Services and Tools — It’s Core for Any Developer to Build Something

That statement is true, right?

When I first committed to developing everything using modern tools, I assumed any third-party service I needed for my websites would cost money—and as a high school student, I didn't exactly have cash lying around (or, let's be honest, any cash). But after talking with friends, seniors, teachers, and doing plenty of solo Googling, I found some amazing services that are completely free and helped me go from "I want to build stuff" to actually launching real projects.

Here are some of the best free tools and services I personally use and recommend:

Aiven — Free Cloud Database Hosting

Aiven is a managed cloud platform that takes the pain out of setting up, maintaining, and scaling open-source databases and event streaming tools.

Instead of messing with self-hosted servers, Aiven lets you deploy databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL, Kafka, and more in just a few clicks. And yes—they have a free tier.

Free Tier Highlights:

MySQL: 5 GB storage (24/7 access)
PostgreSQL: 1 GB storage (24/7 access)

Limitation: Only one free tier service per account. If you don't log into your Aiven dashboard for a month, they might suspend your instance.

If you’re just getting started with backend databases, this is a great way to host a live production or test database without spending anything.

MongoDB Atlas — NoSQL in the Cloud

MongoDB Atlas is the easiest way to spin up a cloud-hosted MongoDB database. It’s perfect if you’re working with dynamic apps, real-time data, or just prefer the flexibility of NoSQL.

Free Tier Highlights:

500 MB storage
Shared cluster (M0)
Hosted on AWS/GCP/Azure
3-node replica set (for redundancy!)

You can create one free cluster per project, but you're allowed to have multiple projects.

Note: Idle clusters with no traffic for a long time may be paused, but it's easy to resume.

ImageKit — Free Media CDN & Storage

ImageKit is your go-to if you need a fast, reliable image CDN, image optimization, or cloud storage for media files in your app.

It integrates perfectly with static websites, headless CMS, or serverless backends.

Free Tier Highlights:

25 GB bandwidth/month
5 GB storage for assets (DAM)
500 video processing units
Unlimited image transformation requests
3 team members per account
Basic email support

Note: You can't use a custom domain on the free tier, but everything else is generous and production-ready.

Whether you’re running a portfolio, blog, or an e-commerce mockup—ImageKit has your back for media management.

8Labs — Free Indonesian VPS Hosting (if you're fast!)

8Labs is a hidden gem, especially for Indonesian developers. They provide free VPS hosting via a credit system.

You can request credits by creating a support ticket or joining their Telegram Group.

VPS Specs:

Small: 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 15 GB Storage
Medium: 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 33 GB Storage
Large: 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 33 GB Storage

Important: These are limited! You need to check the dashboard frequently and act fast when a VPS becomes available.

This is perfect for learning Linux, deploying small projects, or testing real-world hosting without paying a cent.

Cloudflare — DNS, Domain Management & Secure Tunneling

Cloudflare isn’t just a CDN or a DDoS shield—it’s a developer’s Swiss army knife.

And the best part? Most of the core features are 100% free.

Free DNS & Domain Management

Free & super-fast DNS resolution
DNSSEC support
Domain forwarding
Subdomain management
Page Rules (basic routing)
Free SSL (HTTPS) with automatic renewals

Whether you bought your domain from Namecheap or another registrar, Cloudflare gives you fine-grained control over how your domain works without needing a paid plan.

Cloudflare Tunnel (aka Cloudflare Argo Tunnel/Zero Trust Tunnel)

Cloudflare Tunnel allows you to expose a localhost or private service to the internet securely—without needing to configure or open any ports or run a traditional web server like NGINX.

Example use cases:

Preview a dev app on your own domain (without deploying)
Securely expose a dashboard or internal tool
Use a custom domain (like dev.rejaka.id) with a local app

All done with one CLI tool (cloudflared) and a simple config.

Yes, this is free. You can even run multiple tunnels and bind them to different subdomains.

Final Thoughts

These services saved me countless hours (and money) as I started building real apps while still in school. Each of them helped bridge the gap between learning and launching—and I'm still using most of them today.

If you're just starting out, or even a mid-level dev trying to keep costs low, give these tools a try. They're free, powerful, and production-ready.

Got a tool you think I should try or feature in a part two?
Let me know on Instagram or via comment below!