Render free tier: 15-minute spin-down and an ephemeral filesystem

TL;DR

Never store user data on disk; use Render Postgres or external storage instead. These limits are per service compute plan, upgrading the workspace plan does not remove them. On Render's free tier, design for two facts: your service WILL sleep after 15 idle minutes (first request after wakes it with ~1 minute of loading page), and anything written to the local filesystem WILL be lost (uploads, SQLite files).

Fix

1. Never store user data on disk; use Render Postgres or external storage instead. Expected: You get the expected result; the problem is gone.

2. These limits are per service compute plan, upgrading the workspace plan does not remove them. Expected: You get the expected result; the problem is gone.

When to use

• You are setting up or using this Render free tier feature.
• The symptom matches: 15-minute spin-down and an ephemeral filesystem.

When NOT to use

• Unrelated Render free tier issues (different feature, different failure).
• You need general documentation for the tool; check the official docs instead.

Compatibility

Reported against Render free tier.

Variant phrasings

15-minute spin-down and an ephemeral filesystem

Why it happens

Official docs (Deploy for Free): documents Free web service limits that bite agents: the service spins down after 15 minutes with no inbound traffic and takes about a minute to spin back up (loading page shown meanwhile). The filesystem is ephemeral: uploads, local SQLite files, anything written at runtime is lost on redeploy, restart, or spin-down. Free web services cannot attach persistent disks. You get 750 free instance hours per month per workspace; exceed them and all free web services are suspended until next month.

Edge cases

• If your error message differs even slightly, this is probably a different issue; search the exact text.
• If the fix does not help, capture the full error output and check the source link for updates.

Source: Official docs (Deploy for Free): documents Free web service limits that bite agents: the service spins down after 15 minutes with no inbound traffic and takes about a minute to spin back up (loading page shown meanwhile). The filesystem is ephemeral: uploads, local SQLite files, anything written at runtime is lost on redeploy, restart, or spin-down. Free web services cannot attach persistent disks. You get 750 free instance hours per month per workspace; exceed them and all free web services are suspended until next month.

Verified resolution: On Render's free tier, design for two facts: your service WILL sleep after 15 idle minutes (first request after wakes it with ~1 minute of loading page), and anything written to the local filesystem WILL be lost (uploads, SQLite files). Never store user data on disk; use Render Postgres or external storage instead. Keep-alive pings burn your 750 monthly free hours faster, so use them deliberately. If everything suddenly stops at month end, you likely exhausted the free hours and services are suspended until the reset. These limits are per service compute plan, upgrading the workspace plan does not remove them.

Source URL: https://docs.render.com/free