial & always‑free quotas (storage, egress) Unlimited containers/blobs | Deploy via CLI, AzCopy, or CI | Yes | Yes | N/A | Custom domains & HTTPS via Front Door or CDN |
| Azure Static Web Apps Free | Microsoft Azure | Static + optional serverless API 500 MB storage/app (250 MB/env); 15 000 files 100 GB bandwidth/subscription/mo (stops if exceeded) Up to 10 apps per subscription 2 custom domains/app with free SSL | Native GitHub or Azure DevOps CI/CD with 3 preview envs/app | Yes | Yes | 500 MB storage/app, 15 000 files, 100 GB bandwidth/subscription/mo, 10 apps/subscription, 2 custom domains/app | Integrates with Azure Functions & wider Azure services |
| Cloudflare Pages | Cloudflare edge network | Static & JAMstack hosting 500 builds/mo, 20 min timeout, 20 000 files/site, 25 MiB asset limit Unlimited sites; unmetered bandwidth via Cloudflare CDN | Git‑based CI/CD with preview deployments | Yes | Yes | 500 builds/mo, 20 min timeout, 20 000 files/site, 25 MiB asset limit | Integrates with Workers, KV, R2, D1 and other edge services |
| DigitalOcean App Platform | DigitalOcean cloud | Static sites (and container apps) Limited build/storage and tens of GB bandwidth free | Git‑based CI/CD with automatic deploys | Yes | Yes | Limited build/storage and tens of GB bandwidth | Custom domains with managed TLS |
| AWS S3 static website | AWS | Bucket static website + optional CloudFront Uses AWS Free Tier credits & always‑free quotas (storage, requests, egress) Unlimited buckets/objects | Deploy via CLI/SDK/third-party tools | Yes | Yes | N/A | Custom domains via CloudFront/Route 53; HTTPS at CDN/proxy |
| Firebase Hosting (Spark) | Google Firebase / GCP | Static & SPA hosting 1 GB stored content 10 GB/month data transfer out Multiple sites per project | Deploy via CLI or any CI; preview channels available | Yes | Yes | 1 GB stored content, 10 GB/month data transfer | Integrates with Firestore, Functions, etc. |
| Fly.io | Multi-region edge VMs | Deploy containers for static sites on shared‑CPU VMs Small free instances and persistent storage Modest free egress (tens of GB) | Deploy via flyctl with multi‑region placement | Yes | Yes | Small free instances, modest free egress (tens of GB) | Custom domains & TLS built in |
| GitLab Pages | GitLab infrastructure | Static sites (one per project) Storage & CI minutes limited by free tier | First‑class GitLab CI/CD pipelines deploy to Pages | Yes | Yes | Storage & CI minutes limited by free tier | No explicit bandwidth quota; intended for docs/personal use |
| GitHub Pages | GitHub infrastructure | Static sites (one per user/org + per repo) ~1 GB repo storage (soft); Actions minutes separate | Optional CI via GitHub Actions | Yes | Yes | ~1 GB repo storage (soft) | No published bandwidth quota; not meant for high‑traffic use |
| Google Cloud Storage + CDN | Google Cloud Platform | Static hosting via bucket + Load Balancer/Cloud CDN Uses GCP storage, load‑balancer, and CDN quotas Some always‑free GCS & egress allowances depending on region Unlimited buckets/objects | Deploy with gsutil/CLI/your own CI | Yes | Yes | Some always‑free GCS & egress allowances depending on region | Custom domains & HTTPS via Load Balancer with managed certs |
| Heroku | Heroku (Salesforce) | **No permanent free tier**; only temporary trials or credits | Git-based deployments | Yes | Yes | N/A | Requires paid dyno for static hosting |
| Netlify | Multi-cloud platform | Static & JAMstack hosting 300 build minutes/mo; 100 GB bandwidth Unlimited sites/projects Custom domains with free HTTPS | Git‑based CI/CD with previews | Yes | Yes | 300 build minutes/mo, 100 GB bandwidth | Netlify Functions, identity, forms, partner integrations |
| Railway | Railway.app | Static or containerized full‑stack apps Small monthly credit pool for services (front‑ends consume it) Bandwidth/storage draw from same credit pool | Git‑based auto‑deploys with ephemeral previews | Yes | Yes | Limited by monthly credit pool | Containers, Postgres, Redis, cron, etc. |
| Render Static Sites | Render PaaS | Static sites with a free tier (limited build/storage) ~100 GB outbound bandwidth | Git‑based auto deploys, previews, render.yaml config | Yes | Yes | ~100 GB outbound bandwidth | Multiple sites allowed |
| Vercel | Multi-cloud platform | Static, SSR, and SPA hosting 6 000 build minutes; 1 000 000 function invocations & 100 GB‑hr compute ~100 GB bandwidth/30‑day window 200 active projects max; 100 deployments/day 50 domains/project; free HTTPS | Deep Git integration with preview deployments | Yes | Yes | 6 000 build minutes, 1M invocations, 100 GB-hr compute, ~100 GB bandwidth/30-day, 200 projects, 100 deployments/day | Serverless & Edge Functions, storage beta, observability, AI tooling |
Run Backend Code
Run a backend that can respond to API requests or be triggered by events
Serverless Backends
Run code without managing servers. Perfect for APIs, webhooks, and event-driven workloads that scale automatically. You never pay for idle resources.
