Run open-source projects on free tiers. CockroachDB, Netlify, GitHub OAuth, BetterStack, GitHub Actions, Codecov — verified limits, cost at scale, stability ratings.

Best Free Stack for an Open-Source Project

Free infrastructure for open-source maintainers. Focus on your code, not your cloud bill.

Open-source projects get special treatment from most cloud providers — free tiers are more generous and often unlimited for public repos. This stack leverages those OSS advantages with services that have stable, long-standing free tiers and strong community support.

Free$0/mo0 users
Starter$19/mo~1K MAU
Growth$64/mo~10K MAU
Scale$569/mo~100K MAU
$0 covers the 5 of 6 picks whose free tier our own badge still reads as active. It does not cover Netlify (at risk).
Customize in Cost Estimator →

The Stack

CategoryServiceStability Free~1K MAU~10K MAU~100K MAU
Database CockroachDBFree serverless distributed SQL — 50M Request Units + 10 GiB storage/month, scales to zero active $0 $0 $0 $295
Hosting NetlifyThe Free plan offers 300 credit limit / month, including production deploys (15 credits… read 2026-09-07 at risk $0 $19 $19 $99
Auth WorkOSAuthKit with up to 1M MAU free for user management — email/password, social login, MFA… active $0 $0 $0 $0
Monitoring BetterStack10 uptime monitors, 3 GB logs (3-day retention), 100K exceptions/mo, 5K session replays… active $0 $0 $25 $85
Email ResendDeveloper-first email API — 3K emails/month free (100/day cap), 3 domains, 1K marketing… active $0 $0 $20 $90
CI/CD GitHub ActionsFree CI/CD for public repos (unlimited minutes). Private repos: 2,000 min/mo… active $0 $0 $0 $0
Total $0/mo $19/mo $64/mo $569/mo

Why These Services?

Database: CockroachDB active

10 GiB free distributed SQL. Excellent for OSS projects that need a resilient, scalable database.

Free serverless distributed SQL — 50M Request Units + 10 GiB storage/month, scales to zero

Hosting: Netlify at risk

Great for docs sites and project landing pages. Deploy previews for every PR.

The Free plan offers 300 credit limit / month, including production deploys (15 credits each), compute (10 credits per GB-hour), bandwidth (20… read 2026-09-07

Auth: WorkOS active

1M MAU free — effectively unlimited for any OSS project's auth needs.

AuthKit with up to 1M MAU free for user management — email/password, social login, MFA. Enterprise SSO/SCIM priced separately

Monitoring: BetterStack active

Free status page for your OSS project. Users can check uptime without filing issues.

10 uptime monitors, 3 GB logs (3-day retention), 100K exceptions/mo, 5K session replays, 30 GB metrics, 1 status page, 1 responder

Email: Resend active

3K emails/mo free covers contributor notifications and community updates.

Developer-first email API — 3K emails/month free (100/day cap), 3 domains, 1K marketing contacts/month, 5 AI credits, 30-day data retention

CI/CD: GitHub Actions active

Unlimited free minutes for public repos. The standard for OSS CI/CD.

Free CI/CD for public repos (unlimited minutes). Private repos: 2,000 min/mo GitHub-hosted runners, 500 MB artifact storage, 10 GB cache/repo…

Alternatives & Swaps

Want to customize this stack? Here are smart swaps that can save money at scale:

Swap Netlify for Cloudflare Pages active

Save $99/mo at 100K users — unlimited bandwidth and builds for static sites

Swap CockroachDB for Neon active

Better developer experience with branching and scale-to-zero, though smaller free tier (0.5 GB)

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