Google Cloud vs Heroku
Google Cloud vs Heroku compared for European indie developers and small startups. Pricing, EU jurisdiction, GDPR posture, and why Runsite (an EU-registered PaaS in Frankfurt) is worth a look.
Google Cloud vs Heroku: quick answer
Google Cloud and Heroku both offer Git-push deploy workflows, but they differ where it counts. Heroku starts around $5/mo. Google Cloud and Heroku are both US-headquartered, so neither escapes US jurisdiction or the CLOUD Act, and neither runs EU-native infrastructure or offers hard spending caps. For European teams that need GDPR-compliant hosting in Frankfurt with predictable EUR billing and a permanent free tier, Runsite is the EU-native alternative to both.
// google cloud problems → runsite solutions
Common Google Cloud frustrations. Sound familiar?
Every Google Cloud frustration, solved.
Google Cloud problem
"$300 free credits ran out in 3 months"
Google Cloud's free trial is generous but temporary. After 90 days, everything is billed, and per-second pricing adds up fast.
Runsite solution
Free tier that doesn't expire
Runsite's free tier is permanent. No countdown, no credit card. Build and iterate as long as you need.
Google Cloud problem
"Cloud Console is overwhelming"
GCP has hundreds of products, nested menus, and IAM policies. Deploying a simple app takes dozens of clicks.
Runsite solution
One screen, two minutes
Connect GitHub, pick EU region, deploy. No console maze, no IAM, no project hierarchy.
Google Cloud problem
"CLOUD Act concerns for EU clients"
Google is a US company. EU enterprises increasingly reject GCP for data sovereignty reasons.
Runsite solution
EU entity, EU law
Runsite is registered in the EU. Your data is governed by European privacy laws. No transatlantic jurisdictional conflicts.
// comparison
Runsite vs Google Cloud
Side-by-side. No marketing fluff, just facts.
| Feature | Runsite | Google Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Setup Complexity | ✓ Git push deploy | Console + gcloud CLI + IAM |
| Billing Clarity | ✓ Fixed plans | Per-second/per-request billing |
| Spending Limits | ✓ Hard cap + Telegram alerts | ✗ Budget alerts only |
| GDPR Compliance | ✓ EU entity | ✗ US company (Alphabet), CLOUD Act |
| Free Tier | ✓ Permanent | 90-day / $300 trial credit |
| Managed PostgreSQL | ✓ From €5/mo | Cloud SQL from ~$7/mo (db-f1-micro) |
| ML/AI Services | Not available | ✓ Vertex AI, BigQuery, TPUs |
| Global Regions | Frankfurt (eu-central) only | ✓ 40+ regions worldwide |
// the other side
What about Heroku?
Heroku killed its free tier and raised prices. Runsite gives you EU hosting, transparent pricing, and a free tier that actually stays free.
// heroku problems → runsite solutions
Common Heroku frustrations. Sound familiar?
Every Heroku frustration, solved.
Heroku problem
"My $7/mo dyno sleeps after 30 min"
Eco dynos spin down constantly. Cold starts kill your API response times and user experience.
Runsite solution
Always-on containers, even on free tier
No sleep. No cold starts. Your app runs 24/7 on dedicated resources in EU data centers.
Heroku problem
"I got a $2,400 bill I didn't expect"
Heroku's autoscaling and add-on pricing is opaque. Surprise invoices are a rite of passage.
Runsite solution
Hard spending limits + alerts
Set a monthly cap. Get Telegram alerts at 80%. We physically cannot charge you more than your limit.
Heroku problem
"Free tier is gone. Hobby is $7/mo per app"
Heroku removed free dynos in 2022. A simple side project now costs $7+/mo minimum.
Runsite solution
Permanent free tier, no credit card
Run side projects, prototypes, and demos forever. Free means free: not "free for 90 days".
// comparison
Runsite vs Heroku
Side-by-side. No marketing fluff, just facts.
| Feature | Runsite | Heroku |
|---|---|---|
| Free Tier | ✓ Permanent | ✗ Removed in 2022 |
| Basic Web Service | €5/mo | $7.00/mo |
| Web Standard (1 vCPU, 1GB) | €12/mo | $25/mo |
| Managed PostgreSQL | €5/mo | $9/mo |
| Data Region | ✓ EU only (Frankfurt, eu-central) | US default, EU = Enterprise only |
| GDPR Compliance | ✓ EU entity, full compliance | ✗ US company (Salesforce) |
| Spending Limits | ✓ Hard cap + alerts | ✗ No built-in limits |
| Sleep / Cold Starts | ✓ Always-on | Eco dynos sleep after 30min |
// pricing, side by side
Google Cloud vs Heroku: what each actually costs
No free tier at all: Heroku discontinued free dynos, Postgres and Redis in November 2022.
Heroku still has the cleanest developer experience, but its pricing punishes hobbyists and small teams: no free tier, expensive production databases, and add-ons that quietly multiply the bill.
Pricing verified June 2026. Check the official pricing page of each provider for current rates.