| Provider | Service | Invocations/Requests | Compute Time | Duration Limit | Memory | Tier Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Azure | Azure Functions | 1M/month | 400K GB-seconds/month | 15 minutes | Varies | Always-free |
| Cloudflare | Workers | 100K requests/day | 10ms CPU/request | 10ms CPU | Included | Always-free |
| DigitalOcean | Functions | Unlimited invocations | 90K GiB-seconds/month | 15 minutes | Included | Always-free |
| Firebase | Cloud Functions | 2M/month | 400K GB-seconds/month | 540 seconds | Varies | Always-free (Spark) |
| Netlify | Functions | 125K/month | Unlimited | 26 seconds default | Unlimited | Free (Starter) |
| Supabase | Edge Functions (Deno) | Unlimited requests | Included | Not limited | Unlimited | Always-free |
| Vercel | Vercel Functions | 1M/month | 360 GB-hours/month | 900 seconds | Included | Free (Hobby) |
Hosted Backend Servers
Virtual machine and PaaS vendors for deploying backend applications with more control and longer-running processes.
| Provider | Service | Invocations/Requests | Compute Time | Duration Limit | Memory | Tier Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS | App Runner | $25 credit/month | 1 vCPU / 2 GB RAM | Always running | 2 GB | Free Trial |
| AWS | Lambda | 1M/month | 400K GB-seconds/month | 15 minutes | Varies | Always-free |
| Azure | Container Apps | 180K req/month | 250K vCPU-sec + 500K GB-sec | Always running (with min replicas) | 0.5 GB | Free Tier |
| Fly.io | Fly Machines | 3 VMs free | 256 MB RAM each | Always running | 256 MB RAM | Free |
| Google Cloud | Cloud Functions | 2M/month | 400K GB-seconds/month | 540 seconds | Varies | Always-free |
| Google Cloud | Cloud Run | 2M requests/month | 2K vCPU-sec + 4K GB-sec memory | Always running (with min instances) | 1 GB | Free Tier |
| Heroku | Eco Dynos | None | 256 MB RAM | 18 hours/day limit | 256 MB RAM | Eco (Free) |
| Railway | App Deployment | $5 free credit/month | 512 MB RAM | Always running | 512 MB RAM | Free Trial |
| Render | Web Services | Unlimited | 500 MB RAM | Always running | 500 MB RAM | Free |
Databases
Managed SQL and NoSQL databases with free tiers for development and small applications.
