# freeshell.de

> freeshell.de | Compute; 1 record: free tier, limits, identity cost and evidence.

HTML https://fshy.ajam.dev/p/freeshell/ | JSON https://fshy.ajam.dev/api/v1/entity/freeshell.json | how to read a record: https://fshy.ajam.dev/llms-full.txt

## freeshell.de

- `compute/freeshell-de` | qualifies-with-caveat | evidence documented | binding write-gated | category shell | tier Free shell account
- needs card no, phone no, ID no, institution no | verified 2026-10-24T06:15:00.000Z (live) | stale on 2026-11-24
- url https://freeshell.de/services/
- free tier: 'SSH to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS server with many tools and apps.' and 'Quota: 42 GB', 'Network: IPv4 + IPv6', 'Private TCP/UDP port: yes — on request'. The shell account is free and non-profit, online since 2002. | unit: GiB | metered on: stored-bytes | read on: 2026-10-24 | source: [1]
- per-object cap: ulimit values per account: 'nofile=unlimited', 'nproc=150', 'fsize=unlimited', 'mem=4 GB'
- retention: Not stated on the pages read: no inactivity deletion rule is published. Backups run daily with 30 days retention, which is the only retention number on the page.
- egress: not published: no traffic allowance or port speed is stated. 'Liberal fair-use limits' is the only qualifier. | metered: no | source: [1]
- identity: email | detail: no card, no phone, no document, no national ID. The signup form asks for a desired login and an existing email address only; a token arrives by email and is then written on a postcard and mailed to a German address before the account is enabled. The identity cost is a postal address, not a payment instrument.
- interface: ssh, sftp, webdav
- limits:
  - volume-quota: 42 GB of shell quota, shared with mail and web space [1]
  - volume-quota: nproc=150 and mem=4 GB per account [1]
  - write-gated (binding): activation requires a physical postcard mailed to a German address [2]
- binding note: The postcard is the gate: nothing is provisioned until a piece of physical mail reaches Germany, which is a delay of days and a cost of one stamp, and no digital route exists.
- interface detail: SSH to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, a ShellInABox browser terminal, rsync/scp, WebDAV through ownCloud, MySQL over the CLI and phpMyAdmin, and a private TCP/UDP port on request. Podman is available for containers.
- tooling: any SSH client; Podman for containers; rsync/scp for transfer
- composes with: A shared shell with 4 GB of memory, 42 GB of disk, a real IPv4 and a private port on request, for no money and no card: the closest thing to a free always-on host, at the cost of a physical postcard and a shared kernel.
- reliability: No reliability event observed. It is a non-profit club, not a company, so continuity rests on volunteers; the page states it has been online since 2002.
- notes: The best free always-on shape found that takes no card: 4 GB of memory, 42 GB of disk and an inbound port. Three caveats. First, activation is by physical postcard to Germany, which is days of latency and a stamp, and it is the only route. Second, it is a shared host, not a VM: no root, a shared kernel, and Podman rather than Docker daemon access. Third, no vCPU count and no egress allowance are published, so the compute and bandwidth sides of the shape are unverified. A third-party aggregator states 20 GB and 1 Gbps for this service; both disagree with the vendor's own 42 GB, and the vendor page is the one recorded.
- evidence note: Quota, memory, nproc, the IPv4+IPv6 pair, the private port and the postcard activation are all quoted from freeshell.de's own services and get-started pages read. Egress allowance, vCPU count and the inactivity rule are not published on any page read.
- extras:
  - shape.ram_gib: 4
  - shape.disk_gib: 42
  - shape.note: mem=4 GB is a ulimit, not an allocation; vCPU is not published, only nproc=150
  - billing_model: free
  - term: indefinite while the account is active; no term is published
  - m10h_usd: 0
  - m24h_usd: 0
  - price_arithmetic: no charge, no card, no billing relationship; the cost is one postcard
  - free_tier_kind: always-free
  - network_out.allow_outbound: yes
  - network_out.allow_inbound_listen: yes
  - network_out.ports: a private TCP/UDP port on request; IPv4 and IPv6 both assigned
  - network_out.static_ip: yes
  - network_out.ipv6: yes
  - session_cap.restart_required: no
  - session_cap.note: none published; background processes, screen/tmux and personal crontab are all permitted
  - signup_url: https://freeshell.de/get-started/
  - payment_methods: none; donations accepted, no billing system
- evidence:
  - [1] 2026-10-24: quoted: 'SSH to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS server with many tools and apps.', 'Quota: 42 GB', 'Network: IPv4 + IPv6', 'Private TCP/UDP port: yes - on request'
  - [1] 2026-10-24: quoted: 'Default limits (ulimit): nofile=unlimited nproc=150 fsize=unlimited mem=4 GB'; 'Background processes: yes · screen/tmux: yes · personal crontab: yes'; 'Backups: daily, 30 days retention'
  - [1] 2026-10-24: quoted: 'Podman (Docker-compatible). Find, run, build, share and deploy apps in your own environment here.' and 'Storage: images/volumes live under ~/.local/share/containers/ (counts to your quota)'
  - [2] 2026-10-24: quoted: 'Free Linux shell account. Activated by postcard.' and 'Grab a postcard: write your token on it, then mail it (physically) to the address in the email.' and 'once the postcard arrives, we enable your account'
  - [3] 2026-10-24: quoted: 'Your non-profit free shell provider since 2002' and 'Generous resources, rich environment, friendly by design'
  - [1] 2026-10-24: quoted: 'Quota: additional 42 GB (separate from shell quota)' for ownCloud, and 'MySQL 8.0 databases ... Quota: technically none - fair-use'
  - [1] 2026-10-24: quoted: 'SSH to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS server with many tools and apps.', 'Quota: 42 GB', 'Network: IPv4 + IPv6', 'Private TCP/UDP port: yes — on request'
  - [1] 2026-10-24: quoted: 'Quota: additional 42 GB (separate from shell quota)' for ownCloud, and 'MySQL 8.0 databases ... Quota: technically none – fair-use'
- sources:
  - [1] https://freeshell.de/services/
  - [2] https://freeshell.de/get-started/
  - [3] https://freeshell.de/