What Is Koyeb?
Koyeb is a serverless Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) that lets you deploy full-stack applications directly from GitHub, Docker images, or the command line. It competes directly with Render, Railway, and Fly.io — but unlike most of those platforms, Koyeb does something none of its major rivals manage in 2026: it offers a genuine, no-time-limit free tier that does not require a credit card to sign up.
Koyeb is built for solo developers, indie hackers, and anyone running side projects or prototypes on a budget. The company published a blog post explaining their stance, titled Sustaining Free Compute in a Hostile Environment, which outlines their long-term commitment to keeping a free tier alive. In an era where most cloud platforms are cutting or sunsetting free offerings, that is worth paying attention to.
Koyeb Free Tier — What You Get
The free tier gives you a single web service with the following resources, as documented on the Koyeb Pricing FAQ and Instances Reference:
| Resource | Free Tier Allocation |
|---|---|
| RAM | 512 MB |
| vCPU | 0.1 (shared) |
| SSD Storage | 2 GB |
| Outbound Bandwidth | 100 GB / month |
| Web Services | 1 per org |
| Regions | Frankfurt (DE), Washington D.C. (US) |
| SSL | Automatic Let’s Encrypt on *.koyeb.app and custom domains |
| Custom Domains | Supported |
| Auto-deploy | Git-based on push |
| Build System | Docker + language-native |
Scale-to-Zero and Cold Starts
After one hour of inactivity, your free service scales down to zero instances. The next HTTP request triggers a cold start, which typically takes a few seconds. This is how Koyeb keeps the free tier viable — you only consume compute when your app is actually handling traffic.
Free Managed Postgres
Koyeb also provides a free managed Postgres database with 1 GB of storage. The important catch: you get 5 hours of active connection time per month (verified against the current Koyeb Pricing FAQ), and the free database expires after 90 days. This is enough for development, prototyping, and low-traffic staging environments, but for production use you would want to upgrade to the paid Postgres plan.
Limitations at a Glance
- Only 1 free web service per org
- No persistent volume attachment — your app must be stateless
- Scale-to-zero is mandatory — no option to keep one instance warm 24/7
- Free Postgres has a 90-day expiry
- No Worker Services on the free tier
- Two regions only — Frankfurt and Washington D.C.
These trade-offs are the price of admission for a zero-cost, forever-free service. An independent review on MakerStack notes that the 1-instance limit is the most common pain point for developers running microservices, but for a single full-stack app it works perfectly well.
Getting Started — Sign Up & First Deploy
Signing up for Koyeb does not require a credit card — just an email address or a GitHub account. Once you log in to the dashboard, you can connect a GitHub repository and deploy in under two minutes.
The official Express deployment tutorial walks through this step by step: you pick your repo, choose a branch, and Koyeb auto-detects your build command. On each git push, the platform rebuilds and redeploys your service. You get a your-app-name.koyeb.app URL with automatic HTTPS via Let’s Encrypt.
Deploying a Real App: Express API + Next.js Frontend
A typical full-stack setup on Koyeb looks like this:
- Backend: Create an Express API that serves JSON from your Koyeb-managed Postgres. Push it to a GitHub repo. Connect it to Koyeb as a web service.
- Frontend: Create a Next.js app that calls your Express API. The Next.js deployment tutorial covers the specifics — since Next.js can run in server mode, Koyeb will build it and serve it on the same infrastructure.
You can point a custom domain at either service from the Koyeb dashboard. SSL is handled automatically, and the platform generates Let’s Encrypt certificates on the fly. The result: two free services (if you use two orgs), or you can bundle the frontend as static output served from a separate static host, reserving your free Koyeb instance for the API alone.
Docker Deployments on Koyeb
Koyeb supports Docker-native builds, meaning you can deploy any application that runs in a container. You supply a Dockerfile in your repo root, and Koyeb builds and runs it in its serverless infrastructure. This is useful for apps written in languages Koyeb does not have native buildpacks for, or for projects that need specific system dependencies.
Koyeb also supports Docker Compose files for multi-service setups, though on the free tier you are limited to a single web service. Docker-based deploys follow the same Git-push workflow — connect your repo, select a branch, and Koyeb handles the build.
Koyeb CLI: Deploy from Local Machine
If you prefer to deploy from your terminal rather than through the dashboard, Koyeb offers a CLI tool. You can install it with the following one-liner:
curl -fsSL https://cli.koyeb.com/install.sh | shOnce installed, authenticate with koyeb login and deploy your app with koyeb app create or koyeb service create. This fits nicely into CI/CD pipelines and scripts. The CLI supports all the same features as the dashboard — managing apps, services, domains, secrets, and environment variables.
Pros, Cons & Limitations (vs. Competitors)
Here is how Koyeb’s free tier stacks up against the other big names in PaaS in 2026:
| Feature | Koyeb (Free) | Render (Free) | Railway (Trial) | Fly.io (Free) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB | Varies | Removed |
| vCPU | 0.1 shared | 0.1 shared | Varies | Removed |
| Storage | 2 GB SSD | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Bandwidth | 100 GB/mo | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Free Database | Postgres 1 GB (5h/mo, 90 days) | Postgres 1 GB (30 days) | Postgres (with credits) | Removed |
| Credit Card Required | No | No | No | Required |
| Forever Free? | Yes | Yes (750h/mo) | No (credit runs out) | No (trial only) |
| Custom Domains | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Scale-to-Zero | Yes (1h idle) | Yes (15 min idle) | Yes | Yes |
- Render offers 750 hours per month (roughly a single service running all the time) and includes free Postgres for 30 days. It is a solid alternative, but the database expires after a month.
- Railway gives you a $5 monthly credit on their Trial plan (no credit card required), but once the credit is consumed you need to upgrade — it is not perpetual free (Railway pricing).
- Fly.io removed their permanent free tier and now only offers trial credits. You need a credit card to sign up.
Koyeb is the only platform in this list offering a truly permanent free tier with no credit card, a managed database (even with its 90-day limit), and the flexibility of Docker and Git-based deploys.
When to Upgrade
If you outgrow the free tier, Koyeb’s paid plans are reasonably priced. The Eco Instance at $1.61 per month gives you a dedicated Nano instance (512 MB RAM, 0.1 vCPU) that stays warm — no cold starts. The paid Postgres plans remove the 5-hour monthly cap and the 90-day expiry. The Pro plan unlocks multiple services, larger instance sizes, Worker Services (for async/background jobs), priority support, and all 15+ available regions worldwide.
For most side projects, the free tier plus the $1.61 Eco Instance is a cheap way to eliminate cold starts entirely.
Conclusion
Koyeb stands out in 2026 as the best free PaaS for side projects and prototypes. It is the only major platform offering a genuinely permanent free tier with a managed database, custom domains, automatic SSL, and Docker support — all without asking for a credit card. The limitations (one instance, cold starts, 90-day Postgres) are real, but they are manageable, and the upgrade path is cheap and clear.
If you are a solo developer or indie hacker looking for a place to host your next full-stack app without spending a dime, Koyeb is the strongest option on the market today.
References
[1] Koyeb [2] Sustaining Free Compute in a Hostile Environment [3] Koyeb Pricing FAQ