How to Cancel Render in 2026 (Stop Charges + Export Your Data)
Render is a solid hosting platform, but surprise bills from forgotten services add up fast. Here's how to audit your usage, export data, and cancel without losing anything.
⚡ Common Surprise: Render's free Postgres databases expire after 90 days and automatically upgrade to paid ($7/month). If you created a free database months ago and forgot about it, check your billing page now.
Step 1: Check What You're Being Charged For
Go to dashboard.render.com
Click Billing in the left sidebar
Review your current month's charges by service
Common charges: web services ($7+/mo), PostgreSQL ($7+/mo), Redis ($10+/mo), cron jobs ($1+/mo), bandwidth overages
Step 2: Export Your Data
PostgreSQL: Use pg_dump with the external connection string from your Render database dashboard
Redis: Connect with redis-cli using the external URL and run BGSAVE
Persistent disks: SSH into your service and download files, or use the shell tab in dashboard
Environment variables: Screenshot or copy all env vars from each service's Environment tab
Code: Already in your GitHub/GitLab repo (Render auto-deploys from there)
Step 3: Delete All Services
Go to each service in your dashboard
Click Settings → scroll to Delete Service
Type the service name to confirm
Delete services in this order: web services → workers → cron jobs → databases → Redis (databases last so apps don't error)
Check Billing page to confirm $0 projected charges
Free tier spin-down: Free web services spin down after 15 minutes of inactivity. First request takes 30-60 seconds. Users think it's broken and upgrade to paid.
Database expiry: Free Postgres expires after 90 days — no warning, just starts billing $7/month
Bandwidth charges: 100GB/month free, then $0.10/GB. If your app serves large files, this adds up
Build minutes: 750 free build hours/month for teams. Individual plans get 500.
Static site egress: Even static sites can generate bandwidth charges at scale
Alternatives to Render
Railway ($5/mo credit): Better DX for most projects. Auto-sleep on hobby plan. More intuitive dashboard.
Vercel (free): Best for frontend/Next.js. Serverless functions for backend.
Coolify (self-hosted): Open-source PaaS on your own $5/mo VPS. No platform lock-in. Full Docker support.
Hetzner + Dokku ($4/mo): European hosting at 1/4 the cost. Dokku gives you a Heroku-like PaaS.
💡 The Real Cost Comparison
A typical Render setup (1 web service + Postgres + Redis) costs $24/month ($288/year). The same stack on a $6/month Hetzner VPS with Dokku costs $72/year. That's a 75% savings with more control. The tradeoff: you manage your own server (but tools like Coolify make that almost as easy as Render).
🔍 Find All Your Subscriptions
Render, Heroku, Vercel, Supabase, Cloudflare Pro — developer subscriptions stack up. Upload your bank statement to find every recurring charge.