Free Tier Guides
Practical tutorials on getting the most out of free web dev tools — use cases, comparisons, and setup walkthroughs.
Beginner's Guide to Fly.io: Getting Started in 2026
Fly.io getting started guide for 2026. Learn what replaced the free tier, how to evaluate the trial, deploy cheaply, and when Render or Koyeb are better picks.
Beginner's Guide to Cloudflare Turnstile 2026
How to add Cloudflare Turnstile to your website — a free, CAPTCHA-free bot verification widget. Setup steps, free-tier limits, and honest review inside.
TiDB Cloud Starter Free Tier: 2026 Beginner's Guide
Get started with TiDB Cloud's free Starter tier in 2026. Sign up without a credit card, create your first MySQL-compatible database, and connect in minutes.
Beginner's Guide to CockroachDB's Free Tier (2026)
Getting started with CockroachDB's free tier is simple: create a Basic cluster in minutes, connect PostgreSQL tools, and ship your app without a credit card.
Beginner's Guide to Ably: Getting Started in 2026
Learn how to use Ably's free tier for realtime messaging in this beginner's guide, covering setup steps, usage limits, and your first project.
Beginner's Guide to UptimeRobot: Getting Started in 2026
UptimeRobot for beginners — learn how to get started with free uptime monitoring, downtime alerts, and status pages so you can launch your first project today.
Beginner's Guide to Qdrant: Getting Started in 2026
Qdrant getting started for beginners: a no-fluff guide to the free vector search engine's real limits and first steps so you can build a RAG app today.
Beginner's Guide to Pipedream: Getting Started in 2026
How to get started with Pipedream for beginners — build your first free workflow connecting your apps by the end of this guide. Start automating today.
Beginner's Guide to Auth0: Getting Started in 2026
Auth0 getting started for beginners: how to set up authentication, what the free tier includes, and how to avoid the setup mistakes most beginners make.
Best Free AI API 2026: 6 Picks Compared
We compared the best free AI APIs for indie hackers in 2026, covering limits and card requirements so you can pick the right provider without surprises.
Beginner's Guide to Cloudinary: Getting Started in 2026
Cloudinary for beginners: how to get started with its free tier in 2026, upload images, and deliver optimized media without spending a dime on your stack.
Beginner's Guide to OpenRouter: Getting Started in 2026
OpenRouter API getting started guide for beginners: sign up, grab a free API key, and call hundreds of AI models through one endpoint to build your first app.
Beginner's Guide to Backblaze B2: Getting Started in 2026
Learn how to get started with Backblaze B2 for beginners — free tier limits, real prices, copy-paste commands, and honest gotchas for indie hackers in 2026.
Beginner's Guide to Google Gemini API 2026
How to get started with Google Gemini API for beginners: sign up without a credit card, install the SDK, and build your first AI app on the free tier.
Beginner's Guide to Hugging Face Spaces 2026
Hugging Face Spaces getting started for beginners: deploy a free Gradio app with ZeroGPU, no credit card required, and learn the 2026 free tier limits.
Beginner's Guide to Clerk: Getting Started in 2026
New to auth? This beginner's guide to getting started with Clerk covers the free tier, what it includes, and how to wire up your first app quickly in 2026.
Beginner's Guide to Cloudflare Workers: Getting Started in 2026
Cloudflare Workers free tier, explained: deploy serverless APIs, cron jobs, and full backends at zero cost with no credit card. Real limits, docs-verified.
Best Free Database 2026: Real Limits Compared
Best free database for indie hackers: we compare real free tier limits across five top options so you can pick the right one without surprises, every time.
Beginner's Guide to Resend: Getting Started in 2026
Resend and getting started for beginners: learn how to send transactional email with Resend's free tier, verify your domain, and avoid common pitfalls.
Beginner's Guide to Algolia: Getting Started in 2026
How to add search to a website with Algolia: sign up for the free plan, index your records, and ship instant typo-tolerant search without a credit card.
Best Free Web Hosting 2026: Real Limits Compared
A data-first comparison of free hosting tiers for indie hackers, covering real bandwidth, build, and database limits so you can pick without a surprise bill.
Beginner's Guide to Netlify: Getting Started in 2026
How to get started with Netlify for beginners: a practical tour of the free plan — sign up, deploy your first site, and learn how the new credit system works.
Beginner's Guide to Deno Deploy: Getting Started in 2026
Deno Deploy for beginners: a step-by-step guide to the free tier, from your first deployment to Deno KV, custom domains, and what happens when limits run out.
Beginner's Guide to Supabase: Getting Started in 2026
New to Supabase? This beginner's guide to getting started with Supabase covers the free tier, core features, and first steps—then shows you where to go next.
Beginner's Guide to Firebase Hosting 2026
How to get started with Firebase Hosting for beginners — deploy your first site on the free Spark plan and avoid the setup mistakes most beginners make.
