[Review · Static / JAMstack Hosting]

RenderIndie

Static sites free, paid backend without the AWS tax

[01] Verdict

Render static sites are free — unlimited bandwidth on Cloudflare-backed CDN, custom domains, free SSL, and Git deploys. Paid plans only kick in when you add a Web Service, background worker, or Postgres database. Starter web service is $7/month.

The pitch is post-Heroku: a unified dashboard for static, web services, cron, Postgres, Redis, and private services. No AWS console, no IAM, no separate billing for each component. Build pipelines are good, zero-downtime deploys are standard.

Downsides: cold starts on free web services are slow (the static side doesn't have this issue), Postgres backups on lower tiers are limited, and during major Render incidents the status page lags. Limited region selection compared to AWS/GCP — mostly US/EU.

[02]

What works, what doesn't.

8 findings
+ Pros
  • Truly free static hosting, no metered bandwidth
  • Backend services with no AWS complexity
  • Independent, no PE/big-cloud parent
  • Unified billing across static/services/DB
– Cons
  • Cold starts on free web services are slow
  • Limited region selection (mostly US/EU)
  • Postgres backup retention thin on lower tiers
  • Status page sometimes lags real incidents
[03]

Pricing receipts.

Published rate
Monthly
Free/ mo
Intro price
Yearly
Free/ yr
First-year intro
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[04]

Closest alternatives.

jamstacks
CDN-first static hosting, pennies per GB
Free static hosting on the world's biggest code host