Glitch alternatives for small web apps in 2026

Glitch no longer runs apps, so every project that lived on a glitch.me address needs a new home. For a small Node.js server or a static page that should stay in Europe, Eurobase has a free plan and runs a package.json plus server.js project as a container. Val Town comes closest to Glitch's write-in-the-browser feel, Render has a free tier that sleeps after 15 quiet minutes, and Clever Cloud or Sliplane fit once the app needs a database or a server of its own.

What happened to Glitch

Glitch's own blog is now the only thing left at glitch.com: the address redirects there. On 22 May 2025 the team announced that project hosting and user profiles would shut down on 8 July 2025. The dashboard stayed open for code downloads through the end of 2025, and subdomain redirects had to be set up before 31 December 2025. Glitch promised to keep those redirects working at least through the end of 2026, so a link that still forwards today may stop after that. The team's farewell post points remaining questions to the support forum at support.glitch.com.

Glitch replacements at a glance

Platform	Company based in	Free option	Paid from	How you deploy	When idle
Eurobase	Warsaw, Poland	Free plan, 2 projects	€10 a month + VAT	Git push, CLI or a coding agent	Scales to zero, the next request starts it
Val Town	Not stated	$0 plan, 100,000 runs a day	$21 a month for Pro	Browser editor or an AI coding tool	Not documented
Render	United States	Free web services and static sites	$7 a month for 512 MB of RAM	GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket	Free services spin down after 15 minutes
Clever Cloud	France	Free credits, no card needed	By instance size, billed per second	Git push	Not documented
Sliplane	Berlin, Germany	Demo server for 48 hours	€9 for 1 vCPU and 1 GB, excl. VAT	GitHub or a Docker image	Not documented

Prices are from each provider's own page, checked on 4 and 10 November 2026.

What to check before you move a Glitch project

• Where your data sat. If the app saved to a SQLite or JSON file on its own disk, expect that file to disappear on hosts that restart or sleep. Put the data in a database the app reaches over the network.
• The start command. Make sure package.json has a start script the new host can find, or type the command in yourself.
• The port. Read the port from the PORT environment variable instead of hard-coding a number.
• Secrets in `.env`. Copy each value from the exported .env file into the new host's environment settings, and don't commit that file to your repository.
• Waking up. A free app that sleeps answers its first visitor slowly. That's usually fine for a demo or a class project, less so for a bot that must reply at once.

1. Eurobase

Eurobase deploys a repository from GitHub, GitLab, Codeberg, Forgejo or Gitea, or straight from a coding agent through its MCP server and CLI. A Node.js server is built with buildpacks and runs as a container. When the repository has no start script, Eurobase prefills node server.js, app.js, main.js or index.js, which covers a typical Express app. A Vite or plain HTML project can be served as a static site instead. Everything runs on European infrastructure operated by Scaleway, a French provider.

• Best for: a hobby Express app, a Discord or Slack bot backend, or a static page you want hosted in Europe at no cost.
• Price: a Free plan with 2 projects, 250 hours of container active time and 100 build minutes a month, then €10 or €20 a month + VAT for the whole workspace. There are no usage charges today: work over a limit is refused, apps on V8 isolates and Functions stop until the monthly reset, and containers and static sites keep serving.
• What it lacks: managed Postgres, MySQL or Redis, Dockerfile builds and preview deployments. Node.js builds accept npm or Yarn 1 on Node.js 20, 22 or 24. The first request after a quiet spell waits for the server to start. Eurobase is working toward ISO 27001 and SOC 2 but holds neither yet.

Start with Deploy a Node.js server or Deploy a static site.

2. Val Town

Val Town lets you write JavaScript in the browser and run it through HTTP, cron or email, with SQLite and blob storage on hand. That's the nearest thing to Glitch's edit-and-it's-live loop, and a plugin connects it to Claude, ChatGPT, Codex or Cursor.

• Best for: small APIs, webhooks, scheduled scripts and one-file sites you want to edit without a local setup.
• Price: a $0 plan with unlimited public vals, 100,000 runs a day and 1 minute of wall clock time per run. Pro costs $21 a month and adds 10 custom domains and 10 minutes per run.
• What it lacks: custom domains on the free plan.

3. Render

Render runs web services and static sites from GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket. Free web services spin down after 15 minutes without traffic and need about a minute to wake, while visitors see a loading page. Its regions include Frankfurt.

• Best for: a free demo app when a US provider is acceptable.
• Price: free web services and static sites, then compute per service, such as $7 a month for 512 MB of RAM.
• What it lacks: persistent files on the free tier. Any file a free service writes to its own disk is lost when it redeploys, restarts or spins down. Render Inc. is a US company. See Eurobase vs Render.

4. Clever Cloud

Clever Cloud is a French platform that deploys Node.js, Python, PHP, Ruby, Go, Java and other runtimes on a Git push and offers managed databases beside the app. You start with free credits and no payment card.

• Best for: a Glitch project that has grown into something with real users and needs a managed database.
• Price: by the size and number of instances, billed by the second. You set a maximum spend, and the bill doesn't go past it.

5. Sliplane

Sliplane, a Berlin company, charges per server, and you can put several containers on one. It detects your framework automatically, can also build from a Dockerfile or run an image, and sells managed PostgreSQL from €19.

• Best for: several small apps that can share one server.
• Price: €9 for 1 vCPU, 1 GB of RAM and 20 GB of storage, excl. VAT. A demo server is free and is deleted after 48 hours unless you add a payment method.
• What it lacks: a free plan beyond the 48-hour demo.

How to choose

1. A static page or a single-page app: use a static host. Eurobase does this on its Free plan, and static site hosting in Europe lists more options.
2. An Express server or a bot: Eurobase if you want it in Europe and free, Render if a sleeping free tier from a US company is fine. Node.js hosting in Europe compares more hosts.
3. Short scripts you edited in the browser: Val Town.
4. An app with a database and users: Clever Cloud or Sliplane. Render alternatives in Europe goes further on managed databases.

Frequently asked questions

Is Glitch shut down?

Yes, for hosting. Glitch stopped running projects and user profiles on 8 July 2025, and glitch.com now redirects to the Glitch blog.

Can I still download my Glitch projects?

Not from Glitch itself any more: the dashboard offered code downloads only until the start of 2026. If you missed that window, its farewell post sends you to the forum at support.glitch.com or to support@glitch.com.

Will my glitch.me link keep working?

Only if you set up a redirect before 31 December 2025. Glitch said it would keep those redirects active at least through the end of 2026, so point visitors at your new address or your own domain now.

What's the closest free replacement for Glitch?

For editing in the browser, Val Town. For running an existing Node.js project from its repository, Eurobase's Free plan and Render's free web services both work; Eurobase hosts it in Europe and Render is a US company.

How do I move a Glitch app to Eurobase?

Unzip your export, push it to a Git repository, then create a project from it. Eurobase reads your start script, asks for the port your server listens on and goes live once the health path answers. Copy the values from your old .env into the project's variables first.

Sources

• Glitch: Important changes are coming to Glitch and Glitch: Until we meet again
• Val Town pricing and Val Town docs
• Render free instances, Render pricing and Render regions
• Clever Cloud pricing
• Sliplane pricing
• Eurobase pricing, Plans and limits and Containers