Best Alternatives To Heroku For hosting a NodeJS app for FREE

I narrowed down the Node.Js hosting platforms I found to be the easiest to use. Both have similar specs on their free tier but note that free tiers usually have some limitations.
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[@RaddyDev]

I am curious about which platform you're going to be using and why?

[@tsreenivas6550]

i am using Cyclic

[@olusegunlight3190]

Cyclic

[@withpikachu2402]

Just using hosting service. Deployment was much harder but it was ok once I did it

[@Sameer.Trivedi]

I hated renders spinning down of projects, When I shared my project people would tell I cannot see anything, so I switched the backend to cyclic.

[@jayedwards7520]

cyclic, unfortunately, doesn't work well with django. I gave it a whirl but it's features just aren't mature enough right now and it doesn't really offer the kind of support for non-NodeJS driven BE. If I have to massively modify my codebase (which runs quite well on render) to drive it on cyclic then it isn't saving me time unfortunately.

[@christopheradolphe]

I recently complete a Node.js course and wanted to build a side project to put the knowledge into practice. However, I was still wondering were I could host my REST API application and your video shows up my YT feed. Many thanks.

[@RaddyDev]

Congrats and good luck with the side project!

[@challapavankumar5929]

thankyou so much bro! i wasted 1 hr on unwanted sites but cyclic worked on 1st time .

[@edutech8909]

Thanks a lot, I was already getting confused on setting up using Render. But this explained really well and has helped me deploy. Thanks a lot! you earned another subscriber ;)

[@RaddyDev]

Glad it helped!

[@olusegunlight3190]

A big thank you!! cyclic worked fine without no issues, was struggling with vercel then stumbled on your video. A big thanks to you bro!

[@RaddyDev]

Glad it helped!

[@splendedspirit8626]

great video man, no one else made any video on cyclic or render

[@RaddyDev]

Glad you liked it!

[@kartikgupta5566]

such amazing content the first pic showing difference between cyclic and render was enough to free my worries, I had previously hosted on render but due to inactivity delay i didn't like it, looks liky cyclic will perform better, thanks saved my time.

[@muhammadmudassirsiddiqui3030]

It is much needed, thanks man

[@RaddyDev]

Happy to help

[@PranavKJha]

This is precisely what I was searching for.

[@iagosilva5064]

great video man, two amazing options

[@ClubDeGanadores1]

thank you so much for helping, had a really hard time with Heroku, It was asking for $$$, New subscriber!

[@RaddyDev]

Glad I could help!

[@MiguelVarona-uj2mm]

Cyclic is not available for new registrations.

[@abhishekT700]

For me thr Render worked I think the Cyclic didnt worked because am using the EJS. Well thanks a lot mate U earned a sub Nice work

[@spliffys303]

I've started to use Netlify which has a free tier. Mainly using this because our company does. Only frustration is the structure of my code needs to change because of how netlify functions work. So there's a little bit of a learning curve but not a bad thing!

[@RaddyDev]

I've head good things about Netlify, I need to try it. The platforms I mentioned are the same... I made a NodeJs project using MongoDB and I had to restructure my code to the way they do it to make it work. Not a big deal as you said

[@swarooppatil10]

Ho brother could u please suggest me some youtube video for hosting Nodejs app on Netlify

[@PRITESHKRSRV]

Hi bro/sis, I have tried many times to host my app.js node js file which includes routes to render html files but after deployment on netlify it always shows 404 error file can't be found. Can you tell me please what changes should I do for proper deployment

[@kush_shah]

Can I deploy site if i am having MySQL database in xampp server?

[@RaddyDev]

Technically yes, but that would be self-hosting from home. Find a cloud database if you want to simplify the process. There are many free ones out there that will save you a lot of time

[@hmr_zz]

Thanks man 🎉 Worth it

[@arjun_vinod]

In my app I've used mongoDB locally (compass). So for hosting on render, how can I upload it to the cloud?

[@RaddyDev]

Get a MongoDB atlas account. If you are just starting out the free tier will work absolutely find for you. I still use the free tier on a couple of projects and I never had to update. Then use the connection string they give you in your application when you deploy on Render. To migrate the data, you can simply export it from compass, and import in MongoDB Atlas. You might have to create the tables manually, but it's easy to do, and then you insert the data

[@srikanthambaldhage5264]

Thank you very much Raddy. What if I want to host a fullstack application with database too. Can you please make one videos on this!

[@dulanjanaabeyrathna]

u can use railway

[@Hacking-NASSA-with-HTML]

Hi! Use Render for that.

[@djibrilm__-]

thanks for the video finally I can deploy something for my portfolio thanks again.

