Today we're launching something that no other developer platform offers: every project you create on MonkeysCloud gets free compute instances and free database instances. Not a 30-day trial. Not $5 in credits. Real servers that run your code and your database — for as long as you need them.
Here's what that means in practice.
What You Get — Per Project, No Strings
Every project on MonkeysCloud includes:
| Instance | What it runs | Size | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free server 1 | Your application (any of 32 stacks) | 1 GB RAM | $0 |
| Free server 2 | A worker, second service, or another app | 1 GB RAM | $0 |
| Free database 1 | MySQL 8.4, PostgreSQL 16, or MongoDB 7 | 1 GB RAM | $0 |
| Free database 2 | Redis 7 cache, or a second database | 1 GB RAM | $0 |
That's 4 free instances per project. Each one can run any role — app server, database, cache, queue worker, scheduler, or a custom Docker container. You choose.
No credit card required. No time limit. No usage cap. You sign up, create a project, select your stack, push code, and you have a running application with a database and a cache at a live URL.
What Exactly Runs on These Free Instances?
Let me make this concrete. Here's what you can deploy right now for $0:
A complete Laravel stack:
- Instance 1: Laravel app (FrankenPHP, PHP 8.4)
- Instance 2: Queue worker (processing jobs)
- Database 1: MySQL 8.4 (your primary database)
- Database 2: Redis 7 (sessions + cache)
Total cost: $0. That's a production-capable Laravel application with a relational database, a cache layer, and background job processing.
A Next.js full-stack app:
- Instance 1: Next.js (Node 22, SSR)
- Database 1: PostgreSQL 16
- Database 2: Redis 7
Total cost: $0. Three instances. Full-stack JavaScript with a real database.
A Django + Celery setup:
- Instance 1: Django (Gunicorn)
- Instance 2: Celery worker
- Database 1: PostgreSQL 16
- Database 2: Redis 7 (Celery broker)
Total cost: $0. Background tasks, a real database, and a message broker.
A microservices project:
- Instance 1: Go API
- Instance 2: Node.js service
- Database 1: PostgreSQL 16
- Database 2: MongoDB 7
Total cost: $0. Two services and two different database engines.
Every project. Any stack. App + database + cache + worker. Free.
The Fine Print (There's Not Much)
Sleep after 30 minutes. Free instances sleep after 30 minutes with no incoming traffic. When the next request arrives, the instance wakes in 3 to 5 seconds. Your data on disk — database files, uploaded files, application state — is preserved while sleeping. This is fine for development, staging, demos, internal tools, client previews, and sites with intermittent traffic.
Custom domains and SSL work. Every instance — including free ones — supports custom domains with auto-provisioned SSL via Let's Encrypt. You can point myapp.com at a free instance and it works.
Two sizes of free. There are actually two free sizes:
| Size | CPU | RAM | SSD | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Shared 0.25 vCPU | 1 GB | 1 GB | $0 |
| Starter | Shared 0.5 vCPU | 2 GB | 10 GB | $0 |
Both are free. Both sleep after 30 minutes. Both count toward your free instance quota. Pick whichever fits your workload.
2 + 2 is the starting point. A free account gets 2 compute instances + 2 database instances per project. But that quota grows as you add paid instances (more on that below).
The Platform Is Free Too
The free instances are just the infrastructure. The platform that wraps them is also free:
Git hosting. Unlimited private repositories with Smart HTTP and SSH access. Or mirror from GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket.
Pull requests. Create PRs, leave inline reviews, run merge queues, enforce branch protection. Three merge strategies: merge commit, squash, rebase.
AI code review. Every PR gets an automated review in seconds — security vulnerabilities, performance issues, bugs, and best practices. Inline comments with suggested fixes. Before your team even opens the PR.
Task management. Kanban boards and Scrum sprints. Tasks auto-link to branches, PRs, builds, and deploys through branch naming. The board updates itself — nobody manually moves tickets to "Done."
Monitoring. Response times, error rates, CPU, memory, bandwidth — real-time dashboards with zero setup. Structured log viewer with search and live streaming.
Documentation. Built-in Markdown wiki with version history, search, and collaborative editing. API docs, runbooks, onboarding guides — next to your code and tasks.
Unlimited team members. Invite your entire team — developers, designers, product managers, clients, contractors. Everyone gets full access. No per-seat pricing. No "viewer" seats. Free.
How It Scales: The Tier System
Here's the part I'm most proud of. When you add a paid instance (Plus at $39/mo or above) to any project, your entire organization gets upgraded:
| Paid Instances in Org | Org Tier | Max Projects | Free Instances per Project |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Free | 2 | 2 + 2 |
| 1 | Starter | 5 | 3 + 3 |
| 2–3 | Growth | 10 | 4 + 4 |
| 4–7 | Pro | 20 | 5 + 5 |
| 8–15 | Business | 50 | 6 + 6 |
| 16–30 | Scale | 100 | 7 + 7 |
| 31+ | Enterprise | Unlimited | 7 + 7 |
One paid instance upgrades every project. Add a single Plus ($39/mo) to Project A, and Projects B, C, D, and E all get 3 free compute + 3 free database instances each. The paid instance benefits your entire org, not just the project it lives in.
And here's the kicker: Plus, Pro, and Business include a 90-day free trial. You add a Plus instance, pay $0 for 90 days, and immediately get Starter tier benefits across your entire organization. Five projects. Three free instances each. Before paying a single dollar.
