There are numerous cloud platforms where you can host your Web App for free or almost free. Here I will give an overview of some hosting solutions: Heroku, Amazon AWS, OpenShift, AppFog, DigitalOcean.

Platforms

  • Heroku - 1 free instance per app. Probably unlimited apps. Instance is limited to one port
  • OpenShift - 3 free small instances per account. Instance is limited but not as much as Heroku.
  • AppFog - No free plans, plans start from 20$/mo
  • Amazon AWS - Free for 1 year, Instance is a VM
  • DigitalOcean - Virtual machines

Additional Instance pricing

  • 1x / 2x is amount of CPU
  • 512MB is amount of RAM
  • If not noted, price is per hour
Platform 1x512MB 2x512MB 1x1GB 2x1GB 4x2GB
Heroku 0.05$ - - 0.10$ -
OpenShift 0.02$ 0.025$ - 0.05$ 0.10$
AWS - - 0.013$ - -
DO /h 0.007$ - 0.015$ - 0.06$
DO /mo 5$/mo - 10$/mo - 40$/mo

Bigger plans:

Platform 2x8GB 4x8GB
AWS 0.14$ 0.232$
DO /h - 0.119$
DO /mo - 80$/mo

Other

| Platform | Storage | Traffic | SSL | |———-|———|———|—–| |Heroku |as addon | ? |- | |OpenShift | 1GB | ? |+ | |AWS |as addon | ? |+ | |DO | 20GB | 1TB |+ |

Deployment

  • Heroku - super easy - git push heroku master
  • OpenShift - more choises, needs configuration
  • Amazon AWS - DIY
  • DigitalOcean - DIY