Jevin

Posted on Jun 12

I tried 6 free deployment platforms. Here’s what actually worked.

#devops #cicd

When you’re just getting started with a side project or testing out an MVP, paying for infrastructure can feel like overkill.

That’s why I spent the last couple of weeks trying out 6 popular free deployment platforms, all promising easy setup, fast deploys, and “free forever” tiers.

Some lived up to the hype.

Some… not so much.

In this post, I’ll walk you through what I tried, what broke, and which platform I finally stuck with.

What I was looking for?

Before diving into the list, here’s what I needed:

Support for Node.js and Flask apps
Git-based deploys
Easy setup (no Docker, no YAML if possible)
environment variable management
Live URL with SSL
Free tier that didn’t throttle everything to death

Nothing too fancy, just something that works without needing a full DevOps setup.

The 6 platforms I tried

Here’s a quick rundown of the platforms I tested:

Heroku (free legacy account)
Render (free tier)
Railway
Vercel
Replit
Kuberns (free trial)

Let’s go through each one.

1. Heroku

Heroku was my default for years. Simple, intuitive, and got the job done, until they discontinued the free tier for dynos.

If you already have a legacy account, it’s still usable for light apps, but once I needed background workers and databases, things got complicated or expensive.

Verdict: Great UX, but not free anymore. RIP.

2. Render

Render felt like a natural Heroku alternative. The free tier gives 750 hours/month per service, which is decent. Setup was easy, but I ran into slow cold starts and occasional delays during builds.

Their UI is polished, but once you need more than a static site or basic service, it starts pushing you toward paid plans.

Verdict: Solid for static sites, not so much for scaling microservices for free.

3. Railway

Railway’s onboarding is one of the best. You can deploy a basic app in minutes. It auto-detects your framework and deploys straight from GitHub.

But the free tier is limited (only 500 hours/month) and some features like custom domains, plugins, or scaling options quickly hit paywalls.

Verdict: Perfect for testing or quick demos. Not ideal if you want to grow.

4. Vercel

Vercel is amazing for frontend apps, Next.js in particular. Their CI/CD integration is fast, and deploy previews are a dream.

But for backend services like Flask or Express.js APIs, things start to break down. You can make it work, but it’s clearly not designed for backend-first apps.

Verdict: Best for frontend teams. Backend? You’ll struggle.

5. Replit

Replit is a unique one. It’s more of an online IDE + hosting hybrid. Great for education or prototyping, but not really for production.

Also, performance wasn’t consistent during testing, and deployment flows weren’t always predictable.

Verdict: Fun to play with. Wouldn’t ship real projects on it.

6. Kuberns

I came across Kuberns after a post in a developer forum.

It promised one-click deployments, Git-based workflows, and full-stack support - including Flask, Node.js, Django, and more.

What surprised me was how fast everything worked.

I connected my GitHub repo, selected the branch, uploaded my .env file, and hit deploy. No Dockerfile, no YAML, no cold starts. Kuberns auto-detected my app and gave me a production-ready URL with SSL and built-in monitoring.

It also showed real-time logs, resource usage, and rollback options - all inside a clean dashboard.

Verdict: The only one that gave me both speed and control, without asking for a credit card.

Try this 1-click Flask deployment, I am sure you will be amazed.

What actually worked?

If you’re deploying a frontend project, Vercel is hard to beat.

If you just want a quick test or demo, Railway or Render will do the trick.

But if you’re building something real, an app with both frontend and backend, or multiple services, Kuberns was the only one that didn’t cut corners or lock major features behind paywalls.

It felt like Heroku, but smarter.

No YAML. No DevOps setup. And faster than everything else I tested.

I found this article by kuberns on Free Application Deployment Tools interesting and useful, have a look if it interests you.