After offering the best ROI to its users through its affordable plans, InstaWP has decided to take it up a notch. With a revolutionary new Pay-Per-Use pricing model, InstaWP is making WordPress development more flexible and accessible than ever before.
If you’ve been wondering how to get the most out of your WordPress sites without breaking the bank, then this is a game-changer you don’t want to miss. Keep reading to discover how InstaWP’s Free Tier + Pay-Per-Use model is the best combination for developers, agencies, and anyone looking to build and scale faster than ever!
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Our Old & Gold Free Tier Has Got a Makeover – Here’s What’s New!
InstaWP’s beloved Free Tier has received a major upgrade, making it even more powerful and flexible for all types of WordPress users. Whether you’re a developer, agency, or hobbyist, you now get a truly enhanced experience with more features and a whole lot more freedom, without paying a dime.
Here’s what’s new and what’s changed:
What You Get with the New Free Tier:
When you sign up for InstaWP, you’re automatically enrolled in the Free Tier. To activate your account and access these features, you simply need to add a credit card—but you won’t be charged unless you exceed the free limits.
Here’s what you get in the Free Tier:
✅ 3 Free WordPress Sites
- Duration: 48 hours per site
- Disk Space: 512MB per site
- Use Case: Ideal for quick plugin/theme testing, debugging, or sandbox demos.
These are lightweight, disposable sites designed to help you experiment freely without worrying about billing.
✅ Unlimited Basic Connected Sites
While your sites are temporary, you can connect unlimited live or external WordPress sites to manage them via InstaWP’s dashboard using the InstaWP Connect plugin—completely free.
When you’re managing WordPress with InstaWP on Free Tier, you don’t have to pay for:
- Monitor uptime
- View activity logs
- Trigger plugin/theme updates
- Generate WordPress maintenance reports
✅ Build & Sell WaaS Templates for Free
Want to build a Website-as-a-Service (WaaS) product? You can start for free:
- Build templates and share them
- Create blueprints
- Launch hosted WaaS products directly from InstaWP
No monthly subscription required—just pay as you scale.
✅ Free Plugin/Theme Migrations
If you’re pulling a site into InstaWP, it’s free. Whether you’re migrating from local development, another host, or cloning from GitHub, you can do it without paying.
✅ Free Access to Configs, Templates & Tools
Even in the Free Tier, you get full access to:
- InstaWP Configurations (PHP versions, plugin combos, etc.)
- Template creation
- Site cloning
- InstaWP’s “Run” feature for automation workflows (e.g., /run/demo-site)
These don’t cost anything until they consume paid resources (like disk, site permanence, or team usage).
✅ Teams & Collaboration: Free to Start
InstaWP Teams lets you collaborate with your agency, clients, or product partners.
- Team Creation: Pay-per-use only
- Team Members: Free to add
Why Free? We want more people creating, sharing, and experimenting on InstaWP.
More users = more usage = more value for everyone.
✅ API, Sync, and Git: Free Quotas
You can still leverage WordPress Git integration and automation tools within reasonable limits.
These quotas reset monthly, giving you a consistent playground for testing DevOps workflows.
Do You Need to Add a Credit Card (Even for Free Users)?
Yes, you’ll need to add a credit card to activate your Free Tier account. But here’s the important part: this isn’t just a formality—it’s actually for your benefit.
We know what you’re thinking—”Why would I need to add my credit card for a free service?” The answer is simple: to ensure the best possible experience for real users like you.
Over the years, we’ve seen truly free systems get exploited by bots, spam accounts, and misuse, leading to a subpar experience for everyone. By requiring a credit card (without charging it, of course), we’re able to:
- Verify Account Authenticity: This ensures that every account is created by a legitimate user, not a bot or a spam account.
- Enhance Platform Reliability: With real, authenticated users, the platform runs more smoothly, ensuring you get the best experience without interruptions.
- Protect Against Misuse: This small step helps us avoid misuse and maintain a high-quality, fast platform for you.
In short, asking for a credit card is a simple but powerful measure to maintain the integrity and quality of the InstaWP experience, keeping it reliable, secure, and blazing fast for every real user.
Which Features are Restricted in the Free Tier?
While the Free Tier offers an incredible set of features for getting started with InstaWP, there are a few limitations to keep in mind. These restrictions ensure that users on the Free Tier can still test, experiment, and explore, but advanced functionality will require an upgrade.
Here’s what you won’t be able to do on the Free Tier:
- No custom domains—your site lives on InstaWP’s default subdomain.
- No direct server access, unless you decide to level up.
- No CDN or server location choices—everything is set to default.
- View-only access to PHP settings—no tweaking the server.
- No Git integration for seamless code updates on Free Tier.
- No running WP-CLI commands—you’re restricted to the basics.
- No security scanning available—keep it safe manually.
- No auto-backups—back up your site the old-fashioned way.
- InstaWP’s MU plugin is here to stay, whether you like it or not.
- Remove the Splash Screen. It will be on full display until you upgrade.
To sum up, the Free Tier of InstaWP is an amazing launchpad to explore InstaWP, offering you all the basics to get started. But we know some of our users crave more—whether it’s the need for more flexibility, increased storage, or advanced features.
And we totally get it. That’s why we don’t want you to feel restricted by the Free Tier when you’re ready to take your WordPress projects to the next level.
To address this, we decided to launch a Pay-Per-Use system. With this, you can add exactly the resources you require—only when you need them, without the burden of overpaying for unnecessary extras.
Free Tier + Pay-Per-Use (PPU) Model – The Best of Both Worlds
While the Free Tier gives you a fantastic starting point, the true magic happens when you combine it with InstaWP’s Pay-Per-Use model. This hybrid approach offers the ultimate flexibility to scale your projects as you grow, without the limitations of traditional pricing plans. Here’s why the Free Tier + PPU combo is the best of both worlds:
- Permanent Sites: Want to keep a site running after 48 hours? You can upgrade to a permanent site for just a small fee.
- Push Migrations: Move your sites to external hosts for just $2 per site—no need for a subscription.
- Advanced Features: Unlock advanced features like SSH/SFTP access, custom domain mapping, Git deployment, and increased storage as your project grows, all with the flexibility of pay-as-you-go pricing.
- More Storage & Resources: Free sites are limited to 512MB of disk space, but with PPU, you can scale up to get as much space as you need.
InstaWP’s new pricing philosophy is simple:
“Use everything. Pay only when you grow.”
We don’t believe in locking features behind arbitrary paywalls or fixed monthly plans that you may never fully use. Instead, we give you:
- Full access to powerful features
- A clear path to scale your usage
- Complete visibility on what you’re paying for
The Free Tier helps you get started. The Pay-Per-Use model helps you scale responsibly.
Final Thoughts: Made for Builders, Developers, and Dreamers
InstaWP’s new Free Tier isn’t a trial—it’s a commitment to WordPress developers, agencies, and product creators who want to move fast, without red tape.
Want to test your plugin?
Build a product demo?
Run a quick WooCommerce test?
Try a new theme?
Now you can. Free. Instantly. And only pay when your success demands it.
Ready to try the new Free Tier? Start Building for Free →
