Free Tier Services Directory: Difference between revisions

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Free Tier Services Directory: import from free-for.dev snapshot 2026-09-07
 
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== Free Tier Services Directory ==
== Free Tier Services Directory ==
A directory of hosted software and infrastructure services that offer a genuine free tier, organised by what they do. It is meant for small organisations, independent projects and anyone building without a budget, for whom knowing which tools are free to start on is a practical part of not being locked to a single large vendor.
A directory of hosted services that are free to start on, organised by what a small organisation actually needs to do: put a site online, send email, collect responses, store files, add AI, measure what is happening, and keep the plumbing between them working.


This is a curated subset of [https://free-for.dev/ free-for.dev], covering the ten sections most relevant to ALT-TEXT's work: 437 services in total, snapshotted on 7 September 2026.
Everything listed has a standing free tier rather than a trial. 437 services across ten subject pages.
 
Free tiers are not charity. They are the top of a pricing funnel, and the allowance is set where it stops being cheap for the provider and starts being expensive for you. That is fine, and often the right trade for a small organisation, but it is worth knowing which of these you could leave if the terms changed. The open-source and self-hostable entries are the ones where that answer is easiest.


=== Sections ===
=== Sections ===
* [[Free tier: Generative AI]] — 21 services. Model APIs, image and audio generation, inference platforms.
* [[Free tier: Websites and publishing]] — 40 services. Hosting, content management, publishing tools.
* [[Free tier: APIs, data and machine learning]] — 150 services. Public and freemium APIs, datasets, speech, vision and model hosting.
* [[Free tier: Email]] — 72 services. Sending, newsletters, forwarding, testing, validation.
* [[Free tier: Email services]] — 73 services. Transactional and bulk sending, forwarding, inbox testing, validation.
* [[Free tier: Images, video and files]] — 56 services. Storage, sharing, image CDNs, media processing.
* [[Free tier: Storage and media processing]] — 50 services. Object storage, file delivery, image, audio and video processing.
* [[Free tier: Data sources and reference APIs]] — 56 services. Location, reference data, news, markets, weather.
* [[Free tier: Forms and surveys]] — 34 services. Form builders and back-ends that accept submissions without a server.
* [[Free tier: Developer tooling]] — 55 services. API clients, mocks, webhooks, scraping, JSON and SQL tools.
* [[Free tier: Analytics and statistics]] — 34 services. Web and product analytics, including privacy-preserving alternatives.
* [[Free tier: Measuring without surveilling]] — 39 services. Analytics, with the privacy-preserving options first, and consent tooling.
* [[Free tier: Design and user interface tools]] — 33 services. Design tools, icons, illustrations, colour and UI resources.
* [[Free tier: Forms and surveys]] — 35 services. Form back ends, hosted builders, surveys, signatures.
* [[Free tier: Web hosting]] — 25 services. Static and application hosting.
* [[Free tier: AI tools and services]] — 33 services. Model access, evaluation and observability, notebooks.
* [[Free tier: Content management systems]] — 12 services. Hosted and headless content management.
* [[Free tier: Design and visual assets]] — 33 services. Design tools, page builders, icons, templates.
* [[Free tier: Privacy management]] — 5 services. Consent management, cookie banners, privacy policy tooling.
* [[Free tier: Documents and PDFs]] — 18 services. Generating documents, and extracting data from them.
 
=== What is and is not listed ===
The upstream list admits only as-a-service offerings with a real free tier. Free trials do not qualify, nor does self-hosted software, and a time-limited free tier must run for at least a year. Services that restrict TLS to paid plans are excluded on security grounds.


The sections not mirrored here cover ground further from ALT-TEXT's remit, including CI and CD, artifact repositories, log management, package build systems and remote desktop tools. The [https://free-for.dev/ full list] has 57 sections and about 1,300 entries.
=== How to read this ===
An entry here is not a recommendation. The free allowance quoted is what the provider advertised when the page was compiled, and providers change it without notice, usually downwards. Where a service is open source or self-hostable that is stated, because it changes what happens to you if the free tier disappears.


=== Source, currency and attribution ===
Free tiers also differ in what they cost you in other currencies. Some are paid for with your visitors' data, some with branding on your pages, some with a lock-in that gets expensive at the point you outgrow the tier. Those are noted where they are known.
All entries and their descriptions come from [https://free-for.dev/ free-for.dev], a list maintained by R.I. Pienaar and more than 1,600 contributors at [https://github.com/ripienaar/free-for-dev ripienaar/free-for-dev]. This directory reproduces their work with light formatting changes only; it adds no independent assessment.


Free tiers change constantly, and nothing here has been verified against the providers. Treat this as a starting point and check the linked service before relying on any allowance. For the current state of the list, go to the source.
=== Currency ===
Compiled September 2026. Nothing here has been independently verified against the providers. Check before relying on any of it, and treat an old page as a starting point for searching rather than as an answer.


=== See also ===
=== See also ===
[[Digital sovereignty]], [[Open-weight model]], [[AI Terminology Glossary]]
[[Digital sovereignty]], [[Open-weight model]], [[Surveillance capitalism]], [[AI Terminology Glossary]]


[[Category:Free Tier Services]]
[[Category:Free Tier Services]]
[[Category:Digital Sovereignty]]
[[Category:Digital Sovereignty]]

Latest revision as of 05:59, 8 September 2026

Free Tier Services Directory

A directory of hosted services that are free to start on, organised by what a small organisation actually needs to do: put a site online, send email, collect responses, store files, add AI, measure what is happening, and keep the plumbing between them working.

Everything listed has a standing free tier rather than a trial. 437 services across ten subject pages.

Free tiers are not charity. They are the top of a pricing funnel, and the allowance is set where it stops being cheap for the provider and starts being expensive for you. That is fine, and often the right trade for a small organisation, but it is worth knowing which of these you could leave if the terms changed. The open-source and self-hostable entries are the ones where that answer is easiest.

Sections

How to read this

An entry here is not a recommendation. The free allowance quoted is what the provider advertised when the page was compiled, and providers change it without notice, usually downwards. Where a service is open source or self-hostable that is stated, because it changes what happens to you if the free tier disappears.

Free tiers also differ in what they cost you in other currencies. Some are paid for with your visitors' data, some with branding on your pages, some with a lock-in that gets expensive at the point you outgrow the tier. Those are noted where they are known.

Currency

Compiled September 2026. Nothing here has been independently verified against the providers. Check before relying on any of it, and treat an old page as a starting point for searching rather than as an answer.

See also

Digital sovereignty, Open-weight model, Surveillance capitalism, AI Terminology Glossary

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