Replit Free Plan: One Published App, and the Link Dies After 30 Days (2026)

The trap in Replit’s free plan isn’t running out of credits. It’s that the thing you built disappears from the internet 30 days after you publish it. Replit’s own documentation says so plainly — but plenty of people only find out after handing the link to a client or pasting it into a CV.

We read Replit’s official Starter plan documentation and pricing page on 2026-09-05. Here is where the free plan’s boundaries actually sit.

1. What Starter actually gives you

From the official documentation:

Not included on Starter (the docs list these as requiring Core): third-party connectors, Replit AI Integrations, Plan Mode, converting a design into an artifact with backend functionality, and any published app beyond the first.

Note that first row: neither the pricing page nor the documentation publishes an actual credit number. We won’t repeat the figures floating around third-party blogs, and you shouldn’t plan against them either — the allowance shown inside your own account is the only reliable number.

2. What to do about the 30-day expiry

This is the part worth planning around. The official wording is that the published link will automatically go down after 30 days. So:

If it’s just for you, or to test an idea — no problem. Thirty days is plenty.

If you’re giving the link to someone else (portfolio, client demo, job application, coursework), do this:

1. Put the expiry date in your calendar on publish day. It isn’t a reminder at day 30, it’s a shutdown. A dead link on a CV is worse than no link.
2. Don’t treat it as a permanent URL. Anything that needs to persist shouldn’t start life on a free publish — once the URL changes, everything you already shared breaks.
3. Record a screenshot or a short screen capture before it expires. Free insurance: even after the link goes down, your portfolio still has something to show.
4. If it genuinely needs to stay live, upgrade. That’s the only legitimate answer; there’s no way around it.

On the Made with Replit badge: the docs state it contains your unique referral link, and removing it requires Core. For anything you’re delivering to a client, that badge is usually a non-starter — and one of the more common reasons people upgrade.

3. Four ways to get the most out of free

1. Spend your single publish slot deliberately. You get one free published app. Build several ideas in the workspace first — building isn’t limited by the publish count — then publish whichever one is most complete.

2. Start with the built-in database, not an external service. Free includes the built-in database, but third-party connectors require Core. Get the whole flow working on built-in storage first. Otherwise you hit the paywall before you’ve even validated the idea.

3. Actively manage the 2GB workspace. 2GB sounds generous until dependencies, uploaded assets and build output eat it. Prune or export dead projects periodically rather than dealing with it at the limit.

4. Queue your background work. Free runs one background task at a time. Before kicking off something long, make sure nothing else is running.

4. When to upgrade

By the official feature split, these are genuinely impossible on free rather than merely tight:

• Publishing more than one app
• Keeping a link alive past 30 days
• Removing the Made with Replit badge (all but mandatory for client work)
• Full build, Plan Mode, AI Integrations, or third-party connectors

The official pricing page currently lists Core at US$20/month (about US$17/month billed annually) and Pro at US$100/month (about US$95/month billed annually) — both read directly from the pricing page on 2026-09-05. Plan contents and prices can change; the official page is authoritative.

Checked on 2026-09-05 against the official Replit Starter plan documentation and the Replit pricing page. Our full plan checks live on the Replit tool page.