Pricing
Is Replit Free? (2026) What the Starter Plan Really Covers
Is Replit free? What the Starter plan covers in 2026: building with Agent, publishing and deploying, student access, and where you start paying.
9 min read
Replit’s Starter plan, Agent billing, database and publishing rules checked Nov 3, 2026 in Replit’s docs; paid prices checked Nov 3, 2026 on replit.com/pricing. Every source is listed at the bottom. No affiliate links on this page (how we work).
Short answer: yes, Replit is free to use, and you can publish one app for free, but only for 30 days. The free plan is called Starter. It gives you daily credits for Agent, Replit’s AI builder, up to a monthly cap. It also gives small monthly credits for a database, storage and publishing. What it doesn’t give you is a permanent free deployment. Replit’s own docs say: “1 free published app… This published link will automatically go down after 30 days” (Starter docs, checked Nov 3, 2026).
So if you searched “is Replit free to deploy”, the honest answer is: free to deploy once, temporarily, with a “Made with Replit” badge on it. Anything you want online for longer means Core at $20 a month, or $18 a month billed yearly.
We haven’t tested Replit. Everything below comes from Replit’s pricing page and docs.
What is Replit Starter?
Replit Starter is Replit’s free plan: $0, with daily Agent credits that reset each day up to a monthly cap, plus small monthly credits for a production database, object storage and publishing. You build with Lite build or Design Canvas, and you get one published app that goes down after 30 days. Full build, Plan Mode, connectors and permanent publishing all need Core (Starter docs, checked Nov 3, 2026).
Replit Starter vs paid, at a glance
From Replit’s AI billing docs and pricing page, checked Nov 3, 2026:
| Feature | Starter | Core / Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 | $20 / $100 a month |
| Agent chat | Daily cap | Yes |
| Build type | Lite only | Full build |
| Plan Mode | No | Yes |
| Published apps | 1, for 30 days | Unlimited |
| Collab seats | 0 | 5 / 15 |
| Background tasks | 0 | 1 / 10 |
| Database cap | 1 GiB | See docs |
Yearly billing cuts Core to $18 a month and Pro to $90 a month. Replit calls it “Up to 10% off” and adds that “Prices are subject to tax depending on your location” (replit.com/pricing, checked Nov 3, 2026).
Replit Starter plan limits
Here’s every Starter limit Replit publishes, as of Nov 3, 2026:
- Agent credits: daily, and “These credits reset daily,” up to a monthly cap. The daily amount and the monthly cap are not published (Starter docs).
- Production database: “1 GiB on the Starter plan,” against 100 GiB on paid plans (database billing).
- Active background tasks: 0, against 1 on Core and 10 on Pro (AI billing docs).
- Collaboration seats: 0, against 5 on Core and 15 on Pro.
- Published apps: 1, for 30 days, with the “Made with Replit” badge, which can’t be removed on Starter.
- Build modes: Lite build, Design Canvas and the Visual Editor. Full build, converting a design into an artifact, “All artifact types” beyond web and mobile apps, Plan Mode and task planning are Core and up.
One detail worth knowing: the badge on your free app “contains your unique referral link,” and you get referral credits once you upgrade to a paid plan (Starter docs, checked Nov 3, 2026). So your free app doubles as a Replit ad.
One odd thing: Starter isn’t on the pricing page at all. When we checked on Nov 3, 2026, the page showed Core, Pro and Enterprise only. The free plan lives in the docs.
Building with Agent on the free plan
Here’s how Replit puts it: “Starter plan users receive daily credits for Agent usage, up to a monthly cap. These credits reset daily” (Starter docs, checked Nov 3, 2026).
What Replit doesn’t say is how big those credits are, in dollars or in requests. So anyone telling you “Starter gets X apps a day” is guessing.
What is published:
- Lite build only. Full build “requires Core or Pro”, so the bigger build mode is a paid feature.
- No Plan Mode. Plan Mode, third-party connectors, Replit AI Integrations and design-to-artifact conversion all need Core.
- Agent chat and Free Mode both have a “daily cap” on Starter (AI billing docs). On Core and Pro, Free Mode covers “no-cost everyday Agent work… within its allowance”.
- One checkpoint per request. Each Build-mode request creates a checkpoint, and “Simple requests… typically cost less than complex builds”. No per-checkpoint dollar price is published.
- A one-time sweetener. “All subscribers receive one-time free Agent checkpoints.”
In practice, Starter is a tasting menu. It’s enough to see whether Agent understands your idea and to build a small, simple project. It isn’t built for a long project you keep returning to every day, because the daily cap and the missing Full build will stop you first.
Can you publish or deploy on Replit for free?
Yes, once. The rules from Replit’s Starter docs (checked Nov 3, 2026):
- One published app. Not one per project. One.
- It expires. “This published link will automatically go down after 30 days.”
- It’s branded. The free app carries a “Made with Replit” badge.
- Hosting uses monthly credits. Starter gets monthly credits for production databases, object storage and publishing, which “reset each month”. The production database cap on Starter is “1 GiB” (publishing and database billing, checked Nov 3, 2026).
The AI billing table lists published apps as “1 (30-day)” on Starter and “Unlimited” on Core and Pro.
