With over 1,600 contributors, this GitHub repository has become the go-to reference for discovering real and sustainable free tiers in SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS offerings
In the fast-paced world of system administration and development, finding reliable cloud services with free tiers can be a time-consuming and daunting task. To solve this challenge, the tech community has launched Free-for.dev, a collaborative initiative that centralizes services useful to infrastructure developers — such as system administrators and DevOps practitioners — all of which offer permanent free tiers.
This list does not include self-hosted software or time-limited free trials. It focuses solely on as-a-Service offerings (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, etc.) that provide fully usable and long-term free tiers — at least one year if time-bucketed — and that meet basic security criteria, such as offering TLS encryption even on free plans.
An Organized Index for All Technical Profiles
Hosted on GitHub and maintained through pull requests by a community of over 1,600 contributors, Free-for.dev is organized into more than 70 categories, ranging from major cloud providers with always-free limits to tools for messaging, CI/CD, DNS, analytics, mobile app development, and log management.
Some of the most visited sections include:
- Cloud Management Solutions: Platforms that let you orchestrate, monitor, or manage cloud resources from a unified interface.
- CDN and Protection: Content delivery networks with built-in security and DDoS mitigation.
- Authentication and User Management: Services for handling user login, access control, and identity at scale.
- Monitoring: Tools for observing system health, application performance, and real-time alerts.
- Generative AI: Emerging services in the generative AI space, increasingly part of the modern developer workflow.
Recent Notable Additions
In recent months, the list has grown to include services like:
xcloud.host: A server management and deployment platform with a user-friendly interface. Free tier available for one server.serveravatar.com: A tool for managing PHP-based servers with automated configurations. Free for one server.libreqr.com: An open-source QR code generator focused on privacy, with no tracking or data collection.
These entries join other popular services such as Bitnami, Jamf, RunCloud, and Ploi, all of which offer free tiers tailored for testing, personal projects, or basic deployments.
Strict Inclusion Criteria
What sets Free-for.dev apart is its strict curation standards. The lead maintainer has clearly outlined the following rules:
- Services offering only time-limited free trials are not accepted.
- If a free tier is time-based, it must last at least one year.
- Services that limit core security features like TLS to paid tiers are not accepted.
- Contributions must be relevant to infrastructure development; tools aimed solely at social media marketing or non-technical use cases are excluded.
A Continuously Evolving Resource
Free-for.dev is not a static list but a living project powered by an active technical community. Developers are encouraged to contribute by submitting new entries, updates, or removal requests for services that have changed their offering. Each submission is reviewed to ensure up-to-date and accurate information.
The project is also part of the Track Awesome List ecosystem, a curated network of high-quality topic-specific lists aimed at developers.
Conclusion
In a landscape overflowing with cloud tools and growing cost concerns, Free-for.dev has established itself as an essential resource for any tech professional looking to optimize their stack without upfront costs. With an active community, transparent governance, and clear criteria, this list democratizes access to key technologies for building, testing, and deploying modern infrastructure.
Those interested in exploring the list or contributing can visit the official GitHub repository: https://github.com/ripienaar/free-for-dev
