Free/cheap hosting for ASP.NET Web API?

Agent67

Agent67

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Hey, so I want to deploy my ASP.NET Web API and my SQL Server database (never done it before), but I don't know where to find some free hosting (preferably) or cheap hosting for both? I preferrably also would want to avoid Dockerizing since I don't know Docker...

Any places that you guys could recommend?
 
Pho3nix said:
If you have a machine at home; host it yourself else nothing will be free. Absolute hosting at R70 might work for you or try a Vultr free trial
Click to expand...
I've considered maybe plopping it all into a virtual machine, but I don't understand how the routing to the VM would work and that would mean leaving my laptop on forever (its battery is already wonky LMAO).
 
Fly.io

“Unfortunately” you'll need to learn the basics of docker

But it doesn't need to be complicated at all.

Claude or any AI will be able to give you a working Dockerfile + fly.toml file.

You aren't going to find free MS SQL hosting, except maybe on Azure.


Azure actually is another option, and they probably have close to 1-click .NET app deployment.

Railway.app might also gave a very simple mechanism to deploy,

With https://neon.tech you can get a free
Postgres DB
 
Oracle has a free vpc. There is a thread on here somewhere but if you don't know how to do it on your local machine thats a better place to start.

Fire up docker and learn about that then fire up virtualbox and learn to do it on there.
 
Sultan Mustafa said:
Hey, so I want to deploy my ASP.NET Web API and my SQL Server database (never done it before), but I don't know where to find some free hosting (preferably) or cheap hosting for both? I preferrably also would want to avoid Dockerizing since I don't know Docker...

Any places that you guys could recommend?
Click to expand...

I came across this on Reddit a while back and saved the link. Never actually tried it myself:
www.monsterasp.net

ASP.NET Hosting, .NET Core Hosting & Free Hosting | MonsterASP.NET

Modern ASP.NET hosting and .NET Core hosting with a generous ASP.NET free hosting tier. Built by .NET developers, for .NET developers.
www.monsterasp.net www.monsterasp.net

If you do try it out, let us know how it is.
 
Azure has got free tiers for both vms, app service plans as well as sql.

Another option is grab a pi or some such and load it up on thier. If and hoping you are using new .net, it can run on Linux. Db, I think there is Linux form of ms sql otherwise use one of the hosting above. Or a docker, container , something on a pi as well.
If you just need a db, myself is also a option, like Maria etc.

Many ways to work this.
 
Easy,

Create two containers, one db one .net . Setup your domain on cloudflare. Setup a cloudflare container in docker to automatically manage your subdomains on your domain and have the compose file trigger create tunnels to your docker services.

If you got your domain on cloudflare I can share a basic scaffold I use for prototyping
 
Alright, my API is live (small example).
I don't recommend deploying via Github on MonsterASP, buggy as ****, nothing works proper.

Rather, use their WebDeploy option, found under Websites:
1747642043779.png

Also, there are two kinds of connection strings found on a DB that you would deploy.
Use the "local" one for your deployment, and "remote" for use on your local machine.

But otherwise I'm happy. Would definitely consider using the paid sub in future.

@Solitude
 
Sultan Mustafa said:
Alright, my API is live (small example).
I don't recommend deploying via Github on MonsterASP, buggy as ****, nothing works proper.

Rather, use their WebDeploy option, found under Websites:
View attachment 1821379

Also, there are two kinds of connection strings found on a DB that you would deploy.
Use the "local" one for your deployment, and "remote" for use on your local machine.

But otherwise I'm happy. Would definitely consider using the paid sub in future.

@Solitude
Click to expand...
Awesome. Thanks for the feedback!
 
Sultan Mustafa said:
Hey, so I want to deploy my ASP.NET Web API and my SQL Server database (never done it before), but I don't know where to find some free hosting (preferably) or cheap hosting for both? I preferrably also would want to avoid Dockerizing since I don't know Docker...

Any places that you guys could recommend?
Click to expand...
Convert it to run in a docker container. There are official MS SQL images available, you'll just need a licence (or just run a limited dev box). On the other hand there are cheaper alternatives to MS SQL (PostgreSQL for instance).
I run a home-lab at home on an old laptop, running Linux as the host with docker containers. A Linux and nginx course on Udemy isn't expensive either.
 
Sultan Mustafa said:
Hey, so I want to deploy my ASP.NET Web API and my SQL Server database (never done it before), but I don't know where to find some free hosting (preferably) or cheap hosting for both? I preferrably also would want to avoid Dockerizing since I don't know Docker...

Any places that you guys could recommend?
Click to expand...
Hi Sultan,

Azure has free tier service but the features are limited. You better find shared hosting, you will find many affordable options. I would recommend Asphostportal, it is around $7/month, you get sufficient space and MSSQL database.
 
Forgot to post this, found a list of alternatives for ASP.NET hosting except MonsterASP after some scrounging a while ago (which is still going good btw):

dotnet.microsoft.com

ASP.NET Hosting | .NET

ASP.NET apps can be hosted on Windows or Linux. Choose from one of our hosting partners, offering shared, virtual, dedicated, or cloud hosting for your website.
dotnet.microsoft.com dotnet.microsoft.com
 
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