A 30-day expiry on the only free deployment is a frustrating call. It’s not the limit that bugs us. It’s that the free plan doesn’t appear on the pricing page, so people find the 30-day rule after they’ve shared the link. Put Starter on the pricing page with the expiry in plain sight.
Workaround that’s actually documented: keep your code in GitHub. Replit’s docs describe importing a repository, asking Agent for a change, and having Agent “commit it to a branch, push it, and open the pull request” (GitHub guide, checked Oct 20, 2026). You need write access to the repo. With the code in GitHub, a 30-day expiry costs you the link, not the project. As of Nov 3, 2026, Replit’s docs index still lists that guide and shows no ZIP export guide, so don’t count on one.
Is Replit free for students?
There’s no published student or education plan. We found none on replit.com/pricing or in Replit’s docs index as of Nov 3, 2026. For a student, Starter is the free option on paper, with the same limits as everyone else.
If your school or bootcamp has its own deal with Replit, it isn’t on a public Replit page, so ask whoever runs your course. Other tools are more generous here: Is Lovable free? covers Lovable’s student discount (50% off Pro, published), and GitHub has its own student route in GitHub Copilot for students.
Is Replit free forever?
The Starter plan has no published end date, so as far as Replit’s docs say, it stays free. What isn’t permanent is what you make with it. The one free published app goes down after 30 days, and the daily Agent credits reset each day rather than piling up. Free forever, then, means “free to keep trying”, not “free to keep something running”.
Where the bill starts
Core is the step up: $20 a month, or $18 a month billed yearly. It adds Full build, Plan Mode, unlimited published apps, “Up to 30 hours of chat on Free Mode”, “Up to 60 projects on Free Mode”, “$20 towards more powerful models” and 5 collaboration seats. Pro is $100 a month ($90 yearly) with “$100 towards most powerful models”, “Up to 15 collaborators”, 10 active background tasks and “Database rollback up to 28 days” (replit.com/pricing and AI billing docs, checked Nov 3, 2026). After the included credit runs out, paid Agent work uses “effort-based pricing based on request complexity”, and “Replit asks for confirmation before a paid action starts” (AI billing docs, checked Nov 3, 2026).
The full plan-by-plan breakdown, rollover rules and credit packs are in Replit pricing.
Here’s what I’d do
Use Starter to test your idea, not to launch it. A few days of Lite builds will tell you whether Agent gets what you want.
Connect GitHub on day one. Free deployment dies at 30 days, so keep the code somewhere that doesn’t.
Don’t share your free link widely. Anything you share should be on Core or another host, or it’ll quietly 404 a month later.
Pay for Core the day you want a permanent URL or Full build. Go yearly at $18 a month only if you’re sure you’ll use it for 12 months.
Shopping around? Lovable vs Replit compares the two closest rivals, Replit alternatives covers the rest, and AI coding tools compared shows the whole field.
For the Bolt side of the free-tier question, see Bolt.new token limits.
Once the free tier isn’t enough, Replit Core vs Pro is the paid-plan decision.
FAQ
What does Replit Starter include? Replit Starter is free and includes daily Agent credits, Lite build, Design Canvas, a 1 GiB production database and one published app that goes down after 30 days.
How many free Agent credits does Replit Starter give per day? Replit doesn’t publish the daily amount or the monthly cap, only that Starter’s Agent credits reset daily up to a monthly cap.
Is Replit free to use? Yes, the Starter plan is free and includes daily Agent credits up to a monthly cap, but Replit doesn’t publish the size of those credits.
Can I deploy on Replit for free? Yes, Starter lets you publish one app with a Made with Replit badge, and the link goes down after 30 days.
Is Replit free for students? Replit publishes no student or education plan, so students get the same free Starter plan as everyone else.
Is Replit free forever? Starter has no published end date, but its one free published app expires after 30 days.
How much does Replit cost after the free plan? Core is $20 a month or $18 a month billed yearly, and Pro is $100 a month or $90 a month billed yearly, as of Nov 3, 2026.
Sources
- Replit Starter plan docs (daily Agent credits and monthly cap, Lite build, Design Canvas, 1 published app for 30 days, Made with Replit badge and referral link, Core-only features): https://docs.replit.com/billing/plans/starter-plan.md (verified 2026-11-03)
- Replit AI billing docs (plan table, daily caps, Full build, Plan Mode, background tasks, collaboration seats, published apps, checkpoints, effort-based pricing): https://docs.replit.com/billing/ai-billing.md (verified 2026-11-03)
- Replit publishing and database billing (1 GiB Starter production database, 100 GiB paid): https://docs.replit.com/billing/about-usage-based-billing (verified 2026-11-03)
- Replit pricing page (Core and Pro prices, Free Mode allowances, collaborators, database rollback, yearly discount, tax note, no Starter card): https://replit.com/pricing (verified 2026-11-03)
- Replit docs index (no student or education plan found, GitHub guide listed, no ZIP export guide): https://docs.replit.com/llms.txt (verified 2026-11-03)
- Replit GitHub change guide (import, branch, pull request): https://docs.replit.com/use-cases/ship-github-change.md (verified 2026-10-20)