Fly.io Killed Its Free Tier: What Changed in October 2024
Fly's October 2024 pricing change replaced free machines with a $5 monthly credit. What you can still do for $0, and where the line is now.
Fly.io was the indie favorite from 2021 to 2024. Three free shared-CPU 256 MB machines, generous bandwidth, no credit card to start. The Fly proxy edge in 35+ regions was genuinely leading for hobbyist global apps. Then October 2024 happened.
What changed
The free Hobby plan was replaced with a Pay-as-you-go model that includes a $5 monthly usage credit. To use Fly at all you now need a credit card on file. The credit covers a small VM running 24/7 plus light bandwidth, which approximates the old free tier , but it is no longer technically free.
Fly explained the change as needed for sustainability. They had been bleeding margin on free users for years. The math behind the $5 minimum is roughly: keep 1 small machine alive 24/7 + 5-10 GB bandwidth + small Postgres + IP allocation = $4.50-6 in actual cost. The $5 credit + paid overage is the minimum sustainable price.
What you can still do for free
Nothing, technically. You always pay the difference between credit and usage. But here is what fits in $5/month, which is effectively free if you would have paid for hosting anyway:
- One web service, 256 MB shared CPU, running 24/7
- ~50 GB bandwidth (more than most hobby projects need)
- One Postgres instance with 1 GB storage
- One Anycast IPv4 address
That is enough for a small indie SaaS, a personal site, or a side project. It is not enough for a profitable side business serving meaningful traffic.
Who should still pick Fly
If you need containers placed near users in 35+ regions, Fly is still the only host in the indie price range that does this. The proxy network is a real product, not a marketing label.
If you want raw Docker control without managing Kubernetes, Fly's "deploy any Dockerfile" works cleanly. Render and Railway also do this; Fly does it with regional placement included.
If you do not need regional placement and just want a Heroku replacement, Render's free tier (15-min spin-down) or Koyeb's free tier (no spin-down, EU based) are technically still free. Fly is no longer the cheapest option at the $0 line.
What to do if you have legacy free Fly apps
Old free apps were grandfathered for a few months and then auto-converted. By mid-2025 every Fly app needs a payment method. Apps without one get suspended. If you have a free app from 2023 you forgot about, log in and either upgrade or export , you have less time than you think.
Verdict
Fly is still excellent for what it is , a global container platform with strong DX. It is no longer a free tier option. Treat it as a $5/month minimum and pick it for the regional placement, not for the price.