Why every 10 minutes and not every 14?

Render puts a service to sleep after 15 minutes without a request. Ten minutes leaves room in case a call comes a few seconds late. On the free Cronjob.de plan you choose the interval in 5-minute steps, so every 5 or every 10 minutes.

Are Render’s 750 free hours enough?

For one app that stays awake around the clock, yes: a month has at most 744 hours. Two apps around the clock need about 1,490 hours, and according to Render’s documentation it then suspends all free services until the end of the month. With two apps, keep them awake only during the day, for example from 8 am to 8 pm – that is about 372 hours per app.

Does this cost anything at Cronjob.de?

No. Up to five cron jobs run for free permanently, without a credit card. So that free accounts do not keep running abandoned, you briefly confirm by email every three months that you still need the service.

Will I notice if my app crashes?

From Plus, yes: if your app answers with an error (such as 500 or 502), you get an email and an all-clear as soon as it is back. With Unlimited also via Telegram, Slack, Teams or Discord. Automatic retries catch short hiccups, for example during a deploy.

Which address should be called?

Ideally a dedicated, lightweight route such as /health that just returns “ok”. The home page works too, but it hits your database or templates every time.

For apps on Render

Keep your Render app awake – free, with a cron job

A free web service on Render goes to sleep after 15 minutes without traffic. The next visitor then waits about a minute until it has spun up again. Cronjob.de calls your app every 10 minutes – so it stays awake and answers right away. Free, no credit card, set up in two minutes.

Set it up for free How it works

In three steps

How to keep your app awake

A lightweight route for the call

Ideally a dedicated route such as /health that just returns “ok”. For example in Express (Node.js):

app.get('/health', (req, res) => res.send('ok'));

Or in Flask (Python):

@app.get('/health')
def health():
    return 'ok'

Create the cron job

Sign up for free, enter the address (e.g. https://your-app.onrender.com/health) and choose “every 10 minutes”. Or just write it in your own words: “Call my Render app every 10 minutes” – our assistant fills in the rest.

Done

The log shows every call with its response time. If a call takes much longer than usual, the app had just woken up.

Important

Render’s 750-hour limit

Render gives each workspace 750 free instance hours per month. Once they are used up, according to Render’s documentation it suspends all free web services until the end of the month.

One app around the clock needs at most 744 hours – that fits.
Two apps around the clock need about 1,490 hours – then everything stops mid-month.
Tip: with two apps, keep them awake only during the day, e.g. every 10 minutes from 8 am to 8 pm. That is about 372 hours per app; at night the app sleeps as usual.

More than keeping it awake

Know when the app crashes

Free: keep it awake

Up to five cron jobs, 5-minute steps, the last 5 calls in the log.

Plus: alerts on errors

If your app answers with 500 or 502, you get an email – and an all-clear as soon as it is back. Plus automatic retries for short hiccups. €1.49 a month.

Unlimited: to your phone

Alerts also via Telegram, Slack, Teams or Discord, response checks for expected texts and runtime statistics. €3.99 a month.

FAQ

Common questions

Why every 10 minutes and not every 14?: Render puts a service to sleep after 15 minutes without a request. Ten minutes leaves room in case a call comes a few seconds late. On the free Cronjob.de plan you choose the interval in 5-minute steps, so every 5 or every 10 minutes.
Are Render’s 750 free hours enough?: For one app that stays awake around the clock, yes: a month has at most 744 hours. Two apps around the clock need about 1,490 hours, and according to Render’s documentation it then suspends all free services until the end of the month. With two apps, keep them awake only during the day, for example from 8 am to 8 pm – that is about 372 hours per app.
Does this cost anything at Cronjob.de?: No. Up to five cron jobs run for free permanently, without a credit card. So that free accounts do not keep running abandoned, you briefly confirm by email every three months that you still need the service.
Will I notice if my app crashes?: From Plus, yes: if your app answers with an error (such as 500 or 502), you get an email and an all-clear as soon as it is back. With Unlimited also via Telegram, Slack, Teams or Discord. Automatic retries catch short hiccups, for example during a deploy.
Which address should be called?: Ideally a dedicated, lightweight route such as /health that just returns “ok”. The home page works too, but it hits your database or templates every time.

Set up in two minutes

Free, no credit card. For the first 14 days you can try everything, including crash alerts.

Start for free See pricing

Also interesting

Render is a trademark of its owner. Cronjob.de is an independent service and not affiliated with Render. Information about Render according to render.com/docs/free, as of 16 October 2026.