We don’t actually have a ‘free tier’. We have individual accounts, which have no monthly cost, but you are still able to enter a credit card to be able to use paid services. You can still use our free instance types but you could also have some services using paid instance types as it suits you.
With no card on file, we can’t bill you so we don’t let you exceed the free allowances that we provide. Once exhausted, your services would be suspended and then resumed at the start of a new month.
If you enter a credit card, then we will bill the card for usage at the end of the month.
I would be interested in digging into this statement you made,
is there a way to actually pay you on a prepaid/credit basis without using a credit card.
Are you afraid to enter a card to be able to use paid services as you’re unsure of what you might be billed? Are you wanting the ability to prepay for credits (with a credit card as a one-off) and then burn through those safe in the knowledge you won’t receive unwanted charges?
John B
Render Support, UTC 