Host a Flask Website for Free with Google Cloud Shell

🌐 Host a Flask Website for Free with Google Cloud Shell + LocalTunnel

Ever wanted to host a website for free that the world can see—without deploying to AWS, Heroku, or paying for a server? Here's a clever trick using:

  • ✅ Google Cloud Shell (comes with free CPU/memory)
  • ✅ LocalTunnel (creates a public URL for your localhost)
  • ✅ Flask (for the web app)
All of this runs remotely—you don’t need your own computer or IP to stay online.

📦 Step 1: Create Your Free GCP Cloud Shell Environment

Sign up at https://shell.cloud.google.com

Google Cloud gives you:

  • A free Linux container that runs even if your browser is closed
  • 5GB persistent disk
  • 1 vCPU and 1.7GB RAM

🔐 Step 2: Authenticate and Fetch LocalTunnel Secrets (Optional)

gcloud cloud-shell ssh --authorize-session --command 'wget -q -O - https://loca.lt/mytunnelpassword && echo ""'

This silently pulls your tunnel password or configuration using wget.

🌐 Step 3: Install LocalTunnel and Start a Public Tunnel

gcloud cloud-shell ssh --authorize-session --command 'sudo apt-get install nodejs npm -y; sudo npm install -g localtunnel && lt --port 8000 --subdomain awakened-coffers'

This:

  • Installs Node.js and npm
  • Globally installs LocalTunnel
  • Exposes port 8000 at https://{named_domain}.loca.lt

🐍 Step 4: Run Your Flask App on Port 8000

gcloud cloud-shell ssh --authorize-session --command '
echo "
from flask import Flask
app = Flask(__name__)
@app.route(\"/\")
def hello():
    return \"Hello and welcome to {named domain}!\"
app.run(host=\"0.0.0.0\", port=8000)
" > app.py &&
python3 app.py && rm app.py && sudo kill 1'

This command:

  • Writes the Flask app to app.py
  • Runs it on 0.0.0.0:8000
  • Cleans up the file and stops the shell when finished

✅ Result: Your Website Is Live!

Visit: https://{named_domain}.loca.lt

You’ll see:

Hello and welcome to {named_domain}!

🧠 Final Notes

  • Cloud Shell stops after 1 hour of inactivity
  • the most effective way to keep a website running for free is rerunning on the hour
  • if needed, relocate point of execution of the website
  • And lastly, always load off of github.


  • You now have a truly freely computed in the cloud website..

Happy hacking! 🚀