{"rid":"compute/render","card":{"rid":"compute/render","eid":"render","topic":"compute","slug":"render","provider":"Render","url":"https://render.com/docs/free","domain":"render.com","category":"platform host","tier":"Free instance (web service)","verdict":"qualifies-with-caveat","vorder":1,"grp":"usable","confidence":"documented","binding":"retention-clamped","identity_kind":"email","identity_basis":"stated","needs_card":1,"needs_phone":0,"needs_id":0,"needs_institution":0,"country":null,"crypto":null,"interfaces":"ssh","egress_metered":1,"per_object_bytes":null,"retention_days":null,"verified_at":"2026-10-24T01:55:00.000Z","verified_basis":"live","checked_on":"2026-10-25","stale_on":"2026-11-24","n_evidence":17,"usd_month":0,"usd_per_tb_month":null,"summary":"A Free web service with an ephemeral filesystem, 750 Free instance hours per workspace per calendar month, and a 5 GB monthly outbound bandwidth allowance on...","duplicate_of":null,"n_unknown":0},"record":{"topic":"compute","per_object_cap":{"stated":"no per-object cap; the free tier is one service shape, less than one CPU and 512 MB of RAM"},"interface":["ssh"],"interface_detail":"a git push deploy, a public HTTPS endpoint, and a REST API","tooling":"git-based deploy, a render.yaml blueprint, the Render API","chaining":"an endpoint that answers and holds no state, kept warm by a request every 15 minutes","limits":[{"kind":"retention-clamped","value":"spins down after 15 minutes without inbound HTTP or WebSocket traffic; a wake takes about one minute","source":"https://render.com/docs/free"},{"kind":"volume-quota","value":"750 Free instance hours a month per workspace; exhausted, Render suspends all Free web services until the next month","source":"https://render.com/docs/free"},{"kind":"per-ip-shaping","value":"5 GB a month of outbound bandwidth on Hobby, then suspension if no card is on file","source":"https://render.com/docs/outbound-bandwidth"},{"kind":"write-gated","value":"no persistent disk and no shell on a Free web service","source":"https://render.com/docs/free"}],"limits_note":"a WebSocket message from an existing connection resets the 15-minute timer, which the vendor states explicitly","reliability_note":"'Render might restart a Free web service at any time'; a service that initiates an uncommonly high volume of outbound traffic may be suspended","confidence":"documented","verified_at":"2026-10-24T01:55:00.000Z","price_per_tb_month":null,"notes":"The corpus open question 'does a cron job count against the 15-minute sleep' resolves to neither: a cron job is a separate service type that cannot be on the free plan, because 'There is a minimum monthly charge of $1 per cron job service.' Its executions also run in a separate container from the web service and do not keep it awake. What is still unverified is whether a spun-down service wakes purely from an inbound request to a non-HTTP port; the docs name only HTTP requests and new WebSocket connections.","slug":"render","provider":"Render","url":"https://render.com/docs/free","category":"platform host","free_tier":{"stated":"A Free web service with an ephemeral filesystem, 750 Free instance hours per workspace per calendar month, and a 5 GB monthly outbound bandwidth allowance on the Hobby plan.","unit":"hours","metered_on":"wall-clock","source_url":"https://render.com/docs/free","read_on":"2026-10-24"},"retention":{"stated":"the filesystem is ephemeral and is lost on every redeploy, restart or spin-down; a Free Postgres database expires 30 days after creation"},"egress":{"terms":"Hobby workspaces include 5 GB of outbound bandwidth a month, then USD 0.15 per GB; without a payment method Render suspends all Free services for the rest of the month","metered":true,"free_allowance":"5 GB","price_per_tb":"USD 150","source_url":"https://render.com/docs/outbound-bandwidth"},"identity_cost":{"kind":"email","detail":"an account is enough for a Free web service; a payment method is optional and its absence converts a bandwidth overrun into a suspension instead of a bill","country":null},"evidence":[{"url":"https://render.com/docs/free","date":"2026-10-06","proved":"'Render spins down a Free web service that goes 15 minutes without receiving any inbound traffic'"},{"url":"https://render.com/docs/free","date":"2026-10-06","proved":"any changes to the local filesystem are lost on spin-down; 750 free instance-hours per workspace a month"},{"url":"https://render.com/docs/free","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"read live: 750 instance-hours a month and the 15-minute spin-down"},{"url":"https://render.com/pricing","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"quoted: Hobby includes 5 GB of bandwidth a month, additional bandwidth at USD 0.15 per GB, 25 services maximum, 2 custom domains"},{"url":"https://render.com/docs/free","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"quoted: if you consume all of your outbound bandwidth during a given month, Render bills you for a supplementary amount, and if you have not added a payment method Render suspends all of your free services for the remainder of the month"},{"url":"https://www.nodeseek.com/post-854242-1","date":"2026-08-02","proved":"forum observation of the rollout lag, translated: Render announced that on 1 August the legacy Hobby plan becomes Hobby New and free traffic drops to 5 GB, but the old plan still had 100 GB that day"},{"url":"https://render.com/blog/better-pricing-for-fast-growing-teams","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"vendor post, quoted: we are also reducing the bandwidth included in the Hobby and Pro plans; Hobby is USD 0 a month and the bandwidth line reads 5 GB included [re-read 2026-10-22]"},{"url":"https://render.com/docs/compute-plans","date":"2026-10-24","proved":"quoted table row: '0.1 CPU | 512 MB | free'"},{"url":"https://render.com/docs/free","date":"2026-10-24","proved":"quoted: 'Render spins down a Free web service that goes 15 minutes without receiving any inbound traffic.'"