## The short version

Render is the better choice for fixed-price services in a chosen region, especially from Docker images. Ample is the better choice when a coding agent deploys many small apps: a free plan with a hard cap, Postgres, MySQL, Redis and MongoDB created automatically, S3-compatible buckets, and signup with no person in the loop.

## WHO THIS IS FOR

## Before you choose
Both run long-running web services and workers from a repository with managed Postgres. They differ in free-tier limits, which databases and storage are built in, how spending stops, and whether an agent can sign up on its own.

## Ample and Render side by side

|  | Ample | Render |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free plan | $0 with no card. 2 apps running at once, 2 vCPU, 2 GB memory, 3 GB volumes, 1 GB bucket storage, 2 buckets. | Free web services (512 MB, 0.1 CPU) with 750 instance hours a month and no card. Free Postgres is deleted 30 days after creation, after a 14-day grace period. |
| Paid plans | Custom plans priced on volume (number of apps, limits, spending caps). No public list price; see [pricing](/content/pricing/index.html). | Workspace plans from $0 (Hobby) or $25 a month (Pro), plus fixed compute per service: $7 a month for 0.5 CPU and 512 MB, $25 for 1 CPU and 2 GB. |
| Spending limit | Free has a hard budget ($5 a month, $2 a day). At the cap, apps stop serving until the account is back under budget; nothing is deleted and nothing is billed. | No general spend cap documented; the only hard limit is on build minutes. |
| How apps run | Each app runs as a normal long-running process in its own microVM with its own kernel. | Containers with fixed CPU and memory per instance. Isolation technology is not documented. |
| Long-running servers and workers | Yes. Web services and background workers (`--kind worker`) run as ordinary processes. | Yes. Web services, private services, background workers and workflows; WebSockets have no fixed timeout. |
| Languages | Node, Python, Go, Ruby, PHP, Java, .NET, Elixir, Rust and static sites, detected from the repository. | Node.js, Bun, Python, Ruby, Go, Rust and Elixir natively; PHP, .NET and Java through Docker. |
| Docker images | No. Ample builds from source; Dockerfile build steps are not run. | Yes, built with BuildKit or pulled from a registry. |
| Databases | Managed Postgres, MySQL, Redis and MongoDB, each in its own microVM, created automatically when the code needs one. | Managed Postgres and Key Value (Valkey 8, Redis-compatible). No managed MySQL or MongoDB. |
| Object storage | S3-compatible buckets, optionally published through Ample's CDN. | No first-party object storage found in Render's pricing or docs. |
| Persistent disk | Persistent volumes attached to the app. | Persistent disks at $0.25 per GB a month; a service with a disk runs one instance. |
| Custom domains and TLS | Custom domains with automatic TLS. | Custom domains with automatic TLS, including wildcards; 2 included on Hobby. |
| Regions | No region choice. | 5 regions; a service's region cannot be changed. |
| Scheduled jobs | Scheduled jobs: a command or HTTP request on a cron schedule (any time zone) or interval, with retries and run history (`ample job create`). | Cron job services (runs stop after 12 hours). |
| Agent access | CLI, remote MCP server (OAuth), A2A endpoint and agent skills. Deploys are synchronous and return JSON with an exit code: 0 live, 1 failed, 2 needs input. | Hosted MCP at mcp.render.com that can create services and read logs, plus plugins for Claude Code, Cursor and Codex and agent skills. |
| Agent signup without a person | Yes. `ample auth signup` creates an account with no browser, card or CAPTCHA; a person claims it by email within 48 hours. | No. A person authorizes the agent through OAuth or an API key. |

Competitor facts come from that company's own pricing pages and documentation, checked on the date shown in the sources. Plans change; follow the source links for current numbers.

## Which one fits

### Choose Ample when
- You want a free plan whose apps do not spin down for a minute-long wake and whose database is not deleted after 30 days.
- You need MySQL, MongoDB or S3-compatible buckets alongside Postgres and Redis.
- You want a hard spending cap rather than open-ended billing.
- A coding agent should create the account and deploy with no person in the loop.

### Choose Render when
- Your services must be always on and you are happy paying a fixed monthly price per instance.
- You need a specific region, autoscaling across instances or Docker images.
- You describe infrastructure in `render.yaml` Blueprints today.

## Move a Render service to Ample

1. 1

### Read your Blueprint or service settings
Note each service's build command, start command, pre-deploy command and health check path from `render.yaml` or the dashboard.

2. 2

### Collect environment variables
Copy variables into a local env file. Replace `fromDatabase` references with real connection strings, or leave DATABASE_URL out and let Ample create a database.

3. 3

### Plan and deploy
Ample detects the runtime and listens on its own port variable, so drop any hard-coded port 10000.

```
ample plan --write && ample up
```

4. 4

### Move data
Dump Render Postgres through its external URL with `pg_dump` and restore it into the Ample database; Key Value data can usually be re-warmed.

5. 5

### Point your domain
Add the domain to the app, update DNS to the target Ample prints, and keep the old app running until the new one answers on the domain.

```
ample domain add <app-name> www.example.com
```

## Frequently asked questions

### Is there a free database on Ample?
Managed Postgres, MySQL, Redis and MongoDB are included within the Free plan's limits and are not deleted after 30 days.

### Does Ample have object storage?
Yes. `ample bucket create` makes an S3-compatible bucket with its own credentials, and a bucket can be published through Ample's CDN. Render does not list a first-party object store.

### Can an agent deploy to Ample without me?
Yes. `ample auth signup` creates an account with no browser or card. You claim it by email within 48 hours to keep it.

## Sources
- [Ample pricing and plan limits](/content/pricing/index.html)(checked October 14, 2026)
- [Ample agent instructions (AGENTS.md)](/content/AGENTS.md)(checked October 14, 2026)
- [Render pricing](https://render.com/pricing)(checked October 14, 2026)
- [Render free tier](https://render.com/docs/free.md)(checked October 14, 2026)
- [Render build pipeline limits](https://render.com/docs/build-pipeline.md)(checked October 14, 2026)