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What We Look For in the Best Free Cloud Hosting Services1. Kamatera – 30-Day Free Trial to Build and Test a Custom Cloud Instance with Impressive Speed2. Amazon Web Services (AWS) – Fast, Reliable, Secure, and Free to Try3. Heroku – Streamlined Cloud Services for Developers At Low Prices4. Google Cloud – Get an “Always-Free” Cloud Instance on One of the Biggest Platforms5. Red Hat OpenShift – Powerful Cloud Instance Available Free for a Limited Time6. Microsoft Azure – Free Virtual Machines for 12 Months with Generous ResourcesWhich is the Best Free Cloud Hosting Service for Your Needs?FAQ
Short on time? These are the best free cloud hosting services in 2023:
- Kamatera – Budget prices for highly reliable and customizable servers, plus a 30-day free trial
- Amazon Web Services – A low-end cloud instance is available for free for 12 months
- Heroku – Fully-managed runtime environment in the cloud at almost-free prices
What We Look For in the Best Free Cloud Hosting Services
To put together this list of the best free cloud hosting services, my team and I focused on the following features during our tests:- Reliability and uptime – It’s easy to give away cloud hosting like candy, but it takes the best, most cutting-edge infrastructure to make it really shine. These companies provide reliable, redundant servers, which translates to high uptime and blazing-fast speeds.
- Multiple deployment locations – The best clouds aren’t made of a few servers located in Bangladesh, but of thousands of servers, located all over the globe, working together. Almost all services on this list provide multiple deployment options, ensuring that you’ll always have a nearby location promptly serving your visitors.
- Access to resources – As I said before, free cloud hosting does come with limitations. What differentiates these guys from the rest is that the free tiers come with enough resources to actually test the service.
- Scalability – With sub-par hosting, success is actually your biggest fear. It’s hardly scalable, so once you get some traffic, your website is going to grind to a halt. With the companies on this list, you always have room to grow.
- Developer friendly – To develop the best apps in the least amount of time, you need a service that makes things easier. All the services on this list are developer-oriented, but a couple really go the extra mile in streamlining the process.

Kamatera Cloud Hosting
Plan NameStorageBandwidthCPURAMPrice
More detailsFeatures
- Rapid setup – It takes less than a minute to set up a new cloud instance, allowing you to start development almost immediately.
- Optional preinstalled OS – To save some time, Kamatera’s cloud instances can come preinstalled with popular OSs. These include various Linux distributions and multiple versions of Windows Server. You can also request cPanel or Plesk to be preinstalled.
- Free static IP – Every server comes with a free public static IP, adding to the overall value.
- Cheap automatic backup solution – For a small added fee, your server’s storage will be automatically backed up every day. This is stored in an offsite storage array to further protect against data loss.
Data Center Locations | 5 in the US, 1 in Canada, 6 in Europe, 5 in the Middle East, 1 in Asia |
Uptime Guarantee | 99.9% |
Free Technical Support? | 24/7 technical support via phone and email |
Starting Price | $4.00 |
2. Amazon Web Services (AWS) – Fast, Reliable, Secure, and Free to Try

Amazon Web Services (AWS) VPS Hosting
Plan NameStorageBandwidthCPURAMPrice
More detailsFeatures
- Burstable CPU performance – The free t2.micro instance offers 1 GB RAM and 1 vCPU. The CPU is burstable, meaning that in periods of low traffic, you’ll only have access to around 10% of the CPU. In periods of heavier traffic, it can burst to deliver the full performance of the CPU core.
- Complete control – EC2’s instances are completely customizable, which puts a lot of responsibility on you. The interface isn’t the prettiest, either, so prepare to work overtime to get everything perfectly configured.
- Free storage & database services – As part of the AWS free tier, you’ll also have access to 5 GB of object storage and 30 GB of block storage. You’ll also get 750 hours per month of a MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, or SQL database with 20GB SSD storage capacity.
- Easily scalable into high-performance machines – Once you have an account active with AWS, you can always add more computing instances. Just pick an instance size and location and deploy it within minutes.
Data Center Locations | Huge number of data centers serving 245+ countries |
Uptime Guarantee | 99.5% |
Free Technical Support? | Account and billing support only |
Starting Price | $3.50 |

Heroku Cloud Hosting
Plan NameStorageRAMPrice
More detailsFeatures
- Built-in monitoring – Your web application throughput, response times, CPU load, and RAM usage are all monitored for you. It’s easy to see how your app is running in real-time, without the need to rely on a third-party service.
- Visual CI/CD workflow – Heroku Pipelines lets you organize dev branches visually based on whether they are in development, review, staging, or production. Pull requests also create a Review App – a temporary build with a shareable URL that can be used to propose and test changes.
- Buildpacks – Heroku lets you immediately deploy development environments for PHP, Node.js, Python, and many other languages, pre-configured with all necessary settings and dependencies.
- Easy-to-install add-ons – Many third-party add-ons are available, and can be installed in just a few clicks. Some add-ons, like Redis and Mailgun, offer a free plan. Others may incur a monthly fee.
Data Center Locations | Heroku services are hosted on Amazon EC2 instances, available across all major continents |
Uptime Guarantee | None |
Free Technical Support? | Technical support through ticket/email, available Monday to Friday 9AM – 9PM EST |
Starting Price | $50.00 |