Beginner's Guide to Render: Getting Started in 2026
Learn how to get started with Render for beginners — deploy static sites and web services from Git for free, connect a free database, and avoid setup mistakes.
Beginner's Guide to Neon: Getting Started in 2026
Neon Postgres getting started guide for beginners — sign up for a serverless database, connect with a connection string, and build your first project today.
Beginner's Guide to Groq: Getting Started in 2026
Groq API getting started guide for beginners: sign up for a free API key, install the Python SDK, and ship your first lightning-fast AI app in minutes.
Beginner's Guide to Cloudflare Pages 2026
Cloudflare Pages for beginners — learn how to deploy a static site for free with no credit card, unlimited bandwidth, and automatic SSL certificates.
Beginner's Guide to MongoDB Atlas: Getting Started in 2026
Learn how to get started with MongoDB Atlas for beginners — create your first free cloud database cluster without a credit card, and start building today.
Beginner's Guide to Tally: Getting Started in 2026
Tally getting started guide for beginners: build unlimited free forms with conditional logic and payments, collect responses without a paywall. Start today.
Beginner's Guide to Vercel: Getting Started in 2026
Vercel getting started guide for beginners — deploy your first site on the free Hobby plan and connect a custom domain without touching a server. Ship today.
Beginner's Guide to Sentry: Getting Started in 2026
Sentry getting started guide for beginners — set up error monitoring and tracing on the free tier to catch issues before your users do. Ship with confidence.
Grafana Cloud Free Tier: The Most Generous Forever-Free Observability Stack in 2026
Grafana Cloud's free tier in 2026: 10,000 metric series, 50 GB logs, 50 GB traces, k6, and synthetic monitoring at $0. Setup guide, limits, and use cases.
Meilisearch Free Tier Guide 2026: Add Lightning-Fast Search to Your App for Free
Complete guide to Meilisearch's free tier — self-hosted open-source search with unlimited documents, typo tolerance, and AI-powered hybrid search. Setup tutorial included.
Koyeb Free Tier 2026: Deploy Full-Stack Apps on a Generous Forever-Free PaaS
Koyeb offers a genuine free tier with 512MB RAM, 0.1 vCPU, 2GB SSD, and free managed Postgres — no credit card, no trial expiry. Learn how to deploy Express, Next.js, or Docker apps globally for free.
Turso Free Tier 2026 — SQLite at the Edge with 100 Free Databases
Turso's 2026 free tier: 100 databases, 5GB storage, 500M reads, 10M writes per month. Embedded replicas, Drizzle ORM setup, and comparison with Neon/Supabase.
Upstash Free Tier: Serverless Redis, Message Queues, and Vector Search for $0
Upstash's permanent free tier gives you serverless Redis (500K commands/mo), QStash message queues (1K/day), and Vector search (10K reqs/day). Complete setup guide with Next.js code examples.
Resend Free Tier — Best Use Cases, Setup Guide & Alternatives
A practical walkthrough of Resend's free tier: limits, setup with code examples, best use cases, and how it stacks up against SendGrid, Postmark, and Mailgun.
Clerk Free Tier — Best Use Cases, Setup Guide & Alternatives (50K MRU in 2026)
Clerk's free tier now offers 50K monthly retained users, 100 orgs, social login, and MFA. Learn setup, use cases, and how it compares to Auth0, Kinde, and Supabase Auth.
Better Stack Free Tier 2026 — Uptime Monitoring, Status Pages, and Incident Management for $0
Better Stack's 2026 free tier: 10 monitors, 3-minute checks, a free custom-domain status page, incident management, and bundled logs. Setup guide, UptimeRobot/Checkly comparison, and pro tips.
GitHub Actions Free Tier 2026 — The Complete Guide to CI/CD at Zero Cost
Complete guide to GitHub Actions' free tier: 2,000 min/mo private, unlimited public repos, setup guide, use cases, comparisons to GitLab CI and CircleCI, and pro tips to maximize your allowance.
PostHog Free Tier 2026 — The $0/Month Product Analytics Stack That Competes With $500 Tools
Complete guide to PostHog's 2026 free tier: 1M events/month, 5K session recordings, feature flags, A/B testing, and surveys at no cost. Setup guide, use cases, comparisons, and pro tips included.
Supabase Free Tier — The Complete Developer's Guide for 2026
Learn how to build production-ready apps with Supabase's free tier — 500MB PostgreSQL, auth, realtime, storage, step-by-step setup, comparisons to Firebase and Neon, and expert tips to stay free.
Cloudflare R2 Free Tier: The Complete Guide to Zero-Egress Object Storage
Learn how to use Cloudflare R2's generous free tier — 10GB storage, 10M reads/month, and zero egress fees. Setup guide, use cases, and alternatives compared.
Neon Free Tier — Best Use Cases, Setup Guide & Alternatives
Learn how to build with Neon's free serverless PostgreSQL tier — 500MB storage, branching, CI/CD integration, and a practical step-by-step setup guide.