The most common problem Telegram bot developers face is simple: the bot works perfectly on your laptop, but the moment you close it, it goes offline. Your users message it and get nothing back.
Keeping a Telegram bot running 24/7 for free requires a hosting platform that won't sleep your process, throttle your connections, or charge you after a trial period. This guide covers your real options and how to set one up in under 5 minutes.
Why bots go offline
There are two modes a Telegram bot can use to receive updates: polling and webhooks.
- Polling: Your bot keeps asking Telegram "any new messages?" in a loop. If your process stops — laptop sleeps, free tier spins down — the loop stops and messages are missed.
- Webhooks: Telegram pushes updates to your server URL the moment a message arrives. Your server must be publicly reachable with HTTPS. If it's down, Telegram queues retries for a short window, then drops them.
Either way, continuous uptime requires a server or hosting platform that never sleeps.
Free options compared
| Platform | Sleep after inactivity? | Free forever? | Webhook support | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NxCreate | No | Yes | Automatic | TelegrafJS / Node.js bots |
| Railway (free tier) | Yes (after $5 credit runs out) | No | Manual | Short-lived experiments |
| Render (free tier) | Yes (spins down after 15 min) | Yes | Manual | Low-traffic bots with cold-start tolerance |
| Glitch | Yes (after 5 min) | Yes | Manual | Demos only |
| Replit (free) | Yes | Yes | Manual | Prototyping |
The key difference: platforms with "sleep after inactivity" will drop your bot offline whenever there's a quiet period. For a real bot with real users, that's unacceptable.
How to host your Telegram bot for free on NxCreate
NxCreate is a managed Telegram bot hosting platform built specifically for TelegrafJS. The free Starter plan runs your bot 24/7 with automatic webhook registration — no server setup, no domain, no SSL certificate needed.
Step 1: Get a Telegram Bot Token
Open Telegram, search for @BotFather, and run /newbot. Follow the prompts and copy the token it gives you.
Step 2: Create a free NxCreate account
Go to nxcreate.com and sign up. No credit card required.
Step 3: Write your bot
NxCreate uses TelegrafJS as its runtime. A minimal echo bot looks like this:
bot.on('text', async (ctx) => {
await ctx.reply(ctx.message.text);
});You write just the handler logic. NxCreate wraps it with webhook management, error handling, and auto-restart automatically.
Step 4: Add your Bot Token as an env variable
In your project settings, add BOT_TOKEN as a secure environment variable. It's never exposed in your code or logs.
Step 5: Deploy
Hit Deploy. NxCreate registers the webhook with Telegram, starts your bot, and it's live — 24/7, from this point forward.
Polling vs webhooks: which should you use?
For 24/7 hosted bots, webhooks are always the right choice. They're faster (no polling delay), more efficient (no wasted requests), and they scale better under load. NxCreate handles webhook registration automatically so you don't need to manage this yourself.
What about Python Telegram bots?
If you have an existing bot written with pyTelegramBotAPI (telebot), NxCreate's current runtime is Node.js — but Python support is on the way. In the meantime, you have two paths:
- Migrate to TelegrafJS: Most Python bot logic maps directly to TelegrafJS equivalents. The NxCreate docs include a migration reference.
- Use a different free host: For Python specifically, Render's free tier (with a keep-alive ping to avoid sleep) or a free Oracle Cloud VM can work, though they require more setup.
Common questions
Does NxCreate's free plan have uptime limits?
No. The Starter plan is free forever with 24/7 uptime and no inactivity sleep. The only limits are 10 bot deployments per day and a 4-second execution timeout per update.
What happens if my bot crashes?
NxCreate automatically restarts crashed bot processes. You don't need to monitor or manually restart anything.
Can I use a database with my free bot?
Yes. NxCreate has a built-in db module for simple key-value and structured storage. You can also connect to an external database via environment variables.