Google Cloud Platform Cloud Hosting
Plan NameStorageCPUPrice
More detailsFeatures
- Generous resources – In addition to the comfortable amount of storage, the e2-micro’s free tier is powered by 2 vCPUs and 1 GB of RAM. The vCPUs are burstable – while you usually only have access to 12.5% total CPU, you can burst to 2 full vCPUs for short periods.
- Trial with $300 of credit – New accounts also get access to $300 free credit for 90 days. This can be used to try more powerful cloud instances, or test any number of GCP’s other services.
- Free access to Google’s advanced technologies – Google is an industry leader in quickly evolving fields such as speech recognition, artificial intelligence, and diagnostics. Free trials or limited free plans are available for each of them.
- Free access to Google App Engine – As part of the free tier, you can get limited usage of basic cloud instances on Google’s App Engine, a fully-managed platform for developing and hosting web apps. Google will handle server provisioning and scaling for you, so you can focus on app development.
Data Center Locations | Huge number of data centers serving 200+ countries |
Uptime Guarantee | 99.5% |
Free Technical Support? | Account and billing support only |
Starting Price | $48.91 |
5. Red Hat OpenShift – Powerful Cloud Instance Available Free for a Limited Time

Features
- Red Hat Developer program – Signing up for the free trial also automatically enrolls you in the Red Hat Developer program. This gives you access to betas for Red Hat products, plenty of developer resources including interactive tutorials, and more. You’ll remain part of the program even after the free trial expires.
- Customized management console – Your cloud hosting can be managed and configured using either the command line or a customized console developed by OpenShift.
- Development support – OpenShift’s platform makes it easy to quickly install frameworks and languages through the use of preconfigured containers.
- Git functionality – Use OpenShift’s interface to push code updates and changes into a base image. Allows for easy team collaborations.
Data Center Locations | 2 in the US, unless hosted with the Google Cloud Platform or AWS |
Uptime Guarantee | None |
Free Technical Support? | Phone support during business hours (exact time depends on country) |
Starting Price | Provided via consultation |

Microsoft Azure Cloud Hosting
Plan NameStorageBandwidthCPURAMPrice
More detailsFeatures
- $200 free credit – When you sign up for a Microsoft Azure account, you’ll get $200 of free credit. This can be used with any Microsoft Azure product, but you’ll only have 30 days to make use of it.
- “Always-free” App Service – Microsoft Azure allows you to develop up to 10 web apps for free on its fully managed App Service platform. It’s similar to Google Cloud’s App Engine – however, it also offers integrated CI/CD workflows to streamline development.
- Highly secure – Microsoft invests tens of billions of dollars in the cybersecurity industry every year, and employs thousands of experts in the field. Its serious stance on security extends to its Microsoft Azure services, which is one of the most secure cloud platforms available.
- Azure for Students – If you’re a student looking to learn with Microsoft Azure, you can sign up with your university or school email address to get $100 of free credit without the need for a credit card. You can renew your application each year to get another $100 of free credit.
Data Center Locations | 200+ data centers covering all major continents |
Uptime Guarantee | 99.5% |
Free Technical Support? | Account and billing support only |
Starting Price | $0 |
Which is the Best Free Cloud Hosting Service for Your Needs?
While all of the above options can offer you access to cloud hosting for free (or at a very low price), not all of them may fit your project. Each of them are limited in different ways, and it really depends on what you’re looking to test and develop.
If you’re still not sure, here are my recommendations:
Kamatera’s custom-built cloud instances are available to try free for 30-days, letting you test a server worth up to $100/month in value. While it isn’t permanently free, it offers the most customizable and scalable solution on the list, letting you instantly upgrade or downgrade resources to match your exact needs.
If you’re looking to test one of the best cloud computing platforms around, try Amazon AWS’ free EC2 burstable instance. You’ll have 12 months to prototype, develop, and host lightweight websites and apps on one of the fastest and largest cloud networks available.
On the other hand, Heroku’s managed platform for app development can save you tons of time and optimize your team’s workflow. While there is no completely free trial, you can test the Heroku platform for just pennies by using the pay-as-you-go system.
Still stuck? Here’s a nifty table to help you out.
Standout feature | Length of free period | RAM & CPU in basic/free instance | Starting price | ||
Kamatera | Custom-build fast & reliable cloud instances | 30 days | 1 vCPU, 1GB RAM | $4.00 | |
Amazon Web Services (AWS) | Fastest cloud instances with access to a huge global network | 12 months | 1 vCPU, 1GB RAM | $3.50 | |
Heroku | Fully managed runtime environment to streamline development | N/A | 1 vCPU, 512MB RAM | $50.00 | |
Google Cloud | Permanently free cloud instance with $300 credit | Always | 2 vCPUs, 1GB RAM | $48.91 | |
Red Hat OpenShift | Powerful free cloud instance ideal for newbie developers | 30 days | 4 vCPUs, 2GB RAM | Provided via consultation | |
Microsoft Azure | Plenty of storage and managed databases available as part of the free tier | 12 months (App Service always free) | 1 vCPU, 1GB RAM | $0 |