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Summary of ChatGPT's Anwer:

To run your application for 20 hours a day for free:

  1. Heroku: Free tier sleeps after inactivity, with 550 hours/month. You'll need to manage uptime carefully.
  2. Glitch: Free tier sleeps after 5 minutes of inactivity but can be kept running with external pings.
  3. Repl.it: Allows continuous execution within free resource limits.
  4. GitHub Codespaces: Suitable for small tasks, but limited free usage, designed more for development.
  5. Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Free tier includes a small VM (f1-micro), good for continuous low-computation tasks.
  6. AWS Free Tier: EC2 micro instance can run continuously, but track usage to avoid charges.

Best options for continuous uptime: AWS or GCP. For lightweight apps: Glitch or Repl.it.

For a lightweight Python application that needs to run continuously and securely on a free server, you have a few options:

1. Cloud Platforms

  • GitHub Codespaces: GitHub Codespaces provides a cloud-based development environment where you can run code. It might be suitable for your needs if the resource limits are sufficient.

  • Repl.it: Repl.it offers a free tier that allows you to run Python code continuously. It also has built-in version control and a secure environment.

  • Glitch: Glitch offers free hosting for small projects. It’s ideal for low-computation tasks and provides a secure environment.

2. Free Cloud Services

  • Heroku: Heroku has a free tier that might work for your application. You can deploy your code easily, but keep in mind that the free tier has limitations and may sleep after periods of inactivity.

  • Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Free Tier: GCP offers a free tier that includes a small VM instance (f1-micro) which might be sufficient for your needs. You’ll need to be mindful of usage limits.

  • Amazon Web Services (AWS) Free Tier: AWS provides a free tier that includes an EC2 micro instance which could work for running your application.

3. Secure Practices

Regardless of where you choose to deploy your application, ensure that you:

  • Use Environment Variables: Store sensitive information like login credentials in environment variables rather than hardcoding them in your code.

  • Restrict Access: Configure your server or application to only allow necessary access and use secure authentication methods.

  • Monitor for Security Issues: Regularly check for updates and security patches for your application and dependencies.

If you need help setting up any of these platforms or have specific security concerns, let me know!