Where you deploy depends on what kind of app you have. A static site, made only of files, can live free on Cloudflare, Netlify or GitHub Pages. An app with server code in small functions fits Vercel, Netlify or Cloudflare Workers. A program that must run all the time, or ships as a Docker container, belongs on Render, Railway, Fly.io, Google Cloud Run or DigitalOcean.
Before you launch anything that earns money, read the free plan’s fine print. Two well-known free plans rule out commercial use. This guide sorts the hosts by app type, with their limits as of September 2026.
- First work out your app’s type: static files, serverless functions, or an always-on server.
- Static sites and front ends: Cloudflare, Netlify, GitHub Pages and Vercel all have free plans.
- Full-stack web apps with API routes: Vercel, Netlify or Cloudflare Workers.
- Always-on servers, background jobs and Docker: Render, Railway, Fly.io, Cloud Run or DigitalOcean.
- Vercel’s Hobby plan and GitHub Pages rule out commercial use, and Render says free instances are not for production.
Static, serverless or server: what kind of app do you have?
| Static site | Serverless app | Server or container | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Files: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images | Pages plus small functions that run per request | A program that runs all the time |
| Examples | Landing page, docs, portfolio | Next.js, Nuxt or SvelteKit apps with API routes | Express or Django apps, background jobs, anything in Docker |
| Where it fits | Any host below | Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare Workers | Render, Railway, Fly.io, Cloud Run, DigitalOcean |
| Free plans | Generous | Good, within request and CPU limits | Thin: sleeping servers, trials or small credits |
If you are not sure which you have, ask the agent that built it:
Look at this project and tell me what it needs to run in production: 1. Can it be built into static files, or does it need server code? 2. If it has server code, can it run as short functions, or does anything need to run continuously (background jobs, queues, websockets, scheduled tasks)? 3. What services does it connect to (database, storage, email), and which environment variables must be set? 4. Which two or three hosts fit, and why?
For a plain static site, our guide to putting a website online covers the basics. The rest of this post is for apps with code behind them.
Where to host a web app: front ends and serverless
Limits as of September 2026, from each host’s pricing page or docs. “No limit stated” means those pages say nothing against commercial use; read the terms before launch.
| Host | Free plan | Commercial use | Watch out for | First paid step |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vercel | Hobby: 100 GB data transfer, 1 million function calls, 4 hours of active CPU a month | Not allowed: personal, non-commercial only | Go over a limit and that feature stops until 30 days pass | Pro: $20 per developer seat a month, with $20 of usage included |
| Netlify | 300 credits a month | No limit stated | Each production deploy costs 15 credits; at zero, every site pauses | Personal: $9 a month for 1,000 credits |
| Cloudflare Workers | 100,000 requests a day, 10 ms of CPU each; static files free and unlimited | No limit stated | The CPU limit per request is tight for heavy work | Workers Paid: $5 a month with 10 million requests |
| GitHub Pages | 1 GB site; 100 GB of bandwidth a month (a soft limit) | Not allowed for online businesses, stores or SaaS | Static files only, and not for handling passwords or card numbers | None |
Vercel is made by the team behind Next.js and fits it most closely. Netlify and Cloudflare both host front ends well, with functions when you need them. Cloudflare’s free plan goes furthest on traffic, because requests for static files are free and unlimited.
Where to host always-on servers and containers
| Host | Free plan | Commercial use | Watch out for | First paid step |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Render | 750 instance hours a month | Docs say free instances are not for production | Sleeps after 15 minutes idle and takes about a minute to wake; free Postgres expires after 30 days | Paid instances, which stay awake |
| Railway | $1 of usage a month, after a 30-day trial with $5 | No limit stated | Up to 1 vCPU and 0.5 GB of memory per service | Hobby: $5 a month, with $5 of usage included |
| Fly.io | A trial: 2 machine hours or 7 days, whichever ends first | No free plan | Trial machines stop after 5 minutes | Pay as you go; the smallest machine starts around $2 a month |
| Google Cloud Run | 2 million requests a month, plus compute allowances | No limit stated | Requires a Google Cloud billing account | Pay as you go |
| DigitalOcean App Platform | 3 static sites, 1 GiB of transfer each | No limit stated | The free tier covers static sites only | $5 a month container: 1 vCPU, 512 MiB |
These hosts run your app as a long-lived process, usually from a Dockerfile or straight from your repository. That suits background jobs, long requests and anything that keeps a connection open. Vercel functions on Hobby, by contrast, can run for at most 5 minutes.
Three free-plan traps to know before launch
Deploys can cost money. On Netlify’s free plan, 20 production deploys use up the month’s 300 credits on their own. If an agent deploys every small change to production, your sites can pause mid-month. Batch changes into fewer production deploys.
Limits can switch features off. On Vercel Hobby, going over a limit usually means waiting until 30 days have passed before that feature works again. That is fine for a side project and painful for a product.
Free servers sleep. A Render free service goes to sleep after 15 minutes without traffic, so the next visitor waits about a minute. Free databases have their own rules: Render’s free Postgres expires after 30 days, so never keep real data there.
A simple way to choose
Name your app’s type
Static, serverless or always-on. Use the prompt above if you are unsure.
Start where your framework is at home
If your framework’s documentation recommends a host or offers a ready-made adapter for one, start there. It will have the fewest surprises.
Put the app near its data
Every page load may make several database queries, so run your app in the same region as your database. Our guide to choosing a database compares the hosted options.
Match the plan to the business
Side project: any free plan. Anything that takes payments: a plan that allows commercial use, with a spending limit or alert turned on.
Ship a preview, then add your domain
Deploy to the host’s free address first and test it on a phone. Then connect your custom domain and let the host handle HTTPS.
Before you deploy
FAQ
Can I host a commercial app for free?
Sometimes. As of September 2026, the pricing pages and docs of Cloudflare, Netlify, Railway, Cloud Run and DigitalOcean state no commercial restriction, while Vercel’s Hobby plan and GitHub Pages forbid it. Check the terms, and expect to pay once you have real customers.
Why does my free app take a minute to load?
It was probably asleep. Render’s free web services sleep after 15 minutes without traffic and take about a minute to wake. Paid instances stay on.
Is Vercel only for Next.js?
No. It hosts many frameworks and plain static sites. Next.js simply fits it most closely, because the same company makes both.
What happens if my app suddenly gets popular?
On free plans, limits kick in: Vercel Hobby features stop, Netlify pauses sites when credits run out, and Cloudflare’s free Workers plan has a daily request cap. Paid plans bill the extra usage instead, which is why a spending alert matters.
Next, see how hosting fits the whole path from idea to first paying user.
- Vercel Hobby plan, Vercel Docs, September 2026
- Pricing, Vercel, September 2026
- Pricing, Netlify, September 2026
- Credit-based pricing plans, Netlify Docs, September 2026
- How credits work, Netlify Docs, September 2026
- Workers pricing, Cloudflare Docs, September 2026
- GitHub Pages limits, GitHub Docs, September 2026
- Deploy for free, Render Docs, September 2026
- Pricing, Railway, September 2026
- Pricing, Fly.io Docs, September 2026
- Free trial, Fly.io Docs, September 2026
- Free cloud features, Google Cloud, September 2026
- App Platform pricing, DigitalOcean, September 2026
