How to get a Free VPS

Endrit Qerreti

Endrit Qerreti

In this article we will explain what a Free VPS is , how to get a Free VPS, and if it's worth it or not.

What is a Free VPS?

Free VPS means a free server for that's given to you for a period of time, some companies may give you a free vps as a trial to test their services before you decide to move to the paid plan.

This is a known marketing and effective method I'd say, but it also a good thing for you if you are a newbie and want to learn more about VPS and what you can do with it.

So if are not ready to purchase a paid VPS and you don't feel like you need it at the moment, then I suggest you to try the free VPS plans.

Pros

1) It is free, you don't have to pay anything

Some companies may require you to add your credit card, paypal or any other payment method they use so they can charge a small authorization fee in order to prevent bots from abusing their services, furthermore the fee is only an Authorization charge which means they are verifying that is you who is using the card on their service, the fee will be refunded to you in the next few days so there's nothing to worry about.

2) Good for learning/testing

If you want to test and play around with servers then a Free VPS would be the right choice, you have the chance to learn how VPS works, what you can do with VPS and anything else that you may be interested to know about VPS.

What can you do?

1- Host your personal site

2- Use it as Remote Desktop to browse on the internet or use softwares you want

3- Host your favorite apps

Cons

1) Limitations

Server resources are very limited and shared with the other users at the same time, which means slow server, downtimes and you won't be able to experience the full power of the VPS that you've been given.

For example: You won't be able to use more than 5% of the CPU

2) Not suitable for Production Sites/Apps

Free VPS should never be used for business, whether it is small business or not you should never use it for production, especially if the VPS company doesn't allow you to upgrade the current server to a paid one.

Let's say you host your blog on a free VPS, you see that it works perfectly for you and everything seems perfect at first, but once your blog starts receiving more traffic, the free server won't be able to handle the traffic and most likely it will go down.

3)No backups/Data loss

If you will get an server that will work only for 30 days or x amount of days, this means you will have access to your data only during the trial period, after the trial expires your data will be delete from the server.

4) No support - Limited Support

You won't get the support you expect, I mean if something happens to your server or if you will have issues with your server then you will have to solve them by yourself. Now this depends on the company, and i'm not talking about automated responses from support, but help from real people on support, it is a free product so don't expect fast support when you need it.

How to get a VPS for Free?

Below I have listed the most popular and the largest cloud providers in the world from where you can get free credit for signing up and you can use that credit to create your own VPS, some of the providers listed below also offer the "Always free tier" plan, this plan never expires and allows you to use some of their services always for free as long as you don't exceed their limits set for this plan even after the trial expires.

1) AWS

12 months free trial + the Always free tier plan

https://aws.amazon.com/free/

2) Google Cloud

$300 Free credit that you can use for purchasing servers + the free tier program

https://cloud.google.com/free

3) Oracle

$300 free credit that is available for 30 days, after the trial expires you can use the always free tier

https://www.oracle.com/cloud/free/

4) Microsoft Azure

$200 free credit that is available only for 30 days, once trial expires you can still use services offered by them for the next 12 months

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free/

5) Vultr

$100 free credit that you can use to purchase any server you want

https://www.vultr.com/?ref=9015886-8H

💡
Note: All the offers above are valid only for new customers, if you already have an account registered with those providers then you won't be eligible to claim free credits.

Should I use free VPS for production or hosting my blog?

You should never use a free VPS for hosting your business or your site, you don't want to build something on a free server and then having to start from zero again when the trial expires.

Conclusion

By now you should know how to get a free VPS and what pros and cons are when using free VPS.