In Part 1, we covered free hosting for frontend apps. But what about your backend, database and storage? A full-stack project needs auth, APIs, data storage and media hosting. And you can get all of it for free too.
Here's what I've used:
Backend
Hosting a backend is tricky and can get messy. But if you know what you're doing, it makes you stand out. I was the guy at university who could host backends for free and knew how to fix things like CORS errors.
This was my go-to for college projects. Handles Node.js, Spring Boot, pretty much anything via Docker. 512MB RAM, 0.1 CPU, 750 instance hours free, 100GB bandwidth. It does offer a free Postgres DB but don't use it. It deletes after 30 days.
- Deploys directly from GitHub with CI/CD and Dockerfiles.
- Supports web services, static sites and background workers.
- App count limited by hours, not number of projects.
- Free-tier apps sleep after 15 minutes of inactivity, causing cold start delays.
- Free DB gets deleted after 30 days. CPU isn't enough for heavy apps.
Acquired by Mistral AI, now more focused on AI inference. Free instance still exists but is constrained: 512MB RAM, 0.1 vCPU, 2GB disk. One free instance per organization. Apps scale to zero after an hour of inactivity (the "never sleeps" era is over).
- Supports Docker and multiple languages.
- One free database with 50 hours per month.
- Only one service and one database.
- Resource limits won't handle heavy workloads.
Docker container hosting. A bit unstable but gets the job done. Free tier: 0.25 vCPU, 256MB RAM, 100GB bandwidth, 600 hours uptime.
- Community support is decent.
- Up to 5 apps allowed.
- Limited compute and memory won't handle high-demand apps.
- Monthly caps on requests and data transfer can be restrictive.
- Apps sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity.
Free hosting with SSH access, giving you full control.
- SSH access allows deep customization.
- Supports multiple languages and databases.
- Steeper learning curve. You need to know server management.
- Free tier has resource limits on RAM and storage.
- Relatively new, so community support and docs are thinner.
Database
If you need to persist user data, even a simple to-do app across sessions and devices, you'll need a database.
Multi-cloud, managed PostgreSQL with a solid free tier.
- Scalable PostgreSQL that grows with your app.
- Deploy across cloud providers for redundancy.
- PostgreSQL only. No other database types.
- Latency can be an issue depending on your location.
Serverless PostgreSQL with up to 15GB storage on the free tier.
- 15GB is plenty for small to medium apps.
- Serverless means automatic scaling.
- Newer platform, fewer docs and community resources.
- PostgreSQL only.
- Uses SQL-over-HTTP protocol, so not all operations are supported.
Free shared cluster with NoSQL and Search Index.
- Huge community. Everyone knows MongoDB, lots of SDK support.
- Deploy across regions worldwide.
- Free tier runs on shared infrastructure. Performance varies.
- Limited storage and connections, so dev/small apps only.
- Cluster sleeps after long inactivity.
Free cloud-hosted, distributed SQL serverless database.
- Distributed architecture for high availability.
- Scales automatically.
- Distributed systems add complexity.
- Smaller community than established databases.
Cloud-based relational database with a spreadsheet-like interface.
- Intuitive UI makes it easy to get started.
- Real-time collaboration built in.
- Less control than a traditional database.
- Advanced features require a paid subscription.
Storage
For profile pictures, audio files, PDFs, images, or even your own site assets behind a CDN, you'll need file storage.
Media management platform with a solid free plan.
- Free plan: 25 monthly credits covering image/video transformations, storage and bandwidth.
- Good media processing: resize, crop, format conversion.
- Global CDN for fast delivery.
- 25 credits per month may be tight for high-traffic apps.
- Max upload size: 10MB for images, 100MB for videos.
Modern file storage built for developers. 2GB storage, unlimited bandwidth.
- Unlimited uploads and downloads.
- Easy integration across multiple languages and frameworks.
- 2GB storage may not be enough for larger projects.
- Newer service, fewer features than established alternatives.
CDN storage built for Next.js. 1GB storage, 1GB bandwidth per month, 1 project.
- Files served from the edge for fast delivery worldwide.
- Only 1GB storage and 1GB bandwidth.
- Next.js only.
When picking a solution, check each platform's website for the latest limits. Free tiers change.
Managed platforms optimize for getting you started. They make starting easy and growing expensive. Nothing is truly free and anything can shut down at any time.
NextAct I · The Turtle