Relational (SQL)
| Provider | Service | Type | Instances | Storage | Compute Hours | Backups | Tier Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS | RDS | MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB | 1 db.t3.micro | 20 GB | 750 hrs/month | 20 GB free | 12-month free |
| Azure | PostgreSQL/MySQL | PostgreSQL, MySQL | 1 Burstable B1MS | 32 GB | 750 hrs/month | 32 GB free | 12-month free |
| Azure | Azure SQL Database | SQL Server | 10 serverless databases | 32 GB each | 100K vCore-seconds/month | 32 GB each | Always-free |
| Google Cloud | Cloud SQL | MySQL, PostgreSQL | Included | Partial free allowance | f1-micro included | Included | Always-free |
| Neon | PostgreSQL | PostgreSQL (Serverless) | Unlimited | 0.5 GB per project, 5 GB total | 100 CU-hours/month | 6 hours PITR | Always-free |
| Supabase | PostgreSQL | PostgreSQL (via Neon) | 1 project | 500 MB | Included | Unlimited | Always-free |
| Render | PostgreSQL | PostgreSQL | 1 free instance | 1 GB | Shared resources | Included | Free (30-day expiry) |
NoSQL
| Provider | Service | Type | Storage | Read Capacity | Write Capacity | Tier Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS | DynamoDB | Key-Value | 25 GB | 25 provisioned RCU | 25 provisioned WCU | Always-free |
| Azure | CosmosDB | Document, Key-Value | 25 GB | 1,000 RU/s provisioned | 1,000 RU/s provisioned | 12-month free |
| Firebase | Realtime Database | JSON Database | 1 GB | 100 concurrent connections | 10 GB download/month | Always-free (Spark) |
| Google Cloud | Firestore | Document | 1 GB | 50K reads/day | 20K writes/day | Always-free |
Storage
Object storage, file hosting, and content delivery networks for serving static assets and media.
| Provider | Service | Type | Capacity | Requests Included | Bandwidth/Egress | Tier Type | Pricing After Free Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS | EBS | Block Storage | 30 GB | 2M I/Os/month | Included | 12-month free | $0.10/GB-month |
| AWS | S3 | Object Storage | 5 GB | 20K GET, 2K PUT | 1 GB/month | Always-free | $0.023/GB storage, $0.0004/GET request |
| Azure | Blob Storage | Object Storage | 5 GB | 20K transactions | Included | 12-month free | $0.018/GB storage |
| Google Cloud | Cloud Storage | Object Storage | 5 GB | Included | 1 GB/month | Always-free | $0.020/GB storage, $0.12/GB egress |
| Firebase | Storage | Object Storage | 1 GB | Unlimited | 10 GB/month | Always-free (Spark) | $0.18/GB storage, $0.12/GB download |
| Netlify | File Storage | Object Storage | 10 GB | Unlimited | Included | Free (Starter) | Included in free tier |
| Vercel | Blob Storage | Object Storage | 1 GB | 10K/month | 10 GB/month | Free (Hobby) | $0.023/GB, $0.40/million operations |
| Supabase | Storage | Object Storage | 1 GB | Unlimited | Included | Always-free | $5/month per 100 GB additional |
Other Services
Additional cloud services including authentication, email, messaging, and CDN.
Authentication
| Provider | Service | MAU Free | Methods Supported | SMS/Phone Limit | Tier Type | Pricing After Free Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auth0 | Authentication | 7,500 MAU | Extensive Provider Support | Limited | Free tier | $29+/month higher tiers |
| AWS | Cognito | 50,000 MAU | Multiple Identity Providers | Limited | Always-free | $0.0055/MAU |
| Firebase | Authentication | 50,000 MAU | Email, Password, Google, Facebook, GitHub, Phone | 10K verifications/month | Always-free (Spark) | $0.0025-0.0055/MAU overage |
| Supabase | Auth | 50,000 MAU | Email, OAuth, Magic Links, Phone | Included | Always-free | Included in tier |
Email & SMS
| Provider | Service | Free Tier Allowance | Daily Limit | Domains | Tier Type | Pricing After Free Tier | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS | SNS (Email) | 1,000 emails/month | Unlimited | Included | Always-free | $0.50/1K emails | Active |
| AWS | SNS (SMS) | 100 SMS/month | Unlimited | N/A | Always-free | $0.0645/SMS (US) | Active |
| Mailgun | Email API | 100 emails/day (~3K/month) | 100/day cap | 1 custom domain | Forever free | $15/month (10K/month) | Active |
| SMTP2GO | Email API | 1,000 emails/month | 200/day cap | 1 domain | Forever free | $10/month (10K/month) | Active |
| Twilio | SMS | Trial credits only | Variable | N/A | Trial | $0.0075/SMS | Trial-based |
Real-time Messaging & Pub/Sub
| Provider | Service | Messages/Month | Connections | Channels/Topics | Tier Type | Pricing After Free Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ably | Realtime Messaging | 6M/month | 200 concurrent | 200 channels | Free tier | $2.50/million messages overage |
| Firebase | Realtime Database | Bandwidth-based | 100 concurrent | Unlimited | Always-free | $1/GB storage, $1/GB download |
| Pusher | Channels (Pub/Sub) | 200K/day (6M/month) | 100 concurrent | Unlimited | Sandbox free | $49/month Growth plan |
CDN, DNS & Additional Services
| Provider | Service | Free Tier Offering | Features | Tier Type | Pricing After Free Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS | CloudFront (CDN) | 1 GB egress/month, 2M requests | Global CDN | 12-month free | $0.085/GB egress |
| Cloudflare | CDN | Unlimited bandwidth | DDoS protection, SSL, DNS | Always-free | Included in free tier |
| Google Cloud | Cloud CDN | Included with Cloud Storage | Cache optimization | Always-free | $0.085/GB |
| Netlify | CDN | 100 GB/month | Global, auto-compression | Free (Starter) | Included in free tier |
| Vercel | Edge Network | Included | Global edge compute | Free (Hobby) | Included in free tier |
Automation
CI/CD platforms for automating builds, tests, and deployments.
