DEV Community

Cover image for How to get a free Google server forever

How to get a free Google server forever

Joshua Byrd on November 08, 2020

NOTE: GOOGLE HAVE CHANGED THEIR FREE TIER FROM F1-MICRO TO E2-MICRO. PLEASE USE E2-MICRO TO GET A FREE SERVER. YOU CAN UPGRADE YOUR CURRENT INSTAN...
Collapse
 
selim13 profile image
Dmitry Seleznyov

Oracle also gives free VDS instances.
oracle.com/cloud/free/#always-free

Each have 1Gb RAM, 1/8 of CPU core and 50 Gb of storage (witch is rather cool). The biggest limitation of those is bandwidth limit of 10 Mbps,still suitable for lots of tasks. I host some demo web sites and proxy on those.

Collapse
 
phocks profile image
Joshua Byrd

Seems like they've updated the bandwidth throttle to 50 Mbps. Awesome! Maybe I'll have to write up another DEV article :)

Collapse
 
phocks profile image
Joshua Byrd

Thanks. I didn't know this! Seems better specs than Google Cloud too! Will try it out.

Collapse
 
ervin_szilagyi profile image
Ervin Szilagyi

Likewise, Azure and AWS give also give you some free instances for 12 months (I know, it's not forever but it's something). From Azure you get a B1S instance, from a AWS a t2.micro or a t3.micro.

Collapse
 
vedraiyani profile image
Chintan Raiyani

Yeah that's true. It's for 90 days $300 not forever. This post is confusing the people by using the word forever.

Collapse
 
5456qwe profile image
1214586

Actually AWS charges you like hell without any notice if you consume your free tier.

Thread Thread
 
noblesilence profile image
Aye Aye Mon

You can usually negotiate with them. They charged me for not terminating the instances. But when I told them that I didn't know I needed to terminate unused instances, I got a full refund.

Thread Thread
 
safventure11000 profile image
Saf11000

AWS also charged me without notice about my db excess and didn't know we can negotiate with them. Thanks for this.

Collapse
 
phocks profile image
Joshua Byrd • Edited

Nope this is not a trial period. Google Cloud free tier is indeed forever (or at least until they shut it down).

Thread Thread
 
harshamv profile image
Harsha MV

Like Google Photos :)

Thread Thread
 
mukherjee96 profile image
Aritra Mukherjee

Nothing lasts forever 😔
thenextweb.com/plugged/2020/11/12/...

Collapse
 
lardissone profile image
Leandro Ardissone

Here's a list of resources that are free or have a free tier: github.com/ripienaar/free-for-dev

Collapse
 
fth_nix profile image
frank london

Great share, thank you.

Collapse
 
zorfling profile image
Chris Colborne

Nice one mate, very handy.

Any idea why your screenshot shows a $4.28 estimate for the month? It says the first 744 hours are free (aka 31 days), so it's odd it would show that estimate.

Collapse
 
arafays profile image
Abdul Rafay Shaikh

About showing the amount charged this is how Google billing works it shows you much resources you used and then subsidizes it at the end of billing period so you would know using same resources after consuming your free tier you have an idea how much you will be charged.

Collapse
 
py_talk profile image
py.talk()

744 hours is for every month :)

for exaple you can have 10 instances funning 74,4 hours each. fore every next hour you'll pay

Collapse
 
phocks profile image
Joshua Byrd • Edited

Yeah I'm assuming that's just how much it would cost if it wasn't on the free tier 🤷 but it's definitely free. I've been running it for a few months.

Collapse
 
catalinradoi profile image
CatalinRadoi

didn't get the PayPal option.

And, on the page it says "Put Google Cloud to work with $300 in credit to spend over the next 90 days."

It might give you some "free" forever small service or something but they ask for credit card...

"don't worry we won't charge you"

AHEM
THEN Why the fuck are you asking for CC, Google? Can't you verify I'm a human with a classic captcha?

F* Google :)

Collapse
 
twfahey1 profile image
Tyler Fahey

Probably to avoid abuse, opening tons of multiple free accounts

Collapse
 
abdellahaski profile image
Abdellah ASKI

You should mention that you get only 1GB of free egress bandwith, you will be charged for additional egress traffic.

Collapse
 
sarunasknabikas profile image
SarunasKnabikas

Thanks for the post will look out for the more detailed guide. Maybe it would be an option.

