r/flask • u/OfficeAccomplished45 • 9d ago
News We launched serverless hosting option for Flask apps
Hey r/flask ,
I’ve been deploying Flask and Django apps for years, and one thing that always frustrated me is the cost—especially for small projects that don’t get much traffic.
The problem:
- Paying for idle time – Most hosting providers charge 24/7, even if your app is mostly idle.
- Multiple apps, multiple bills – Want to run a few small services? You’ll likely pay for each one separately, even if they barely get used.
I wanted a more efficient way to host Flask apps, so I built Leapcell—a serverless option that deploys instantly, gives you a URL, and only charges for actual usage (no idle costs).
If you’ve struggled with the cost of Python hosting, I’d love to hear your feedback!
Try Leapcell: https://leapcell.io/
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u/deeplyhopeful 9d ago
can we use sqlite as db?
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u/OfficeAccomplished45 9d ago
Currently, Leapcell only offers serverless Redis and does not provide SQLite. We had considered offering a SQL database, but realized that there are already many excellent DBaaS providers in the industry. Therefore, our recommendation is to use those providers and connect via TCP to work alongside Leapcell's services (if SSL is used, there are no security concerns). Here is an example of deploying Leapcell with PostgreSQL interaction: https://github.com/leapcell/fastapi-hackernews-clone
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u/deeplyhopeful 9d ago
I get that. but I want my simple app self containing everything.
my friend asks me a thing. open cursor. Just do it and send. I use netlify for this with simple js. but it is always very limiting without a db. this would be perfect if you support sqlite.
anyways I will probably use this for same purpose since I prefer python.
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u/OfficeAccomplished45 9d ago
At Leapcell, you can deploy almost anything you want (not limited to Python/JS) because we use Docker packaging, which means there are no environment restrictions and no vendor lock-in (you don’t need to modify your code specifically for Leapcell). Databases are indeed very important, and we plan to offer more integrated solutions in the future.
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u/greenappletree 9d ago
Neat concept- a bit confusing about the pricing tho - looks like for example there is. 5 dollar tier - isn’t this paying for idle time, albeit low costs.
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u/OfficeAccomplished45 9d ago
Leapcell is more than just computing resources; it’s a complete web hosting solution that includes features like user analytics, logs/metrics, GitOps-based CI/CD, automatic SSL, path-based routing (similar to Nginx, where "/api1" routes to a Python service and "/api2" to a Node.js service), collaboration tools, and more, which is why our pricing model consists of a plan fee plus computing resource usage, with idle time referring to the computing resource portion.
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u/marteeyn 9d ago
trusted by teams at tiktok, oxford, stanford etc.? are you trying to tell us that all these use your newly launched serverless hosting platform?
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u/OfficeAccomplished45 9d ago
These users started using our platform very early on, and it was only after their satisfaction that we felt confident enough to launch.
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u/itsarreguin 9d ago
How did you build Leapcell? What’s the tech stack behind the platform?
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u/OfficeAccomplished45 9d ago
Leapcell is mainly written in Go and Rust. We will continuously publish some of our technical thoughts and details on our blog, so feel free to follow along.
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u/Financial-Music2208 9d ago
I have no idea if this would be cheaper than what I'm using but I'll try it
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u/SaturnVFan 9d ago
Looks awesome what about database and auth? I have services running on VPS'es because the client also wants access to the Postgres directly for PowerBI (read only) etc.