I'm running into issues with hosting for the backend of my React Native project. I've been using Render, but it only allows hosting one project for free. I've heard that having deployed projects is essential for job applications, but the costs can really add up. I've tried Vercel for front-end hosting, but I'm uncertain about its backend capabilities since it's serverless. When I attempted to switch from Render to Vercel, I encountered JWT errors which I don't fully understand. Are there other platforms that allow hosting multiple projects for free?
5 Answers
The free tier struggle can be real! I suggest checking out Railway.app and Fly.io as they might give you more options for hosting multiple backends compared to Render.
GCP offers an e2-micro VM for free under its free tier, and you can always run multiple backends there. It’s free as long as you stay within certain limits. Other providers like AWS and Azure have similar offers, but they usually only last for 12 months.
You can use Vercel and Cloudflare for free backend hosting. I haven’t used Vercel recently, so I can’t guarantee what’s included in the free plan. With Cloudflare, you can get a lot done on the free tier unless you require queued tasks. If you need to scale up, their plans start at just $5/month, which could suit those showcase projects without consuming too many resources.
Just remember that hosting can be tricky at first, but you'll get the hang of it with practice!
Yeah, I keep running into errors when transitioning from Render to Vercel, mainly because of how it handles serverless requests.
If you want to showcase your work without spending much, consider putting your projects in subdirectories of your main domain, like your-domain.com/project-1/ and your-domain.com/project-2/. This way, you can keep costs low while still having a way to display your projects to potential employers.
If you're looking for a more flexible option, consider a VPS instead of a Platform as a Service (PaaS). Digital Ocean droplets or Netcup work great. I’ve been using Netcup myself without any issues!
That sounds promising! I’ll need to dive deeper into hosting options.
$5 is a lot for me as a student, but I appreciate the suggestion!