Free Telegram bot hosting, and exactly what free means here
Every verified account gets one hosted bot free: 256 MB of memory, a quarter of a vCPU, 3 GB of disk, deployed from GitHub or from the starter template. A polling bot needs no web address, and a process without an address does not sleep.
What the free plan gives you
- 256 MB of memory and a quarter of a vCPU, which runs a command bot in any of the usual libraries.
- 3 GB of disk under /data, kept across redeploys.
- 1 GB of traffic a day, counted in and out together.
- One bot or app per verified account.
Nothing about the product is held back on the free plan: a deploy on every push, the live console, the crash doctor, deploy history and rollback, scheduled commands, environment variables and a web address are all there. Daily backups are the one add-on a free app can buy, at $1 a month.
The sleeping question, answered plainly
This is the thing worth being exact about, because it is where free hosting usually disappoints.
A free app with a web address sleeps. When nobody has opened the address for a while it goes to sleep and wakes on the next request. You pick the window, from 5 minutes to 12 hours, and you cannot switch the sleeping off on the free plan.
A free app with no web address stays on. A polling Telegram bot is exactly that: it asks Telegram for updates over an outbound connection and has nothing for anybody to call. So it keeps running, and no part of the free plan stops it.
That is the reason polling is the right default here. A webhook bot needs the address, and on the free plan that address sleeps, so a webhook belongs on a paid app from $2 a month where it stays awake.
Can a free bot reach Telegram?
Yes. A free app's outbound traffic follows a fixed list, and HTTPS is on it, so api.telegram.org answers on port 443 like any other API. The same list covers DNS and the database ports, so a bot with a managed MySQL or PostgreSQL behind it works too. If something a bot needs is not on the list, the Firewall tab names what was refused and why, and a paid plan opens it.
What the free plan asks of you
- A verified email. Open the mail we send at signup before you create the bot.
- One free app per person. A second account does not get a second free bot.
- An answer every few days. If you have not opened the bot's page in the panel, you get one mail asking whether it is still in use, and one click keeps it running. Starting or redeploying it from the panel counts as well. It keeps the free slots with bots people actually use, and paid bots are never asked.
- The traffic limit. Past 1 GB in a day the app stops and starts are blocked for 24 hours. A chat bot does not come close.
The region is picked for you on the free plan; a paid plan lets you choose it and move the bot later.
Frequently asked questions
Is a card needed?
No. A verified email address is the only requirement, and there is nothing to cancel. The first bot or app stays free for as long as you use it.
Does my polling bot sleep?
No. Sleeping applies to a web address, and a polling bot has none: it dials out to Telegram. A bot with no address runs around the clock on the free plan.
Can I use a webhook on the free plan?
It works, but the address sleeps when nobody has called it for a while, so the first update after a quiet spell waits for the app to wake. For a webhook bot people rely on, a paid plan at $2 a month keeps the address awake.
Why was my token refused when I created the bot?
Because it was checked with Telegram before anything was deployed. The panel verifies the token when you create the bot and again when you edit the variable, and tells you the reason it was refused, so a typo or a revoked token is caught there instead of turning into a crash loop later.
How do I see what the bot is printing?
The live console on the bot's page shows the install, the start and everything the process writes. Python output is unbuffered in this runtime, so print() shows up as it happens without any flushing of your own.
What if I need a second bot or more memory?
Starter is $2 a month for one bot with 1 GB and a whole vCPU, Standard $3 for two bots and Pro $6 for four, on the same subscription as your game servers and your other apps.