[@Unclear-Reality]

Thanks brother this is amazing video keep posting videos. Great Content

[@RaddyDev]

I appreciate the comment brother

[@udbhavvikramsingh3449]

Much needed 🎉

[@nurhanisdamia7947]

very much needed! thank you TT^TT

[@RaddyDev]

No problem 😊

[@rafaelmacedo7155]

Thank you so much for share with us Bro.

[@RaddyDev]

My pleasure

[@ArushaAscendExpeditions]

Thanks man, This helps a lot

[@RaddyDev]

Glad to hear it!

[@patobeur41]

thx

[@CW91]

Cyclic is no more

[@valenciawalker6498]

Thank you

[@googoochu3923]

Can i host backend with websockets feature in these two servers like heroku or will it lose connection like deploying on vercel?

[@Yash-ko1zh]

Same problem I am also facing , did you got any free site to host?

[@googoochu3923]

@@Yash-ko1zh apparently render supports websockets connection for 5 mins

[@Yash-ko1zh]

@@googoochu3923 Thank you brother

[@harishkumark9010]

render works good for me

[@Shubham_admin]

custom domain is paid in cyclic

[@RaddyDev]

That's a shame. Could try Render, I think that I used a custom domain on a free tier project

[@nguyenhoangnhutanhk16_hcm64]

tks bro

[@HanzMarkPT]

Thank man.

[@maisamhussaintoorie7119]

My project is built with ejs template and the directory of my project looks something like Main Project node_modules/ public (having css only) view (ejs files)/ app.js date.js package.json package-lock.json Question is will this work In such a structure of the project or not because I try to deploy it to firebase and netlify but it failed to show the page. Please 🙏 guide

[@RaddyDev]

You won't be able to deploy a NodeJS project on those platforms. It has nothing to do with your project file structure, but the actual hosting provider. I believe that both Firebase and Netlify are for Static Sites only (JAMSTACK) which means no processing on the server with exception of serverless functions. You'll need a web service provider for NodeJs. The good free ones that I know of are Cyclic sh and Render. The free tiers are great for hobby projects and you can always upgrade if you need to. Luckily most platforms are fairly affordable now. With a budget of ~$5/mo you have a lot of options. Cyclic, Render, Heroku or even build your own VPS. Alternatively you can convert your website to a static website. I hope this helps

[@maisamhussaintoorie7119]

@@RaddyDev So will my project be deployed to cyclic sh accurately with ejs template as you directed in the video?

[@RaddyDev]

@@maisamhussaintoorie7119 EJS will work, but the problem you might face is that everything is counted as a request. If you have 2 images on your site, that's 2 requests gone. You could host your files elsewhere, an example would be Amazon S3 Bucket. Good option if you need a CDN. I don't know the specifics of your project, but a cheap VPS is a good option.

[@iliyalim9943]

does anyone know how to deploy a nodejs app without revealing sensitive data? data inside the dotenv file

[@RaddyDev]

Don't upload your .env file on Github, make sure that your server is secure and try to rotate your keys. Depending on the service you use, you can also restrict the use of the key and add usage limits. If you want to go deep, you could look into AWS Secrets Manager and Google Cloud Secret Manager.

[@sarahahmed2112]

Thanks for the video. I need to deploy my MySQL database to work with the nodejsapp. Do you have recommendations for good mysql hosting platforms? It doesn't have to be completely free, because I know that would mean very low security, but my database isn't huge and I don't need exceptional security - if there's a good cheap option out there I'd like to know.

[@RaddyDev]

If you want to have them in one place, maybe Heroku or Render. Supabase is a popular PostgreSQL option worth exploring

[@shooting4star2023]

Do they support web socket?

[@RaddyDev]

They do. If you google "heroku websockets", they have a good tutorial on how to get started

[@AtaGowani]

Great video! Cyclic is unfortunately shutting down :(

[@RaddyDev]

That's a shame 😔

[@samjacker]

i have a server which is connected with mongodb can this work ?

[@RaddyDev]

You have your own MongoDB server? Yeah it should work as long as something is not blocking the connection

[@samjacker]

@@RaddyDev thank you it works pretty good

[@regd9297]

Is it better to deploy your front and backend separately, or deploy them together ?

[@RaddyDev]

I can't say if it's better or worse, but its more modern to do them separately. Most people use a front end framework like Angular or React and everything is separate.

[@respectculture9959]

how about the database such as sql? where i can host it?

[@RaddyDev]

You could try Supabase. They have a fairly generous free tier. Are you after a free one? You could get a cheap VPS and install whatever you want on it

[@sofiuzzaman-sofi]

I deploy. Its success but not getting live link why?

