Free database hosting
Free database hosting with no expiry date
Host 9 database engines for $0, including PostgreSQL, Redis, MariaDB, and SQLite. 2 databases, 5 GB, TLS, and a web console, with no credit card and no trial that runs out.
Engines
Every engine on the free plan
Pick any two. Each page covers what that engine gets on Free, how it behaves when idle, and how to connect to it.
MySQL and FerretDB start on Solo at $5 a month. The rest, including the analytics, search, and vector engines, start on Pro at $15.
What Free includes
What you get, and where the line is
Free databases cost almost nothing to keep while they sleep, which is why this plan can stay free without an end date.
No card, no trial clock
Free is $0 a month and stays that way. There is no 30-day countdown, no credit balance that runs out, and no card on file to charge later.
Real engines over their own protocols
2 databases with 5 GB of storage between them, up to 20 concurrent connections, and TLS on every one. psql, redis-cli, mysql2, Prisma, and Drizzle connect the way they always do.
Sleeps when idle, wakes on connect
A free database hibernates after 15 minutes with no connections (30 for MariaDB). The next connection starts it again, usually in one to five seconds, with no button to press. MariaDB starts more slowly, so give its clients a 30-second connect timeout and a retry.
Long idle archives, it does not delete
A free database left asleep for 14 days is archived (7 if you never connected to it). The data and the most recent backup are kept, and Restore brings it back.
More detail on sleep, wake, and archive in how serverless works here and the database lifecycle docs.
FAQ
Free database hosting questions
Is there really a free database hosting plan with no expiry?
Yes. The Free plan is $0 with no credit card and no end date: 2 databases, 5 GB of storage, up to 20 connections, and 1 instant branch per database. What it does instead of expiring is sleep when idle and archive after 14 idle days, and an archived database comes back with one Restore click.
Which databases can I host for free?
PostgreSQL, MariaDB, SQLite, DuckDB, libSQL, Valkey, Redis, TypeDB, DocumentDB. Each one is the real engine, not an emulation layer, and the 2 database slots can be any mix of them, including two of the same engine.
Is there free MySQL or MongoDB hosting?
MySQL starts on Solo at $5 a month, but MariaDB is on Free and speaks the MySQL wire protocol, so mysql2, Prisma, and Drizzle connect to it unchanged. For MongoDB, DocumentDB is on Free and accepts MongoDB drivers.
Free MariaDB hostingCan I keep a free database awake all the time?
No. Always-on is what the paid plans sell. A free database has to spend at least 25% of every rolling 7-day window asleep, so an uptime pinger that keeps it awake around the clock breaks the rules. Solo at $5 a month lets you pin one database always-on.
Read the acceptable use policyIs the free tier good enough for production?
For a side project, a prototype, a staging copy, or an internal tool with light traffic, yes. For an app whose users notice a slow first request after a quiet period, no: the wake-up delay lands on whoever connects first. That is the point to move to a paid plan, where idle databases wait 6 hours before sleeping and one can be pinned awake.
How does this compare with other free database tiers?
Some free tiers sleep the way this one does, some pause until a person clicks Resume, and some delete the database on a calendar date no matter how much it is used. The comparison post walks through each vendor with its current limits.
Free database tiers that sleep, pause, or expireStart free, upgrade when it matters
Solo is $5 a month and keeps one database awake. Pro is $15 a month for up to 10 databases.