Free hosting sounds great until your bot goes offline during peak hours. Here's what you actually get at each tier and when upgrading makes sense.
Free Hosting Options
Space-Node Starter (Free)
Space-Node has a free Starter plan for testing:
- 64MB RAM
- 1GB storage
- No credit card required
- No support included
Starter cannot be ordered right now. Even when it is available, free bots are not meant for guaranteed 24/7 uptime, and a bot that stays inactive for a long period can be suspended or removed. 64 MB suits a small test bot; bots with caching or database connections need more RAM.
Replit (Free Tier)
- 1 free published app on the Starter plan
- The published link goes down after 30 days
- The cheapest paid plan, Core, is $20 a month ($18 billed annually)
Oracle Cloud Free Tier
- Arm VM with 2 OCPUs and 12 GB RAM, plus up to two small AMD VMs with 1 GB each
- Requires credit card for signup
- Complex setup for beginners
- Can be reclaimed if "idle"
Railway/Render Free Tiers
- Railway: a one time $5 trial credit for 30 days, then $1 of credit per month on the Free plan
- Render: free web services spin down after 15 minutes without inbound traffic, and a gateway bot receives none
- Good for development, not production
Paid Options
Space-Node Growth (€0.50/month)
- 512MB RAM
- 10GB NVMe storage
- Runs 24/7 with no sleep mode, auto-restart on crash
- Billed €3.00 every 6 months, plus a one time €0.50 setup fee on the 6 month and 1 year terms
Space-Node Pro (€1.00/month)
- 1024MB RAM
- 20GB NVMe storage
- Runs 24/7 with no sleep mode, auto-restart on crash
- Billed €6.00 every 6 months, plus a one time €0.50 setup fee on the 6 month and 1 year terms
VPS (€5-20/month)
- Full server control
- 2-8GB RAM
- Run multiple bots
- Custom runtime environment
What Matters
Uptime
Free services with sleep/wake cycles cause:
- Bot goes offline for minutes at a time
- Commands timeout or fail
- Users lose trust in your bot
- Scheduled tasks miss their windows
Paid bot hosting keeps the process running 24/7. Free plans, Space-Node's Starter included, are not meant for guaranteed 24/7 uptime.
RAM
| Bot Type | Minimum RAM | Comfortable RAM |
|---|---|---|
| Simple utility bot | 50MB | 128MB |
| Music bot (1-5 servers) | 100MB | 256MB |
| Moderation bot (10+ servers) | 128MB | 256MB |
| Complex bot (database, many features) | 256MB | 512MB+ |
| Bot on 100+ servers | 512MB+ | 1GB+ |
Storage
- Bot code: 10-50MB typically
- Database: Depends on data
- Logs: Grows over time
- Assets: Images, audio files
1GB is fine for most bots. 5-10GB covers bots with databases and media.
When to Upgrade
From Free to Paid
Upgrade when:
- Your bot serves more than 10 active servers
- You need persistent database storage
- Uptime matters to your community
- RAM limits cause crashes
From Bot Hosting to VPS
Upgrade when:
- You need multiple bots
- Your bot requires custom system packages
- You run additional services (web dashboard, API)
- Memory needs exceed 1GB, the Pro plan's limit
- You want full OS control
Cost Perspective
Running a Discord bot for a community:
- Free: Space-Node Starter (64MB RAM, testing only, cannot be ordered right now)
- €0.50/mo: Space-Node Growth (512MB RAM, 10GB NVMe), billed €3.00 every 6 months
- €1.00/mo: Space-Node Pro (1024MB RAM, 20GB NVMe), billed €6.00 every 6 months
- €5-10/mo: VPS (complex multi-service setups)
The 6 month and 1 year terms add a one time €0.50 setup fee. The 2 and 3 year terms have none, and 3 years of Growth costs €11.99. Compare the Space-Node bot plans.
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