[@RaddyDev]

There will be one somewhere on your dashboard

[@davidgirgis4130]

cyclic is shutting down

[@RaddyDev]

That's a shame. Render might be the last free good option that I can think of. Oh and Varcel should work

[@leoMC4384]

Site says the limit for free users is 1 app and 10,000 API requests a day. So it's basically useless now.

[@RaddyDev]

The plans where updated recently and it's 10,000/month. It's quite generous, and I believe that the majority of people won't even come close to reaching that limit

[@belfroutcsch9579]

how to add buildpack like heroku?

[@RaddyDev]

I am not sure, you'll have to look up in their docs

[@geekinactionn]

Do I need to have my server in separate project from my frontend stuff?

[@RaddyDev]

It's up to you. You can have them in one folder like that: Project Folder - Server (NodeJs) -- index.js -Client (Something) -- index.html There is also another option, called Monorepo. I just don't know if all platforms have that option when it comes to deployment (possibly)

[@bennyxu1895]

if i update the code on github, will the website get updated as well

[@RaddyDev]

Yeah it will update your website automatically as soon as you push changes

[@rickjosee]

cyclic leaves the code open like replit?

[@RaddyDev]

On the free Cyclic tier you can connect private repository if this is what you mean. So they won't be open on GitHub

[@ItsMiaMuffy3]

Cyclic no longer on :(

[@RaddyDev]

It's a shame that they are closing down :(

[@anyflix131]

I might be late to ask byt can you tell are there any platform like cyclic but more app I can host

[@RaddyDev]

That would be Render dot com

[@fikrialfarizi5454]

Can i use golang ?

[@RaddyDev]

I don't know if you can. I assume not, but have a look around their website, you never know

[@dananjayachathuranga7113]

nodejs Apex legend-Api !!! what is that 🙃

[@gamekentang6273]

Hey this is static or dynamic?

[@RaddyDev]

Dynamic

[@gamekentang6273]

@@RaddyDev why i can't create new data?

[@juancamacho479]

heroku was trash anyways lol, thank you for the alternatives, they seems to be better

[@RaddyDev]

I didn't like that the server would go to sleep after a few min of inactivity. It is the right thing to do, but it was annoying :-D

[@mayankjirao8747]

I love you

[@RaddyDev]

I love you too

[@YIPCS-g4m]

I would like to ask, is it like Heroku, has tinyDB, or connecting mySQL to build up SQL API?

[@RaddyDev]

They are both very similar to Heroku. Cyclic has the option of AWS DynamoDB and Render has the option of PostgreSQL. The Database - Superbase offers a very generous free tier that you can connect to any both of them

[@blackmaxdesigns1523]

Cyclic has been shut down😐

[@souravvashisht7153]

Cyclic Update Only 1 app

[@RaddyDev]

Yeah unfortunately they changed their free tier

[@CREATORSPVTLTD]

Personally, I feel Render is far better than Netlify

[@codefoxx]

I was about to recommend cyclic and that was the first one on your list haha

[@trjoksepha4770]

thnx

[@RaddyDev]

most welcome!

[@muhammadrasul1581]

i have a question regards hosting and its for database, how can i get the data saved in the database to my pc, i want to host my api but the data is very sensitive and i want to save them into my pc when there was a data in the database, another question i have is, i have only made an api and used express js, but i dont have a website services because the whole api is serving in a REST kind of situation, in that case what should i do?

[@RaddyDev]

You can get a local database. You can install MongoDB locally or pretty much any SQL database of your choice. It would be a matter of transferring the data... I don't know your use case to answer the second question. I guess you can create a website and display the data from your API... Why did you create the Rest API? What was the plan behind it?

[@kemalsogut9342]

I receive "This site can’t provide a secure connection" error after a while and also when I try to open the app on other devices. Any suggestion?

[@RaddyDev]

It sounds like an SSL issue. What service did you end up using? Could have a look online to see if anybody else has the same problem

[@ponmuthu..4796]

Great tutorial

[@RaddyDev]

Thank you!

[@samjacker]

talk about vercel !

[@RaddyDev]

That's a good shout. For some reason I only associate Varcel with NextJs and it didn't even cross my mind to try and deploy a NodeJs app

[@nested9301]

shared hosting is great but iwant to know to vps hosting on windows 10 :(

[@RaddyDev]

I have mainly used VPS based on Linux. Never tried Windows... :/

[@khalidmohammedet]

Thank you, It was very useful!

[@hassaanqaisar2074]

Render is not FREE now

[@RaddyDev]

It's free for hobbyist, students and indie hackers. Just checked, no changes here