// in-depth comparison
How Google Cloud and Heroku each compare to Runsite
Google Cloud vs Runsite
Google Cloud runs on genuinely excellent infrastructure, and if your team already lives in BigQuery, Vertex AI, or Firebase, it is a strong home. Cloud Run is a solid serverless container platform, GKE is one of the best managed Kubernetes offerings available, and the $300 free trial credit is generous enough to explore the ecosystem seriously.
The complexity tax is where it turns. The Console hides hundreds of products behind nested menus. IAM service accounts, project hierarchies, and billing accounts create organizational overhead before you deploy a single container. Per-second billing across CPU, RAM, requests, and egress makes monthly costs hard to predict, and the $300 credit expires after 90 days with no permanent free tier behind it. Runsite offers fixed monthly pricing, hard spending caps with Telegram alerts, and a permanent free tier, all on EU infrastructure under EU legal jurisdiction.
If you do not need Google's ML/AI services or global scale and want straightforward EU hosting without a cloud certification's worth of learning, Runsite removes the overhead that makes GCP feel heavy for simple deployments.
Heroku vs Runsite
Heroku is still the best-known name in deployment and one of the worst values for an indie developer. Both things are true at once. It pioneered the PaaS category and defined what developer-friendly deployment looks like: the git-push workflow, the add-on marketplace, and the buildpack system influenced every platform that followed, and the name survived even Salesforce's acquisition.
The problem is the trajectory. Free dynos were eliminated in 2022, Eco dynos sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity, and pricing has steadily increased, so a basic app with a database now costs $16+/mo minimum. Heroku is also a US company with EU data residency available only on enterprise plans. Runsite keeps always-on containers even on its free tier, runs EU-only infrastructure in Frankfurt (eu-central), and enforces hard spending limits with Telegram alerts.
If you learned to deploy on Heroku and want the same git-push simplicity with lower costs, EU data residency, and a free tier that actually persists, Runsite preserves that workflow while fixing the pain points Heroku introduced over the past few years.
// why consider runsite
Beyond Google Cloud and Heroku
EU PaaS for indie developers and small European startups. One region: Frankfurt.
EU-First Infrastructure
While Google Cloud and Heroku default to US markets, Runsite is built exclusively for European developers. Frankfurt (eu-central) region, EU entity, EU jurisdiction, with no transatlantic transfers.
Real GDPR Compliance
EU-registered entity. Your data is governed by European law. No US jurisdiction, no CLOUD Act.
Predictable Pricing
No per-invocation charges, no surprise bills. Fixed plans with hard spending caps and Telegram alerts.
Common Questions
FAQ
Which is better for EU hosting, Google Cloud or Heroku?
Neither Google Cloud nor Heroku is EU-native. Both are US-based (Google Cloud: US-headquartered (Google); Heroku: US-headquartered (Salesforce)) and route most traffic through US regions, with EU availability that is usually limited or gated behind higher tiers. Even when you can select a European region, the parent company stays subject to the US CLOUD Act, which can compel disclosure of EU customer data. For genuine EU data residency, an EU-registered platform is the safer choice: Runsite runs exclusively in Frankfurt (eu-central) under EU jurisdiction, with no transatlantic transfers and no CLOUD Act exposure — the kind of guarantee neither US provider can make.
Which has the better free tier, Google Cloud or Heroku?
Free tiers on both Google Cloud and Heroku change frequently and tend to share the same catch: compute that sleeps after inactivity, bandwidth or build-minute caps, or trial credits that expire after a fixed window. They are fine for quick experiments but rarely sustainable for an always-on hobby project. If a permanent free tier matters, read the current terms carefully. Limits are often buried in the pricing footnotes. Runsite takes the opposite approach: a free tier with no credit card and no expiry, designed to keep small projects online indefinitely rather than nudging you onto a paid plan.
Is Google Cloud or Heroku GDPR-compliant?
Both Google Cloud and Heroku can be configured to support GDPR-compliant workloads through a signed Data Processing Agreement (DPA) and EU region selection where available. However, as US-incorporated entities they remain subject to the US CLOUD Act regardless of where the data physically sits, which is a documented sticking point for European compliance and DPO review. For workloads where US jurisdiction is a hard blocker (public-sector, healthcare, or privacy-sensitive consumer apps), an EU-headquartered provider removes the ambiguity entirely. Runsite is EU-registered with data kept inside the EU, so GDPR posture is the default rather than a configuration exercise.
What is the cheapest way to deploy a side project, Google Cloud or Heroku?
For a single small service, both Google Cloud and Heroku can look inexpensive on paper. The headline price rarely matches the real bill. Per-service billing, metered bandwidth, build minutes, and add-ons for databases or key-value stores stack up quickly, and neither platform offers a hard spending cap to stop a surprise invoice. The cheapest predictable option is one with fixed monthly pricing and an enforced ceiling. Runsite bills in EUR from €5/month with hard spending caps and Telegram alerts, plus a permanent free tier, so a side project stays cheap by design, not by careful monitoring.
// explore alternatives
Try the European Alternative
Skip the Google Cloud vs Heroku debate. Deploy on Runsite.
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