Render Free Tier 2026

Yes, Render offers a free tier: Hobby. Hobby plan, $0 a month plus compute. Free web services (512 MB RAM, 0.1 CPU) spin down after 15 minutes without traffic, with 750 free instance hours per workspace a month. One free Postgres database ... Render runs its own MCP server. "Manage your Render resources from Claude, Codex, and Cursor." (From https://render.com/docs/mcp-server, read 2026-10-20.) The endpoint is https://mcp.render.com/mcp, the transport is HTTP, and authentication uses OAuth, or a Render API key in the header "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>".

Render's free tier is called "Hobby". Hobby plan, $0 a month plus compute. Free web services (512 MB RAM, 0.1 CPU) spin down after 15 minutes without traffic, with 750 free instance hours per workspace a month. One free Postgres database (256 MB RAM, 1 GB storage, 30-day expiry) and one free Key Value instance (25 MB, not continuously persisted to disk) per workspace. 5 GB bandwidth/month included then $0.15/GB; without a payment method on file, Render suspends Free services for the rest of the month instead. 500 build minutes/month. Up to 25 services, unlimited projects with 2 environments each. Pro is $25 a month plus compute. Render's docs say not to use Free instances for production applications. (From https://render.com/docs/free, read 2026-10-05.) Free web services cannot send outbound traffic on ports 25, 465, or 587, commonly used for SMTP. (From https://render.com/docs/free, read 2026-10-05.) A free Postgres database expires 30 days after creation and becomes inaccessible. You then have a 14-day grace period to upgrade to a paid plan before Render deletes it with all its data. (From https://render.com/docs/free, read 2026-10-05.) Free Postgres databases have no backups of any kind. (From https://render.com/docs/free, read 2026-10-05.) A free web service loses any changes to its local filesystem, such as uploaded images or a SQLite database, every time it redeploys, restarts or spins down, and it cannot attach a persistent disk. (From https://render.com/docs/free, read 2026-10-05.) If a workspace uses all 750 free instance hours in a month, Render suspends all of its free web services until the start of the next month. (From https://render.com/docs/free, read 2026-10-12.) Render's free web services need no credit card. (From https://render.com/articles/platforms-with-a-real-free-tier-for-developers-in-2026, read 2026-10-22.) Render Sandboxes runs isolated microVMs for agents and untrusted code. It is available on every plan including Hobby, billed at $0.12 per active CPU hour plus $0.038 per hour for memory for the default size. (From https://render.com/pricing, read 2026-10-29.) A Hobby workspace allows 100 concurrent sandboxes by default. There is no maximum session length on any plan, including Hobby. (From https://render.com/pricing, read 2026-11-07.) Render Sandboxes is in public beta. During the beta, sandboxes have no public URL and no private network to other Render services. (From https://render.com/docs/sandboxes, read 2026-10-29.) Render offers Free instances only for static sites, web services, Postgres and Key Value. Background workers and cron jobs need a paid compute plan. (From https://render.com/docs/free, read 2026-11-05.) Render bills for build pipeline minutes used beyond the monthly included amount, unless the spend limit is reached. Without a payment method or at the limit, Render disables new builds for the rest of the month, and services keep running on their existing builds. (From https://render.com/docs/free, read 2026-11-05.) Render free web services lack scaling beyond one instance, persistent disks, edge caching, one-off jobs, and SSH or dashboard shell access. (From https://render.com/docs/free, read 2026-11-05.) Render free web services cannot receive private network traffic. They can send private network requests to data stores and paid services in the same region. (From https://render.com/docs/free, read 2026-11-05.) Render workspace plan upgrades do not remove free instance limits. A service's compute plan is changed separately. (From https://render.com/docs/free, read 2026-11-05.) While a Free web service is spun down, Render serves a standard disallow-all /robots.txt response. These requests do not reach the service or trigger a spin-up. (From https://render.com/docs/free, read 2026-11-05.) A free Render Key Value instance loses its data when upgraded to a paid compute plan. (From https://render.com/docs/free, read 2026-11-05.) Render Free web services allow rollbacks to only the two most recent previous deploys. (From https://render.com/docs/free, read 2026-11-05.) Render may suspend free web services with unusually high outbound traffic, such as accessing external databases or APIs. Moving to a paid plan restores the service. (From https://render.com/docs/free, read 2026-11-05.) Render runs its own MCP server. "Manage your Render resources from Claude, Codex, and Cursor." (From https://render.com/docs/mcp-server, read 2026-10-20.) The endpoint is https://mcp.render.com/mcp, the transport is HTTP, and authentication uses OAuth, or a Render API key in the header "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>".

Render's free tier is considered stable. One recorded pricing restructure narrowed the terms, on 2026-04-23. See the pricing history below.

No. Render's free tier is not for production use, by Render's own terms: "Free instances have important limitations… Do not use them for production applications." (From render.com/docs/free, read 2026-10-05.) We rate Render's pricing stable. This rating is about how its terms have changed, not what they allow. One recorded pricing restructure narrowed the terms, on 2026-04-23. Consider free alternatives in Cloud Hosting.

Render has had 1 recorded pricing change. Most recently: Render replaced its workspace plans. Bandwidth for the Hobby tier went from 100 GB to 5 GB included per month, then $0.15 per GB, and Hobby workspaces are now capped at 25 services. New workspaces got the new plans on 2026-04-23 and existing workspaces moved on 2026-08-01. Free web services, Postgres and Key Value kept their specs, and free web services draw on the workspace's included bandwidth. Source: https://render.com/changelog/updated-plans-for-render-workspaces (2026-04-23).

We publish no ranking of these. Nothing we record measures popularity or generosity, so naming a best or a top few would be our preference rather than our data. We hold 29 free alternatives to Render in Cloud Hosting, each listed above with its tier. Of those, 21 carry no recorded demerit and are indistinguishable under every signal we hold, so they are listed in an order that rotates daily, 6 are demoted with the reason named, 2 are listed last behind a stated gate. Our ranking rule is published at /criteria.

At 1 GB storage, you'll need to upgrade. When you outgrow the free tier, evaluate paid plans against alternatives — sometimes a competitor's free tier covers what you need.

Render is categorized under Cloud Hosting on AgentDeals. We list 29 other Cloud Hosting services alongside it, every one of them on this page with its free tier and the stability we publish for it.