Free Discord bot hosting

In short: Torchlite is a free Discord bot host in Bucharest, Romania. You get a Bot server with 512 MB of RAM, half a CPU core and 3 GB of disk, running Node.js (discord.js) or Python (discord.py). It comes with a starter bot, or it pulls your own code from GitHub on every start. It costs nothing and needs no card: you renew it in the panel once every 24 hours, after a short ad break, and the Renew button opens 6 hours early, so it fits any routine.

Torchlite is a free game server host, and Discord bots run on the same panel, the same hardware and behind the same zero.ms DDoS protection as the game servers. A bot gets its own plan, sized for one bot, and its own pool of running slots, so bots never wait behind game servers for a place on the node.

What you get

512 MB is a lot for a bot. A moderation, welcome, ticket, leveling or slash-command bot for a community of a few thousand members usually sits well under 200 MB. Every server also gets a live console, a file manager, SFTP and subusers, so a friend can help maintain the bot without your password.

Node.js or Python

Pick the language your bot is written in when you create the server:

• Discord bot (Node.js) runs JavaScript, with discord.js in the starter bot. Packages go in package.json and install by themselves at the next start.
• Discord bot (Python) runs Python, with discord.py in the starter bot. Packages go in requirements.txt and install the same way.

Any library works, not only the ones in the starter bot: Eris, Discordeno, Oceanic, nextcord, py-cord, hikari and the rest are just packages. If you are starting from nothing, take Node.js.

How to start

1. On Create your server, pick the Bot plan, then Discord bot (Node.js) or Discord bot (Python).
2. Confirm your email with the code we send. The panel installs the starter bot, which takes about a minute.
3. In the Discord Developer Portal, click New Application, open Bot and click Reset Token. Copy the token.
4. In the panel at game.torchlite.host, open Startup, paste the token into Bot token, then press Start in the Console.
5. Invite the bot from OAuth2, URL Generator, with the scopes bot and applications.commands.

The starter bot answers /ping, /uptime, /roll and /help. The Discord bot guide walks through every step, including intents and invite permissions.

Run your own code from GitHub

Empty the server's folder in Files, then fill in Git repository under Startup with the https address of your repository, and Main file with the file the bot starts from, such as src/index.js or main.py. A private repository also needs Git username and a read-only Git access token. Reinstall the server once and the panel clones the code.

With Update on start left on, every start pulls the latest commit first, so your deploy is: push to GitHub, press Restart. Read the token from the DISCORD_TOKEN environment variable in your code, and it never ends up in the repository.

Keeping the bot online

A free server runs while someone renews it, which is how ads pay for the hardware:

• Once a day, press Renew in the panel: a renew lasts 24 hours.
• The button opens 6 hours early, and the time left is kept, so you renew whenever it suits you. Renew at 20:00 and the button is back the next day from 14:00.
• If you miss a renew, the bot stops and nothing is lost. Press Start when you are back.

With one renew a day, your bot can stay online around the clock for your community, as long as someone opens the panel once a day. A bot that has to run for weeks with nobody looking after it needs paid hosting. The renewal guide has every rule, including the 5-day limit for a bot nobody does anything on.

Who it is for

• Community bots: moderation, welcome messages, roles, tickets, levels and polls for your own server.
• Learning to code a bot: the starter bot is short, commented code you can change in the browser.
• Bots in development: a real always-reachable host for testing slash commands and events, deployed from Git.
• Small game-community tools: a bot next to your Torchlite game server that posts its status or links.

A bot does not count toward the free game server an account can hold: every account gets one game server and one Discord bot, so a game server and its bot fit together.

What a bot may not do

Our terms apply: no selfbots (a bot logged in as a normal user account), no spam, raids or mass DMs, nothing against Discord's own rules, and nothing unrelated to the bot, such as crypto mining or proxies. A bot server that does any of this is removed.

Frequently asked questions

Is Discord bot hosting on Torchlite really free?

Yes. There is no paid tier, no trial and no card. Starting or renewing the bot shows 2 short ads in the panel, and those ads pay for the server. The ad blocker has to be off in the panel only.

Does the bot run 24/7?

Yes, as long as someone presses Renew once every 24 hours. The button opens 6 hours before the timer runs out. If a renew is missed, the bot stops and starts again with one click.

Which languages and libraries are supported?

Node.js and Python. The starter bots use discord.js and discord.py, and any other library installs from package.json or requirements.txt.

Can I host a music bot?

A small one, for one server. 512 MB of RAM and half a core are enough for a single voice connection, not for a public music bot in hundreds of servers.

Where are the servers?

In Bucharest, Romania, behind zero.ms DDoS protection, on the same nodes as Torchlite's game servers.

Can I use a database?

Yes. Every Bot server includes one MySQL database, created from the Databases page of the panel. SQLite files work too, on the 3 GB disk.