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Help · When something is wrong

Why is my app asleep?

Because nobody was using it. It wakes up by itself when someone visits — this is what keeps small apps cheap.

If your app has not had a visitor for a few minutes, we stop it. When the next request arrives, we start it again automatically.

You do not have to do anything. There is no button to press and nothing is broken.

Why it works this way

Almost every app hosted here is a small personal tool used a few times a day. Keeping it running for the other twenty-three hours would mean paying for twenty-three hours of nothing happening. Sleeping is what makes it possible to run several small apps for free or for a few dollars a month.

What a visitor notices

The first request after a sleep takes a moment longer — usually a second or two — while the app starts. Everything after that is normal speed.

When it sleeps

  • Free — after 5 minutes with no visitors
  • Hobby — after 10 minutes
  • Pro and Team — after 15 minutes, or you can turn sleeping off entirely

You can adjust the timing on the app's page.

I do not want it to sleep

Turning sleeping off is available on Pro and above. It is genuinely worth it if people other than you depend on the app and that first slow request is a problem.

For a personal tool, it very rarely is.

It says asleep and will not wake up

That is a different problem — the app is failing to start rather than waiting. See it deployed but the page will not load.

Last updated .

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