Render

What it is for

Render is a hosted app-and-datastore desk: you open Projects, and Hobby is $0 / month + compute. Use it when the job is web services and a Postgres you start at $0, not when you need a $20 chat seat.

What makes it unique: the cover is the official Render dashboard (Docs Samples, Main Platform / Experimental projects, Ungrouped Services table with site-frontend, my-db, my-cron-job) from the docs still — not a pricing card. The table itself is ops of Services. Render bills a workspace tile + compute, not a chat seat.

Key features

• Projects / services — the workspace list on the cover (dashboard still; docs). One project. Cover Active (4) / Suspended and the service table are ops of this.
• Web services — a repo you deploy as HTTP (pricing; docs). A service, not a project. Free $0 / month 512 MB; paid sizes start $7 / month. Cover site-frontend / site-backend sit here.
• Postgres — a managed database (pricing Postgres). A datastore, not a web service. Free $0 / month 256 MB; paid sizes start $6 / month. Cover my-db is this row. Expandable storage $0.30 / GB.
• Cron jobs — a scheduled command (cover my-cron-job; docs). A schedule, not a web service. Live cron logs print on paid compute.
• Blueprints / env groups — the IaC + shared-env path on the cover nav (docs). A blueprint, not a cron. Isolated environments on Pro sit here.

Private services and previews are options of Services. Billing and the New menu are ops. Agent helpers are generate-on-Services.

Who it's for

Best fit: teams who will stay on Hobby at $0 / month + the free 512 MB web service while they deploy a first project, then buy Pro at $25 / month when they need unlimited seats and full-stack previews.

Pricing

Verified 2026-10-23 (Asia/Shanghai) from render.com/pricing. Workspace tiles print Hobby $0 / mo + compute / Pro $25 / mo + compute / Scale $499 / mo + compute / Enterprise Custom.

• Hobby — $0 / month + compute. Deploy up to 25 services. 5 GB bandwidth. Single-service previews.
• Pro — $25 / month + compute. Unlimited seats / services. 25 GB bandwidth. Full-stack previews, autoscaling, isolated environments.
• Scale — $499 / month + compute. 1 TB bandwidth. SAML / SCIM / HIPAA workspace lines.
• Enterprise — Custom. SLAs. Do not invent an Enterprise dollar.
• Compute examples — web service free $0 / month 512 MB; $7 / month 512 MB; $25 / month 2 GB. Postgres free $0 / month 256 MB; $6 / month 256 MB; $19 / month 1 GB. SSDs $0.25 / GB / month (web); Postgres storage $0.30 / GB.

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Limitations / costs

• Hobby $0 is the workspace tile, not unlimited RAM. A production 2 GB web service is $25 / month compute on top.
• Free Postgres is 256 MB. A real app usually wants a paid size.
• A PaaS desk, not a Kubernetes control plane. For Railway’s usage tiles see Railway. For Northflank’s workloads see Northflank.

Alternatives

• Railway — usage-based PaaS when you want Railway’s credit tiles, not Render’s $0 / $25 / $499 workspace ladder.
• Northflank — workloads + addons when you want Northflank’s GPU/job desk, not Render Projects.
• Coolify — self-host PaaS when you want a $0 VPS panel, not Render Cloud.

Official tutorial

Official Render channel video: Why Render is the fastest path to production (oEmbed author: Render). First-party product intro; the docs dashboard still is the cover.

Written path: render.com/pricing plus the dashboard still.

Website

https://render.com

Repository

https://github.com/render-oss

Source

Catalog row curated for AI Tools Nav. Cover is the official Render Projects dashboard from the docs still. Dollars checked on render.com/pricing (Hobby $0/mo; Pro $25/mo; Scale $499/mo; web compute from $0 / $7; Postgres from $0 / $6). Tutorial oEmbed author: Render.

Last verified

2026-10-23 (Asia/Shanghai) editorial check.