32 Stacks — You Pick, We Build
When you create a project, you select your stack from 32 options. MonkeysCloud generates the complete build configuration — base image, install commands, build steps, start command — based on your selection. Push code. We handle the rest.
PHP: Laravel, Symfony, WordPress, Drupal, MonkeysLegion, PHP Generic
JavaScript/TypeScript: Next.js, Nuxt, Remix, SvelteKit, Astro, Express, NestJS, React SPA, Vue SPA, Angular
Python: Django, FastAPI, Flask, Streamlit, Python Generic
Ruby: Rails, Ruby Generic
Go
Rust
Java: Spring Boot, Java Generic
.NET
Elixir: Phoenix
Other: Static Site, Docker, Docker Compose
You pick the stack. We configure the build pipeline. You push code. It deploys.
What It Costs When You Need More
The free tier handles development, staging, demos, and low-traffic production. When you need always-on instances with more compute for real production traffic:
| Size | RAM | SSD | Price | Always-On |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 1 GB | 1 GB | $0 | No (sleeps) |
| Starter | 2 GB | 10 GB | $0 | No (sleeps) |
| Plus | 4 GB | 25 GB | $39/mo (90 days free) | Yes |
| Pro | 8 GB | 60 GB | $79/mo (90 days free) | Yes |
| Business | 16 GB | 120 GB | $149/mo (90 days free) | Yes |
| Scale | 32 GB | 250 GB | $299/mo | Yes |
| Power | 64 GB | 500 GB | $599/mo | Yes |
| HC-32 → HC-64 | 128–256 GB | 1–2 TB | $1,199–$2,399/mo | Yes |
The jump from free to paid is Plus at $39/month — with 90 days free. That gives you 4 GB RAM, 25 GB SSD, always-on, and immediately upgrades your org tier so every project gets more free instances.
Who This Is For
Solo developers. Deploy your side project, portfolio, or MVP with a database. Free. Custom domain. SSL. AI code review. Push to deploy.
Startups. Run your development and staging environments on free instances. Add a Pro ($79, 90 days free) for production. Your 5-person team uses the platform for free — Git, tasks, deploys, monitoring, docs. Compare to $400/month across GitHub + Jira + Vercel + database host + Datadog.
Agencies. Create a project per client. Most client sites run on free instances with a custom domain. Larger clients upgrade to Plus or Pro for always-on. Invite client stakeholders to their project board for free. Fifteen developers, twelve clients — all free.
Open-source projects. Host your project, track issues, deploy documentation sites, and give contributors AI-reviewed PRs. Free. Apply for our Open Source Partner program for additional instance credits and a free Team plan.
Students and educators. Learn real-world dev workflows — Git, pull requests, CI/CD, databases, monitoring — on a platform that doesn't expire after 30 days. Apply for our Education Partner program for free Team plans and instance credits.
Try It Right Now
No pitch. No "schedule a demo." No "talk to sales."
- Go to monkeys.cloud
- Sign up (GitHub or Google, 10 seconds)
- Create a project, select your stack
- Push your code
- You have a live URL with a database
The worst that happens is you deploy a project for free and decide it's not for you.
The best that happens is you replace five tools with one and never context-switch again.
FAQ for the Skeptics
"How do you make money if the servers are free?"
The free instances are small (1–2 GB) and sleep when idle. They cost us very little to run on shared infrastructure. When your project needs always-on production hosting with dedicated compute and more resources, you add paid instances starting at $39/month with 65–79% gross margins. The free tier is the acquisition funnel. The paid tier is the business.
"What's the catch?"
Free instances sleep after 30 minutes. That means a 3–5 second wake time on the first request after sleeping. For production sites where every millisecond matters, you upgrade to a paid always-on instance. For everything else — dev, staging, demos, internal tools, side projects, client previews — the sleep/wake cycle is fine.
"Will the free tier disappear?"
We reserve the right to modify free tier limits with 30 days' notice (see our Terms). We have no plans to remove the free tier — it's our primary acquisition channel and the core of our growth model. But we're honest: we don't use the phrase "free forever" because we can't predict the future. What we can say is that the free tier is fundamental to how MonkeysCloud works, and removing it would require fundamentally changing the business.
"How is this different from Railway/Render/Heroku?"
Railway gives you a 30-day trial with $5 credit — then you pay per minute. Render's free tier sleeps after 15 minutes with 750 hours/month. Heroku eliminated free dynos entirely. None of them include Git hosting, task management, AI code review, documentation, or monitoring. MonkeysCloud gives you all of that — plus 4 free instances per project — in one integrated platform.
"How is this different from Vercel/Netlify?"
Vercel and Netlify are frontend-first. They deploy React, Next.js, and static sites. They don't host PHP, Python, Go, Ruby, Java, or Rust backends. They don't run MySQL, PostgreSQL, or Redis. They don't have task management or AI code review. MonkeysCloud is full-stack — 32 frameworks, real databases, real backend hosting.
"Can I actually run a production site on the free tier?"
If your site gets intermittent traffic and a 3–5 second wake time is acceptable, yes. Many blogs, portfolios, documentation sites, internal tools, and low-traffic client sites run fine on free instances with a custom domain and SSL. For high-traffic production with instant response, upgrade to Plus ($39/mo, 90 days free).
I'm Jorge, the founder of MonkeysCloud. I built this because I was tired of paying $400/month for five tools that didn't talk to each other. Now I'm giving away free servers to every developer who wants to ship faster. Questions, feedback, or roasts — drop them in the comments. I read every one.
Top comments (0)