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You cannot reliably stop a Discord bot from sleeping on Render’s Free tier. Render spins down Free web services after 15 minutes without qualifying inbound traffic. A bot’s outbound connection to Discord is not the same thing as an inbound request to its Render service, so do not count on gateway activity or a periodic ping as an always-on fix. For a process that must keep running, use paid compute; choose a paid Background Worker for a bot that does not need to accept HTTP requests, or a paid Web Service if it does.
Why does my Discord bot go offline after 15 minutes?
Render’s current documentation says a Free web service spins down after 15 minutes without receiving an HTTP request or WebSocket messages from an existing connection. A later HTTP request or new WebSocket connection can wake the service, and Render says spin-up takes about one minute. These are Render’s documented limits, not independent performance measurements. Render’s Free service documentation
A typical Discord bot initiates an outbound gateway connection to Discord. Render’s rule is about inbound traffic to the Render service, so it is reasonable to infer that outbound Discord gateway activity does not reset the Free web-service timer. Render does not make a Discord-specific promise about every bot architecture; the important distinction is which service receives the traffic.
Render changed its WebSocket rule on February 24, 2026: messages on an existing WebSocket connection now delay spin-down. This applies to WebSocket messages received by the Render service, and does not establish that a bot’s separate outbound Discord connection keeps that service awake. Render’s February 24, 2026 changelog
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Does pinging my Render app keep it awake?
An external health check that reaches the application while the service is active may count as an inbound request and affect its idle timer. But a ping is not an always-on guarantee: the Free service can still be restarted, and a request that arrives after spin-down has to wait for the roughly one-minute spin-up. Render also handles requests to /robots.txt automatically while a Free service is spun down; those requests do not reach the service and do not wake it. Render’s Free service documentation
Use a health check to observe or test an HTTP endpoint, not as a substitute for a continuously running process. Avoid configuring a check against /robots.txt with the expectation that it will wake the bot.
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How do I stop my Discord bot from sleeping on Render?
For a bot that must run continuously, move it to paid compute. Render says paid compute plans do not spin down. The right service type depends on whether your bot needs to receive inbound HTTP traffic. Render FAQ
Choose a paid Background Worker for a gateway-only bot
Render describes Background Workers as services that run continuously without receiving incoming network traffic. That makes a paid Background Worker the closer fit for a process whose job is to maintain a Discord connection and perform bot tasks, rather than serve an HTTP endpoint. This is a service-type recommendation based on Render’s descriptions; check your application’s actual requirements before changing service type. Free instances are not available for Background Workers. Render Background Workers
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Choose a paid Web Service if the bot also serves HTTP
If your bot also accepts inbound HTTP requests—for example, for a dashboard or an endpoint used by another application—a paid Web Service may be more appropriate. Render defines Web Services as server-side applications that listen for HTTP requests; paid compute avoids the documented Free idle spin-down limit. Your First Render Deploy
Compare the trade-offs before switching
- Inbound HTTP needed: consider a paid Web Service.
- No inbound HTTP needed: consider a paid Background Worker.
- Must remain on Free: accept that a Free web service can spin down; a ping does not provide a supported always-on guarantee.
- Cost and resources: check Render’s current pricing and plan details before choosing; pricing changes, and no price is quoted here.
What else should I account for?
Free hours do not remove the idle rule
Render documents 750 Free instance hours per workspace per calendar month. Spun-down services do not consume those hours, and exhausting the allowance suspends Free web services until the next month. The allowance does not prevent a service from spinning down after its idle period. Render’s current compute-plan documentation lists a Free web service at 0.1 CPU and 512 MB RAM. These are stated plan limits, not benchmark results. Render Compute Plans
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Plan for restarts and non-persistent local files
Render may restart a Free web service at any time, and its filesystem is ephemeral: local changes are lost on restart, redeploy, or spin-down. Do not rely on process memory or local files as durable storage. Render’s Free service documentation
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Paid service does not mean a process can never restart. Render says it sends SIGTERM during maintenance and zero-downtime deploy operations. A long-running bot should handle graceful shutdown and reconnect after interruptions according to the needs of its language and Discord library; the precise implementation depends on that application. Render Platform Maintenance
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Which option should I use?
- Use a paid Background Worker if the bot only needs to stay connected and does not need to receive HTTP requests.
- Use a paid Web Service if it must also handle inbound HTTP traffic.
- If you stay on Free, treat inbound requests as possible wake-up events—not a promise of uninterrupted operation—and do not confuse Discord-bound outbound traffic with requests arriving at Render.
Render’s service behavior is separate from Discord’s gateway and session rules. Your bot’s library, reconnect logic, language, and deployment configuration determine how it recovers from interruptions; the service limits above do not specify those implementation details.
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