Backend: Deploying in Free tier

07 March 2026, Carlos Pena

Running a backend in production doesn’t have to cost anything — at least for a POC or early-stage product. This tutorial walks through deploying a full backend stack using only free tiers: a PostgreSQL database, object storage, Redis, and an always-on API server.

Here’s the stack we’ll use:

Credit card may be required for any of them.

1. Database — Supabase (PostgreSQL + PostGIS)

Supabase gives you a managed PostgreSQL instance with PostGIS pre-installed, which is useful if your app needs geospatial queries.

Step 1 — Create a project

Go to supabase.com, create an account, and start a new project. Save the database password — you’ll need it shortly.

Step 2 — Enable PostGIS

Open the SQL editor in your Supabase project and run:

CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS postgis;
CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS postgis_topology;

Skip this step if your app doesn’t need geospatial features.

Step 3 — Run your migrations

Use the direct connection string (not the pooler — asyncpg requires direct connections):

DATABASE_URL="postgresql+asyncpg://postgres:<password>@db.<project-ref>.supabase.co:5432/postgres?ssl=require" \
  uv run alembic upgrade head

Step 4 — Configure your environment

DATABASE_URL=postgresql+asyncpg://postgres:<password>@db.<project-ref>.supabase.co:5432/postgres?ssl=require
DATABASE_POOL_SIZE=5
DATABASE_MAX_OVERFLOW=5

The free Supabase tier supports ~60 direct connections. Keep DATABASE_POOL_SIZE + DATABASE_MAX_OVERFLOW <= 15 to leave headroom for other clients and Supabase’s own internals.

2. Object Storage — Supabase Storage

Supabase Storage is S3-compatible, so it works with any existing S3 client code. It’s included in your project — no separate signup, no credit card, 1 GB free.

Step 1 — Create a bucket

1. Go to your project → Storage → New bucket
2. Name it (e.g. my-app-media)
3. Leave it private — presigned URLs will handle access so objects are never publicly exposed
4. Click Save

Step 2 — Generate S3 credentials

1. Go to Project Settings → Storage
2. Under S3 Access Keys, click Generate new credentials
3. Copy the Access Key ID and Secret Access Key
4. Note your project ref from the dashboard URL: https://supabase.com/dashboard/project/<project-ref>

Step 3 — Configure your environment

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=<access-key-id>
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=<secret-access-key>
AWS_REGION=<your-supabase-region>   # e.g. us-east-1
S3_BUCKET_NAME=my-app-media
S3_ENDPOINT_URL=https://<project-ref>.supabase.co/storage/v1/s3
S3_PRESIGNED_URL_EXPIRY_SECONDS=3600

Step 4 — CORS

Supabase Storage has permissive CORS enabled by default for all origins. No manual configuration needed.

3. Redis — Upstash

Upstash provides managed Redis with a generous free tier: 10,000 commands/day and 256 MB. No server to maintain, and it scales seamlessly when you’re ready to pay.

Step 1 — Create an account

Go to upstash.com and sign up. No credit card required.

Step 2 — Create a Redis database

1. Click Create Database
2. Give it a name (e.g. my-app)
3. Pick the region closest to your backend deployment (e.g. us-east-1 for Koyeb Washington DC)
4. Type: Regional (free tier)
5. Click Create

Step 3 — Copy the connection string

In the database dashboard → Details tab → REST API section, find the Redis URL. It looks like:

rediss://default:<password>@<host>.upstash.io:6379

Note the rediss:// scheme — Upstash always uses TLS.

Step 4 — Configure your environment

REDIS_URL=rediss://default:<password>@<host>.upstash.io:6379

The free tier allows 10,000 commands/day. If your app enqueues ~3–5 Redis commands per job, that’s thousands of jobs per day before you hit the limit. When you outgrow it, the pay-as-you-go plan starts at $0.20 per 100K commands.

4. Backend Hosting — Koyeb

Koyeb’s free tier gives you two always-on services (512 MB RAM, 0.1 vCPU each) with no sleep and no cold starts — unlike many free hosting options. Perfect for running an API server and a background worker side by side.

Step 1 — Create an account

Sign up at koyeb.com.

Step 2 — Deploy the API service

1. Click Create Service → Web Service
2. Connect your GitHub repository
3. Configure the service:

1. Add your environment variables (see the full list below)
2. Click Deploy

Step 4 — Set environment variables

The minimum required set for production:

APP_ENV=production
DATABASE_URL=postgresql+asyncpg://postgres:<password>@db.<project-ref>.supabase.co:5432/postgres?ssl=require
REDIS_URL=rediss://default:<password>@<host>.upstash.io:6379
JWT_SECRET=<64-char-hex>
LOCATION_ENCRYPTION_KEY=<base64-32-bytes>
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=<supabase-s3-key-id>
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=<supabase-s3-secret>
AWS_REGION=<supabase-region>
S3_BUCKET_NAME=my-app-media
S3_ENDPOINT_URL=https://<project-ref>.supabase.co/storage/v1/s3
ALLOWED_ORIGINS=["https://your-app-domain.com"]

What you end up with

After following this guide you have a fully functional backend running on free infrastructure:

• A PostgreSQL database with spatial support, managed and backed up by Supabase
• S3-compatible object storage in the same project, zero extra configuration
• A Redis instance for queues and caching via Upstash
• Two always-on services on Koyeb — one for the API, one for background workers

The total cost is $0 until you hit the free tier limits, at which point each service has a clear pay-as-you-go upgrade path.