5 Free Hosting Solutions For Small Web Projects

Finding an affordable hosting solution for small projects and applications is little hard. Developers face hard time in configuring the host for their projects. If you are hosting your project on some complex platform, it’s time to move it from there. A small application and project is something that we build for small test purposes only. If you are not expecting large traffic to your site then rather than spending high amount on business web hosting, it is more sensible to opt for small, affordable hosting solution. Today we have listed 5 free hosting solutions for all your hosting problems of small projects.

1. OpenShift:

OpenShift is a great user-friendly hosting tool for web developers. The free plan can serve upto 50,000 visitors per month and it supports number of programming languages and frameworks such as, PHP, Ruby, Node.js, Python etc. The platform lets developer deploy their product very quickly. OpenShift offers number of built-in features that let developers do things really quickly. OpenShift is highly scalable platform, if your website exceeds the free limit, you can always power the site using your own server or by purchasing a hosting plan that starts with as little as $30 per month. You can power upto 200,000 unique visitors and 50 concurrent connections per month with $30 plan.

2. AppFog:

AppFog has been there for long time now. The platform is known for scaling, managing and laughing thousands of applications on own servers. The platform is quite user friendly for both beginners and experts. AppFog offers 30-day free trial. The cheapest plan that AppFog offers is for $20 per month. The platform supports all major languages and frameworks.

3. Heroku:

Heroku is very popular among those people who stick to free hosting services. It is a ‘pay-as-you-grow’ service. With Heroku, you have to pay very minimal for small projects and apps. The platform offers beautiful add-ons directory too. If you are Heroku customer, deploying and installing cache servers, monitoring tools or utilities become very easy. With Heroku, it becomes very easy to install and modify software and 3D party applications.

4. Apprenda:

Apprenda is a leading Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) platform. The hosting solution platform is powering next generation enterprise software development in public, private and hybrid cloud. It is the only best solution for enterprise oriented apps. Companies based on .Net and Java prefer Apprenda. Apprenda has amazing introduction page, deploying your product on Apprenda is fairly simple due to the user-friendly documentation.

5. Cloud 66:

Cloud 66 is specially designed for Ruby developers. Cloud 66 is focusing on particular category and excelling in it . It is very simple to build PaaS from scratch using Cloud 66. Development serves on Cloud 66 are offered for free. Cloud 66 helps a lot in teaching more about PaaS and your apps. If you are a Ruby developer, Cloud 66 is the best solution for all your needs.    

15 Upcoming Linux-Friendly Single Board Computers Of 2015

Number of SBCs (Single Board Computers) were introduced in 2014. Some new open-spec, community-backed SBC gained lot of popularity last year. Most of these SBCs were powered by Linux or Android. Raspberry Pi was hit the market for a while.

Single Board Computers with high specs are available in the market. Some SBCs come with new quad and octa core CPU boards with more memory, built-in WiFi and extra features. The most growth was under $50 segment. Developers prefer open-source boards for prototyping. Today we have listed top fifteen hacker-friendly SBCs that you should look forward to in 2015.

1. A20-OLinuXino-Micro:

This is a dual-core OLinuXino model, and it is powered by 1 GHz A20 processor coupled with 1GB DDR3 RAM and Mali-400 GPU. The board comes with pre-loaded Android and it supports optional flash drive of 4GB which comes at extra cost of $14. The board supports 1080p video output. A20-OLinuXino-Micro is priced at $67.

2. Arduino TRE:

Arduino has gained tremendous popularity last year. Arduino TRE features full version of Linux. It comes with 8-bit Atmel ATmega microcontroller for AVR compatible shield module. The board is powered by 1 GHz Ti Sitara AM335x processor and 512MB of RAM. The commercial version of the board is not available yet but it will be launched for $39.

3. Banana Pi:

Banana Pi is a clone of Raspberry Pi model B, it has the same port positions and 24-pin header layout. Banana Pi is powered by 1GHz A10 processor coupled with 1GB DDR3 RAM and Mali-400 GPU. The board features all I/O including a SATA support and micro-USB port. It is priced at $50

4. Banana Pi Pro:

This is an updated version of Banana Pi. It features 40 pin connector and microSD support. It has WiFi module and micro-USB OTG port. Banana Pi Pro is powered by 1GHz A20 processor, 1GB DDR3 RAM and Mali-400 GPU. Banana Pi Pro is priced at $62.

