# A Render free tier alternative for apps that must not sleep

> Render's free web services spin down after 15 minutes and free background workers don't exist. Here is what keeps an app, API or bot awake instead, from 2 EUR a month in the EU.

Web page: https://blitz.cloud/guides/render-free-tier-alternative/
Updated: 2026-11-04

You put an API or a bot on Render's free tier, and it works until it doesn't: the first request after a quiet spell takes a minute, a webhook times out, or the bot you meant to run as a worker can't be free at all. This page is about that problem and what to do about it, with prices from Render's own pages.

## What Render's free tier does

From [render.com/docs/free](https://render.com/docs/free), checked on 4 November 2026:

- A free web service spins down after 15 minutes without inbound traffic. Spinning up again takes about a minute.
- Each workspace gets 750 free instance hours a month. When they run out, free web services are suspended until the next month.
- Free instances exist for web services, Postgres and Key Value. Background workers, cron jobs and private services have no free instance.
- The free Postgres database expires after 30 days.

So a free Render app is fine for a demo. For anything that has to answer a program, a webhook or a chat message at any hour, you pay for an instance. Render's pricing page listed $7 a month for a Starter instance when we checked on 8 October 2026, and Postgres from $6.

## Can blitz.cloud keep it awake for free?

No, and we don't pretend otherwise. Our free plan sleeps too: an app with an address sleeps after 15 minutes without a visitor and wakes when a person opens it in a browser. Programs, webhooks and uptime pingers don't wake it. A free background worker runs while you are working on it and stops a day or two after your last sign-in or deploy.

What we offer instead is a cheap way to keep one app on:

- **Pro app**, 2 EUR a month or 15 EUR a year. One app stays awake day and night, with its own memory and its own database. It can use a domain you own. The rest of your account stays free.
- **Pro**, 7 EUR a month or 70 EUR a year. Every app in your account can stay awake, up to 50 apps and 5 databases, with nightly copies of their files.

## The two side by side

| | Render | blitz.cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Free web app | Spins down after 15 minutes, about a minute to start | Sleeps after 15 minutes, woken by the next visit in a browser |
| Free background worker | Not offered | One, runs while you work on it |
| Free database | Postgres, expires after 30 days | One, doesn't expire, backed up nightly |
| One app kept awake | $7 a month Starter instance | 2 EUR a month as a Pro app |
| One app kept awake with a database | $7 plus Postgres from $6 | 2 EUR a month, database included |
| Where it runs | Frankfurt, three US regions or Singapore | In the EU, run by a German company |

Render has things we don't: private registries, more regions and instances that grow far beyond a hobby project. The full picture is on the [Render comparison](https://blitz.cloud/compare/render/).

## Moving an app over

1. Sign up, click "Host something new", then "My own code", and pick the same GitHub repository Render builds from. Private repositories work.
2. Your app should listen on the port in `PORT`, which is `8080`. Most apps already read `PORT`, as on Render.
3. Copy your environment variables to the app's Environment tab.
4. For a worker, switch on "Runs in the background" when you name the app.
5. Build it. If there's no Dockerfile, we write one from what is in the repository.
6. When it runs, open its page and click "Make it a Pro app".

If you need the data from a Render Postgres database, dump it with `pg_dump -Fc --no-owner` and upload the file into an empty database with "Upload a dump" on the Databases page. The steps are in [databases](https://blitz.cloud/docs/databases/).

Not what you needed? Ask within 30 days of your first payment and we refund the first month.

## Questions

### Is there a free Render alternative that doesn't sleep?

Not here. Free hosting that never sleeps costs someone money, and we'd rather charge 2 EUR a month than make you wonder when it stops. You can try everything for free first.

### Why does my Render app take a minute to load?

It spun down after 15 minutes without traffic, and Render starts it again on the next request. Paying for an instance, or moving the app to a Pro app here, keeps it running.

### Can I keep a Discord or Telegram bot online?

Yes, as a background app. See [Discord bot hosting](https://blitz.cloud/guides/discord-bot-hosting/) and [Telegram bot hosting](https://blitz.cloud/guides/telegram-bot-hosting/).

### Where does it run?

On blitz.cloud's servers in the EU, run by BlitzWorks, a company in Germany.

## Move your app

[Sign up](https://dashboard.blitz.cloud/auth/login?register=1) and pick the repository you deploy on Render today. When it runs, click "Make it a Pro app" and it stays awake for 2 EUR a month.