| Provider | Service | Free Tier Details | Limitations |
|---|---|---|---|
| CircleCI | CircleCI | 6000 free minutes/month Docker and Linux executors | Credit-based system |
| Cloudflare | Pages CI/CD | Unlimited builds Direct Git integration | 10ms CPU limit for edge functions |
| GitHub | GitHub Actions | 2000 free minutes/month 500 MB storage | Public repos only (private repos limited) |
| GitLab | GitLab CI/CD | 400 free minutes/month Unlimited private repos | 400 min limit on shared runners |
| Netlify | Build & Deploy | 300 build minutes/month Automatic deploys from Git | 15 minute build timeout |
| Vercel | Build & Deploy | 6000 free minutes/month Automatic previews on every commit | 60 second build limit for free tier |
Architecture Scenarios
Real-world tech stack combinations you can build today using these free tiers. Each scenario shows a complete application architecture with $0 monthly cost.
Scenario 4
Backend API with Containers
RenderNeonDigitalOcean FunctionsAWS SNS
Persistent backend for WebSockets or cron jobs, serverless database with scale-to-zero, plus notification services.
Note: Render free tier expires after 30 days; paid tier ($7-15/mo) for persistent services.
Scenario 2
Full-Stack Web Application
VercelSupabaseFirebase AuthMailgun
Complete product-ready stack with serverless backend, PostgreSQL database, user authentication, and email notifications.
Production Ready: Scales from 0 to production with predictable pricing.
Scenario 3
Real-time Collaborative App
FirebaseFirestoreRealtime DB
Single-provider ecosystem for apps requiring real-time data sync across clients. No inter-service configuration needed.
Zero Config: Integrated auth, storage, hosting, and real-time database.
Scenario 1
Static Website with Email
NetlifyMailgunCloudflare
Perfect for marketing sites, documentation, or blogs. No backend compute required – just Git-powered deployments.
Free Forever: $0/month indefinitely with 100GB bandwidth and 100 daily emails.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to common questions about free cloud tiers.
What is the best free tier for React apps?
Vercel and Netlify are the best free tiers for React apps. Vercel offers 100GB bandwidth/month and automatic deployments from Git. Netlify provides 100GB bandwidth, 300 build minutes/month, and serverless functions. Both support React out of the box with zero configuration.
What's the best free database for side projects?
Supabase offers the best free database for side projects with 500MB PostgreSQL storage, unlimited API requests, real-time subscriptions, and built-in authentication - all free forever. Alternatives include Neon (serverless PostgreSQL, 0.5GB storage) and PlanetScale (MySQL, 5GB read/write).
Are free tiers really free?
Most free tiers are free indefinitely with usage limits. Examples: Vercel's Hobby tier, Netlify's Free tier, and Supabase's Free tier are free forever. Others like AWS (12 months) and Azure ($200 credit for 30 days) are temporary. Always check the provider's pricing page for current limits.
What happens if I exceed free tier limits?
It depends on the provider. Some will charge you automatically (Railway, Render), others will suspend your service (Heroku eco, some AWS services), and a few will throttle performance (Cloudflare Workers). Always set up usage alerts and understand the overage policy before deploying.
What are the best Heroku alternatives?
Top Heroku alternatives with free tiers: 1) Railway - $5 free credit, supports Docker & Git deployments, 2) Render - Free web services with 750 hours/month, 3) Fly.io - Free allowance for small apps, 4) Platform.sh - No free tier but $10 trial, 5) Qoddi - Free tier available. All support popular languages and Git-based deployments.