5. Creator CI20:

This board by Imagination Technologies runs on Android 4.4 or Debian 7. It is powered by 1.2 GHz Igenic JZ4780 processor coupled with 1 GB RAM and PowerVR SGX540 GPU. Creator CI20 features on-board WiFi, Bluetooth, HDMI, camera and other digital I/O. The board is available for $65.

6. Cutieboard 2:

This is an upgraded version of original cutieboard. It is powered by 1 GHz A20 processor, 1 GB DDR3 Ram and Mali-400 GPU. The device also comes with 4GB NAND flash storage. Cutieboard2 supports both Android and Linux. It comes with SATA, microSD, Ethernet, HDMI and dual USB ports. It is priced at $59.

7. Gizmo 2:

Gizmo 2 is the upgraded version of original Gizmo board. It features G-series SoC. The device is powered by 1GHz AMD G-series GX210HA and 1 GHZ DDR3 SDRAM. It has HDMI, microSD, mSATA and USB 3.0 ports. It supports Linux, Windows and Minoca OS. Gizmo 2 is available for $199.

8. HummingBoard:

This sandwich style board comes with several MicroSOM modules. You can switch between dual-core and single-core. HummingBoard is powered by Freescale i.MX6 Dual, DualLite and solo SoCs. It comes with either 512 MB or 1 GB DDR3 RAM. The price of HummingBoard varies from version of version. It starts at $50 and the high-end version is available at $120

9. Odroid-C1:

Odroid-C1 runs Android or Ubuntu. It is powered by 1.5 GHz Amlogic S805 processor coupled with 1GB DDR3 Ram and Mali-450 GPU. The device is similar to Raspberry Pi compatible 40-pin connector. Odroid-C1 offers microSD or eMMC storage expansion as well as HDMI out, gigabit Ethernet and USB ports.

10. Odroid-U3:

This is another board by Hardkernel. It sports 1.7 GHz Samsung Exynos 4412 Prime processor coupled by 2GB DDR2 SDRAM and Mali-400 GPU. This is an upgraded model of Odroid-U2. It features microSD, eMMC expansion and micro-HDMI, Ethernet and USB ports. The board supports Linux and Android 4.4. It is priced at $65.

11. Parallela:

Parallela is designed to be power-efficient and parallel programming research. It is powered by Xiling Zynq 7020 SoC and 1GB DDR3 RAM. The board offers microSD, gigabit Ethernet, micro-HDMI and dual USB ports. It comes with 60-pin connector for Epiphany and FPGA extensions. The board is priced at $99.

12. Radxa Rock:

Radxa Rock is a tiny SBC that can run Android or Linux. Two models of the board are available based on memory option. It is powered by 1.6 GHz Rockchip RK3188 processor coupled with 2GB DDR3 RAM. The board offers WiFi, Bluetooth, HDMI, Ethernet, USB and S/PDIF ports. The expansion header support many interfaces. The lite version of board is available for $59 while, the Pro version is available for $99.

13. Raspberry Pi A+:

A+ is an upgraded version of A. Raspberry Pi A+ is very tiny in size. It weights just 23 grams. It is powered by 700 MHz Broadcom BCM2835 processor coupled with 256MB SDRAM and Broadcom Videocore IV GPU. It offers 40-pin connector and audio circuit. It doesn't come with Ethernet port. It has one USB port. Raspberry Pi A+ is priced at $20.

14. Raspberry Pi B+:

Raspberry Pi B+ is an updated version of B. It is powered by 700MHz Broadcom BCM2835 processor coupled with 512MB RAM and Broadcom VideoCore IV GPU. The board comes with 40-pin GPIO connector and four USB ports. It offers microSD card slot also. The board is available for $35.

15. Warpboard:

This single board computer by Freescale was launched an year ago at CES2014. The board is available for pre-order at $149. It runs Android or generic Linux. The board is powered by 1GHz Freescale i.MX6 SoloLite. It doesn't come with any internal memory. The board offers KL16 daughter card and dual Freescale Xtrinsic sensor modules.