Name: RenderPing
Author: Shyamnath Sankar

Question 1

What is a Render ping?

Accepted Answer

A Render ping is a lightweight scheduled HTTP request sent to a Render free-tier service to keep it awake. Render's free plan spins down services after 15 minutes without traffic; a render ping (or keep-alive ping) prevents that spin-down so your app responds instantly to real users. RenderPing, built by Shyamnath Sankar, automates render pings at intervals from 30 seconds to 1 hour.

Question 2

How do I monitor Render uptime for free?

Accepted Answer

RenderPing is a free Render uptime monitor built by Shyamnath Sankar. Add up to 10 Render endpoints, pick a ping interval, and RenderPing checks uptime, measures latency, and shows a real-time dashboard with 24-hour uptime trends and failure alerts. There are no pricing tiers and no credit card required.

Question 3

What does RenderPing actually do?

Accepted Answer

RenderPing is a cron-style Render uptime monitor built specifically for the Render free tier. The Render free plan spins down services that go 15 minutes without traffic. RenderPing sends a lightweight HTTP request to your endpoints on a schedule you set, keeping your services warm and avoiding cold-start penalties. It was built by Shyamnath Sankar.

Question 4

Is RenderPing against Render's terms of service?

Accepted Answer

No. Render explicitly allows you to keep free-tier services warm by sending traffic to them. The spin-down is a feature of the free plan, not a restriction on traffic. RenderPing just automates what you would otherwise do with a cron job on your laptop.

Question 5

How many monitors can I run on the free plan?

Accepted Answer

Up to 10 monitors per account. Each monitor can have its own URL, HTTP method, expected status codes, and ping interval (30s minimum).

Question 6

Who built RenderPing?

Accepted Answer

RenderPing was built by Shyamnath Sankar, a software developer. It is open-source under the MIT license and the full source code is available on GitHub at github.com/shyamnath-sankar.

Question 7

Where does the pinger worker run?

Accepted Answer

The pinger is a standalone Node.js script in the /backend folder. You deploy it wherever you want — Render, Railway, Fly.io, or a VPS. It connects to your Firebase project via the Admin SDK.

Question 8

Can I self-host RenderPing?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Both the frontend (Next.js) and the backend pinger (Node) are MIT-licensed and open-sourced by Shyamnath Sankar. You bring your own Firebase project, deploy the frontend to Vercel, and run the pinger wherever you want.