When your free tier falls asleep
Supabase pauses, Render spins down, Fly autostops. Why hosts put idle projects to sleep, and how to keep a side project awake without paying.
Fly.io machine keeps stopping: auto_stop_machines explained
New Fly.io apps auto-stop idle machines by default. Here's why it happens, the fly.toml settings for always-on, suspend and background workers, and how to know your scheduled jobs still run.
MongoDB Atlas cluster paused: why it happens and how to stop it
Atlas pauses a Free cluster after 30 days with no connections, and your app just starts failing. Here's how to resume it, the version catch that can block a resume, and how to keep it from happening again.
Upstash Redis database archived: why it happened and how to restore it
Upstash archives a free Redis database after a month of no use, and your app's calls start failing. Your data is backed up. Here's how to restore it and keep it from happening again.
How to keep a free backend awake
Free tiers sleep when idle: Supabase pauses, Render spins down, Neon scales to zero. Here's the map — how each host sleeps, why keep-alive pings have a catch, and what actually keeps a free app responsive.
How to stop Render spinning down your free service
Fifteen idle minutes and your free service is asleep; the next visitor waits through the cold start. Here's why keep-warm pings have a catch, and what actually keeps a free app responsive.
How to keep a Railway app awake
Railway retired its free tier and added opt-in App Sleeping. Here's what actually happens to an idle service now, how to keep one awake without cancelling out the savings, and why a keep-alive ping can't warn you when it dies.
How to stop Neon autosuspending your database
Neon scales your compute to zero after a few idle minutes, and the next query wakes it. Here's what Scale to Zero does, why the fix depends on whether latency or a surprise bill is your real problem, and how to keep it warm safely.
Why is my website slow the first time I open it?
Slow the first time, instant after? Your site probably isn't slow — it was asleep. Free hosting pauses an idle app and takes seconds to wake it. Here's why it happens, which hosts do it, and your three options.
Why Supabase pauses your project — and how to stop it happening again
The pause always lands when you've stopped watching. Here's the real mechanic behind it, the 90-day deadline nobody mentions, and why most keep-alive scripts quietly stop working.