Cheapest Hosting for ASP.NET (without cold-start)

I tried the Azure Functions consumption plan, but the cold-start just takes way too long. It would regularly take over a minute. I even had a Logic App, also on a consumption plan, calling the function every 15 minutes, keeping it warm. That worked alright, but would still occasionally start cold.

The free Azure SQL tier didn't last long either. I've come to the conclusion that Azure's consumption plans are simply for learning Azure.

I used to use Heroku, but they raised their prices. With a database, you're looking at around $12 a month.

So, I finally decided to give SmarterAsp.net a try. Before I was intimidated by having to set it all up, but it ended up being quite easy.

They actually have a 60-day free-trial you can use to experiment with. I went in with the mindset of "let's see if I can set it all up and how fast it runs."

Use my affiliate link to their site and check out the free tier.

I did have 2 times when I was blocked and reached out to their support. The live chat was great and my questions were answered instantly. The first issue was my own fault. The free tier requires credentials to access the url and they were in my email. The second was about getting my domain name from a different provider set up. I think it was an issue on my end, but it all worked right after I talked to them.

The price seems to me the best out there. $2.95/month for 1 app. That comes with a SQL Server and MySQL database. The database is probably the real kicker for me, since that's what hurt me on Azure and Heroku. Then, the next plan is $4.95/month with 6 apps. The most expensive is $7.95/month.

And it really was easy for me to set up. Heroku is alright, but I don't think they natively support .NET. You have to use a buildpack or something.