The pricing page says free services never sleep, though compute is limited. Northflank deploys apps, databases and scheduled jobs from a Git repo or a Docker image, on its own cloud or on your AWS, GCP or Azure account. The free Sandbox tier includes 2 free services, 1 free database and 2 free cron jobs, and the pricing page says the compute is always on with no sleeping. Pay-as-you-go starts at $0 a month and bills to the second, with the smallest plan at $2.70 a month. G2 reviewers praise ease of use and support, an HN commenter said they run a Rails app in the free project, and a Reddit comparison calls it more expensive with a steeper learning curve than simpler hosts. It is built for developers, so expect some Docker and cloud concepts.
Free tier quotas
Services
2 free services
Database
1 free database
Cron jobs
2 free cron jobs
Uptime
Always-on compute with no sleeping, per the pricing page
Projects
2 projects, with limited compute on the free tier
Included on all plans
Free SSL and custom domains, Git builds, buildpacks and Dockerfiles, logs and metrics, secret management
Support
Best-effort support on the free tier
Last sniffed Oct 10, 2026. Always confirm on the official pricing page.
👍 Good boy
+The free Sandbox keeps services always on with no sleeping, which is rare among free hosts.
+G2 summaries say users praise ease of use and excellent support, and that it simplifies deploying and managing applications.
+An HN commenter said they run a Rails app in the free project, limited to two services and two jobs, and found pricing very reasonable for a Go app in a paid project.
+Another HN commenter running Northflank on their own AWS account said they are happy with the blend of ease of use and configurability.
+Pay-as-you-go bills to the second with no seat fees and teams included, per the pricing page.
👎 Watch out
−It is aimed at developers. The pricing page talks about Dockerfiles, buildpacks, Kubernetes and vCPUs, which is more than a first-time app builder needs.
−A r/devops poster described Northflank as more expensive with a steeper learning curve and an external party involved, when compared with a simple Docker host.
−The free tier is small: 2 services, 1 database, 2 jobs and limited compute, and support is best effort.
−Trustpilot shows only 6 reviews at a 3.4 rating, so public sentiment data is thin.
−Capterra lists the product with no free trial and no free version, which conflicts with the Sandbox tier on Northflank's own page. Treat the vendor page as the source for the free tier.
The catch
The free tier is for trying the platform, with 2 services, 1 database and 2 jobs. Once you need more, you move to pay-as-you-go, where CPU is $0.01667 per vCPU per hour, memory is $0.00833 per GB per hour, network egress is $0.06 per GB and disk is $0.15 per GB a month.
The pricing FAQ says that when you enter a card it is only verified and charged at the end of the billing cycle. It does not say whether the Sandbox tier needs a card, so card requirement is unknown.
Northflank is a general container platform. If you want the simplest path for a first site, a static host is easier. Northflank makes sense when you need an app, a database and a cron job together.
What’s included
✓Deploy from Git or Docker images
✓Buildpacks and custom Dockerfiles
✓GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket
✓Managed databases and queues
✓Cron jobs
✓Preview environments and pipelines
✓Free SSL and custom domains
✓Logs and metrics
✓Bring your own cloud
✓Billing to the second
Free tier value
Generosity
B
Estimated value
2 always-on services, 1 database and 2 cron jobs free
Feature parity
Sandbox: 2 projects, 2 services, 2 jobs, 1 addon, limited compute. Pay as you go from $0 a month.
Screenshots
HomepagePricing page
Paid plans
Pay-as-you-go, from $0 per month
Unlimited services, jobs and addons, billed by use to the second. CPU $0.01667 per vCPU hour, memory $0.00833 per GB hour, egress $0.06 per GB, SSD $0.15 per GB a month.
Smallest compute plan, $2.70 per month
nf-compute-10 gives 0.1 shared vCPU and 256MB memory per container.
Enterprise, custom
SSO, audit logs, global backups, HA and DR, SLA and a managed control plane in your VPC.
Common questions
Does Northflank have a free tier?
Yes. The Sandbox tier has 2 free services, 1 free database and 2 free cron jobs, with always-on compute.
Do free services sleep?
The pricing page says always-on compute, no sleeping.
Am I charged when I enter a card?
No. The FAQ says a card is only verified and is charged at the end of the billing cycle.
Is it good for beginners?
It is aimed at developers. Reviewers mention a steeper learning curve than simpler hosts.
Change history
Checked October 22, 2026
Free tier and pricing read from the Northflank pricing page. Review evidence from G2, Hacker News, Reddit and Capterra excerpts. Card requirement and commercial use left as unknown.