I know it's more work. But why not to consider the raspberry pi. It's perfect for small scripts/personal project or even some prototyping/testing work. Been using it for a while it's not perfect but helps to get things done.

Collapse
 
lagsurfer profile image
Barney

Yeah actually I have a raspberry for that purpose but it's not for everything. I'm used to set up everything with docker containers and some images are not available for ARM. Never had this problem with AMD64 VPS.

Collapse
 
ematsuoka profile image
Eric Matsuoka

You mentioned adding 30GB of disk. Where can I do that? Is that done in the Management Security Disk Networking Sole Tenancy section?
I'm just trying to avoid paying for something I don't really need.

Thanks

Collapse
 
phocks profile image
Joshua Byrd

You'll find the setting under boot disk (if I remember correctly). Change the size (GB) from 10 to 30.

Collapse
 
bcroq profile image
Bertrand Croq

It would be great to have this explanation in the article.

Collapse
 
kunamatata profile image
Maxime Caly

For those curious about billing and pricing, GCP has a pretty good page here:
cloud.google.com/free/docs/gcp-fre...

 
starfreck profile image
Starfreck

Yeah, That's true. But I never got into any trouble because of that (unless you want to run a server 24X7 ). When you ping to the server it will wake up in few seconds. At least that's what you can expect from free web hosting. No one will give you a full-featured server free of cost. All free hostings have their own limitations. I hosted a Telegram Bot on Heroku so far it's going well without any troubles and at 0$ cost :)

Collapse
 
jeffprod profile image
JeffProd

$4.28 monthly estimate as written in your screenshot does not mean "free forever"...

Collapse
 
phocks profile image
Joshua Byrd
Collapse
 
scottlepp profile image
Scott Lepper • Edited

Firebase also allows free setup with no credit card. The Spark plan. You don't get a "server" but you can run cloud functions for free. The Cloud functions do have some limitations. Depending on what you're looking for, like just running queries against a database, this could be an option.

Collapse
 
hanna profile image
Hanna Rose

The issue I have with GCP is it requires a CC, prepaid doesn't work, and it seems Privacy cards make them want to ask you to verify your identity, which normally i'd do but I need to get a replacement ID.

Collapse
 
starfreck profile image
Starfreck

Try Heroku. it's easiest and free forever with 5 apps per 1 account without any credit cards or debit cards. Tho it will not give you database hosting for free but you can find other free services online where you can host your small DBs for personal projects.

Collapse
 
ryzorbent profile image
Thabo

It’s all nice and comfy until google does this to you, when you least expect it. I don’t trust google at this moment.

They are locking people out of their account, and careless to even give an explanation 😏

Collapse
 
jamesking56 profile image
James King

Does this only work for US instances?

Collapse
 
phocks profile image
Joshua Byrd • Edited

Yes I believe free tier is for US server only for now. But this may change in the future.

Oracle offers more regions here:

dev.to/phocks/how-to-get-2x-oracle...

Collapse
 
equan profile image
Equan P.

i see. thank you

Collapse
 
instinct profile image
Instinct

Good article!
By the way, heroku also provides 500mb?
Is this server better?

Collapse
 
bscott profile image
Brian Scott

Heroku is for runtimes, not offer ssh and custom scripts if needed

Collapse
 
calag4n profile image
calag4n

Awesome, thanks a lot. ✌️

Collapse
 
sahilrajput profile image
Info Comment hidden by post author - thread only accessible via permalink
Sahil Rajput

It's not ' forever'

Collapse
 
cypherpunksamurai profile image
Cypherpunk Samurai

Thank you very much. Very helpful

Collapse
 
bnorikane profile image
Bruce N Norikane • Edited

Thanks this is great information.
When I signed up, I had to accept the $300 credit offer.
Series F2 is not available in my account. E2 is the smallest.
Will that still be free forever?

Collapse
 
phocks profile image
Joshua Byrd

Only the f1-micro is free I believe. Good luck!

Collapse
 
funy profile image
Funy

No longer true, using an external IP to access ANY service (including SSH) will result on charges (including Free Tier)

Collapse
 
qzsg profile image
Info Comment hidden by post author - thread only accessible via permalink
Adrian

What a click bait. At least tell people about the free usage limits

Some comments have been hidden by the post's author - find out more