Render Free Plan 2026: What's Included & What's Not
Honest breakdown of the free tier limits and features
Render costs Free to $175 per month as of March 2026. Pricing depends on your chosen tier, contract length, and negotiated discounts.
Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.
- Free tier: No free tier available
Yes, Render offers a freemium plan as of March 2026. The free tier includes 7 features with limits on instance_hours and bandwidth. Paid plans start at $7/service/month (Starter). Pricing verified from 5 sources by CostBench.
Render offers a freemium model with limited features; upgrade to unlock more.
What's Included in the Free Plan
- 750 free instance hours per workspace/month
- 100 GB outbound bandwidth included
- 500 build pipeline minutes/month
- Web services, static sites, cron jobs
- Free Postgres database (expires after 30 days, 1 GB storage)
- Free Redis/Key Value instance
- Unlimited projects
What's NOT Included (Paid Only)
- 512 MB RAM, 0.5 vCPU per service
- No sleep on inactivity (always-on)
- Custom domains with free TLS
- Auto-deploy from Git
- Preview environments
- DDoS protection
Free Plan Limits
| Limit | Free Plan | Paid Plans |
|---|---|---|
| instance_hours | 750 hours/month | Unlimited/Higher |
| bandwidth | 100 GB/month | Unlimited/Higher |
| build_minutes | 500/month | Unlimited/Higher |
| db_storage | 1 GB | Unlimited/Higher |
| db_expiry | 30 days | Unlimited/Higher |
| ram | 512 MB | Unlimited/Higher |
| cpu | 0.1 vCPU | Unlimited/Higher |
You'll Need to Upgrade When...
- You exceed the user limit
- You need features like 512 MB RAM, 0.5 vCPU per service or No sleep on inactivity (always-on)
- You require premium support or SLA guarantees
- You need to remove branding or watermarks
- You need advanced integrations or API access
Hidden Restrictions on Free Plan
- Render branding may appear on your content or communications
- Support is limited to community forums or email with longer response times
- Export options may be restricted or include watermarks
- API access is typically limited or not available
- Advanced reporting and analytics require paid plans
Free vs Paid: Which Do You Need?
Free Plan is Enough If...
- You're an individual or very small team
- You need only basic features
- You don't mind usage limits
- Branding on output is acceptable
- Community support is sufficient
You Need Paid If...
- Your team is growing beyond limits
- You need advanced features
- Professional branding is required
- You need priority support
- Integrations/API access is critical
Free vs Starter Plan Comparison
| Free $0 | Starter $7/service/month | |
|---|---|---|
| Features | 7 included | 6+ included |
| Support | Community/Email | Priority Support |
| Branding | Render branding | Your branding |
| Best For | Hobby projects, prototypes, and learning | Small production web services and APIs |
Frequently Asked Questions
01 Is Render free?
Yes, Render offers a freemium plan with 7 core features included. However, there are limits on instance_hours, bandwidth that may require upgrading.
02 What's included in Render's free plan?
Render's free plan includes: 750 free instance hours per workspace/month, 100 GB outbound bandwidth included, 500 build pipeline minutes/month, Web services, static sites, cron jobs, Free Postgres database (expires after 30 days, 1 GB storage), and 2 more features. Key limits include instance_hours: 750 hours/month, bandwidth: 100 GB/month, build_minutes: 500/month.
03 What's NOT included in Render's free plan?
The free plan excludes: 512 MB RAM, 0.5 vCPU per service, No sleep on inactivity (always-on), Custom domains with free TLS, Auto-deploy from Git, Preview environments. You'll also have Render branding and limited support options.
04 When should I upgrade from Render's free plan?
Consider upgrading when: you hit user or storage limits, need features like 512 MB RAM, 0.5 vCPU per service or No sleep on inactivity (always-on), require premium support, or want to remove branding. The cheapest paid plan starts at $7/service/month.
05 Is Render's free plan really free forever?
Yes, Render's free plan is available indefinitely with no time limit. However, feature and usage limits may restrict what you can do without upgrading to a paid plan.