Free Server Hosting for Android App

Finding inexpensive hosting solutions for your Android applications doesn’t have to be difficult. If you are a mobile app developer and don’t know of all the developer-friendly hosting platforms that you can use, keep reading. 

What is a Server? 

In computing, a server refers to a piece of computer software or hardware that provides functionality for other devices or programs, called clients. Servers can offer varied functionalities like sharing resources or data with multiple clients, performing computation for a client, and so on. 

In the case of applications, a server is a framework that hosts applications. It provides facilities for creating web apps and a server environment to seamlessly run them. 

What is Cloud Hosting? 

Cloud hosting uses different servers to maximize uptime and balance load. Instead of using one server, your website or app can tap into a cluster that utilizes resources from a centralized pool. So, if one server fails, another kick in and everything runs smoothly. 

What are the advantages of hosting a server on the cloud?

• Scalable server resources – Scaling resources is easy with cloud hosting. For more cloud servers, you will have access to a perceptive site management dashboard and you can view the performance of your website or app in real-time. 

• High availability and uptime – High uptime is built into the structure of cloud hosting. Since your app/site will be virtually utilizing the resources of multiple servers, it will simply be transferred to a different server when one goes offline or experiencing any technical issue. Also, the ability to scale on-demand server resources means that your app/site will not go offline from unexpected traffic surges. 

• Faster speed and performance – Cloud servers offer blazing fast speeds and the ability to increase the capacity of your site or app effortlessly. Cloud hosting also facilitates easier load balancing between different server environments. This means that there will be less pressure on the resources of a single server. 

Top 5 Free Server Hosting for Android App

Here are some great options to host your Android application.

Back4App

Back4app is a popular open-source backend as a service provider that helps developers to build scalable and extensible web and mobile apps at a rapid pace.

It is a fully managed backend as a service solution that provides automatic provisioning and scaling of applications. This solution can help you to personalize and optimize each of your apps differently.

It is these unique aspects of this solution that makes Back4app a sought-after option among app developers. 

Features 

• GraphQL and REST APIs
• Supports a spreadsheet-like database solution
• Live queries and scalable hosting 
• Push and email notifications 
• Multitenant dashboard 
• 24/7 support 

Pricing 

You can start using back4app with a free account. Besides the free plan, you can also select shared services that start from $5 monthly and a dedicated plan that starts from $250 monthly. 

Heroku

Heroku is a container-based platform as a service (PaaS). App developers utilize Heroku to manage, deploy and scale modern applications. This platform is flexible, elegant, and easy to use. Developers get the simplest path to get their apps to market.

It is fully managed and gives developers the freedom to emphasize their core product without the distraction of maintaining hardware, servers, or infrastructure. The Heroku experience offers tools, services, polyglot support, and workflows that are designed to accentuate the productivity of app developers. 

Features 

• Supports multiple open-source languages – Ruby, Java, Node, Python, Scala, Go, Clojure, and PHP
• Smart containers that are part of the elastic runtime platform 
• High scalability of apps with no downtime 
• Built for continuous delivery and integration 
• Fully managed database services for Redis, Postgres, and Apache Kafka 

Pricing 

A free plan to begin with and they also offer resource-based paid plans that start from $25 and up. 

Firebase 

Launched in 2011 by Firebase Inc., Firebase is a software development platform that was acquired in 2014 by Google. The platform was started as a real-time database, and today it has eighteen services and dedicated APIs.

The entire platform is a backend as a service (BaaS) solution for both web-based and mobile applications that includes services for testing, building, and managing applications. 

Features

• Built-in analytics – audience segmentation, unlimited reporting, and integration with other services 
• Ease of app development – hosting, real-time database, dynamic links, storage, and remote configuration 
• Push messages 

Pricing 

Firebase offers its users a free and usage-based plan. But, there is no uniformly or fixed-priced plan for users to select and get started. 

AWS Amplify

AWS Amplify is a full-suite platform that was developed to help mobile and web developers in building scalable, full-stack apps operated by AWS.

The platform offers a wide range of services and tools that enable users to connect apps, configure backends, deploy static web applications instantly, and seamlessly manage content external to the console of AWS. 

Features 

• Store and sync data securely
• Authentication
• Quick backend updates 
• Deployment and app development 
• DataStore
• Analytics 
• AI and machine learning requirements 
• PubSub

Pricing 

AWS Amplify comes with two price structures – a free tier and pay as you go model. 

Backendless

Backendless is an effective, amazing, and popular application development platform that was designed to serve individual app developers, along with agencies.

This platform can help developers build apps efficiently and quickly. It provides end-to-end solutions that are designed specifically for web and mobile development, and it is known as one of the best MBaaS solutions.

It provides developers with a complete toolset and helps them in making their backend development task efficient, easier, and much more convenient. 

Features 

• Cloud code and database 
• Caching and codeless 
• Geolocation 
• Logging
• Real-time data and user management 
• Highly secure 

Pricing 

There are three billing plans offered by Backendless to its users. You can choose from the free plan or move over to the paid plans like Cloud9 and Cloud99. 

Conclusion

So, select the best server hosting that caters to your specific Android app development requirements. You can start with the free plan to understand how the platform works and gradually upgrade to the paid plans if needed. 

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