},{"url":"https://render.com/docs/free","date":"2026-10-24","proved":"quoted: 'are lost every time the service redeploys, restarts, or spins down'"},{"url":"https://render.com/docs/free","date":"2026-10-24","proved":"quoted: 'Shell access via SSH or the Render Dashboard', listed among the features free web services do not support"},{"url":"https://render.com/docs/free","date":"2026-10-24","proved":"quoted: 'Render grants 750 Free instance hours to each workspace per calendar month'"},{"url":"https://render.com/docs/free","date":"2026-10-24","proved":"quoted: 'Render spins down a Free web service that goes 15 minutes without receiving any inbound traffic. This includes both HTTP requests and WebSocket messages from existing connections.'"},{"url":"https://render.com/docs/free","date":"2026-10-24","proved":"quoted: 'Render grants 750 Free instance hours to each workspace per calendar month' and 'If you consume all of your Free instance hours during a given month, Render suspends all of your Free web services'"},{"url":"https://render.com/docs/free","date":"2026-10-24","proved":"quoted: 'Running one-off jobs' listed among features Free web services do not support, and 'Render might restart a Free web service at any time.'"},{"url":"https://render.com/docs/outbound-bandwidth","date":"2026-10-24","proved":"quoted: 'Hobby | 5 GB' in the monthly included bandwidth table, and '$0.15 per GB' above the allowance"},{"url":"https://render.com/docs/cronjobs","date":"2026-10-24","proved":"quoted: 'There is a minimum monthly charge of $1 per cron job service.'"}],"verdict":"qualifies-with-caveat","extras":{"shape":{"vcpu":0.1,"ram_gib":0.5,"disk_gib":null,"gpu_class":null,"gpu_count":null},"billing_model":"free-instance","session_cap":{"wall_clock_min":null,"idle_reap_s":900,"restart_required":false,"note":"15 minutes without inbound HTTP or WebSocket traffic; wake takes about a minute"},"keep_rate":null,"persistent_storage":{"included_gib":0,"price_gib_month":"no persistent disk on free","durability":"ephemeral","survives_stop":false,"survives_destroy":false,"max_retention":"the instance lifetime"},"network_out":{"allow_outbound":true,"allow_inbound_listen":true,"ports":"one HTTP port; outbound ports 25, 465 and 587 blocked; reserved ports 18012, 18013, 19099 refused","static_ip":false,"ipv6":false,"per_session_bytes":null},"free_tier_kind":"free-instance-hours","census_rows":["render-free","render-free-web-service"],"granularity":{"min_billed_s":0,"rounding_s":null},"burst_x":1,"wave2":{"merged_agents":["a09-forums"],"merged_evidence_rows":4,"merged_note":"quoted: the Hobby plan includes 5 GB of bandwidth a month with additional bandwidth at USD 0.15 per GB; the same plan previously included 100 GB."},"shape_note":"0.1 CPU and 512 MB as the vendor states; no disk is allocated on free","term":"monthly","m10h_usd":0,"m24h_usd":0,"price_arithmetic":"no charge; 750 instance hours a month is 31.25 days, so one always-on service consumes the whole workspace pool"},"confidence_note":"the spin-down trigger, the 750 hours, the suspension rule and the 5 GB Hobby allowance were all read today on two Render documentation pages","tier":"Free instance (web service)","binding":"retention-clamped","binding_note":"15 minutes of silence ends the process, so an always-on workload cannot live here at all; the 750 hours only bind for a service that is kept awake deliberately."},"claims":[{"path":"$.extras.m10h_usd","kind":"price","num":0,"unit":null,"per":"month","currency":"USD","usd":0,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"},{"path":"$.extras.m24h_usd","kind":"price","num":0,"unit":null,"per":"month","currency":"USD","usd":0,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"},{"path":"$.free_tier.stated","kind":"free-quota","num":5,"unit":"GB","per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"},{"path":"$.limits[0].value","kind":"limit:retention-clamped","num":15,"unit":"minutes","per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"},{"path":"$.limits[1].value","kind":"limit:volume-quota","num":null,"unit":null,"per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"unparsed"},{"path":"$.limits[2].value","kind":"limit:per-ip-shaping","num":5,"unit":"GB","per":"month","currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"},{"path":"$.limits[3].value","kind":"limit:write-gated","num":null,"unit":null,"per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"unparsed"}],"unknown":[],"history":[],"drift":[]}