Heroku vs Platform.sh
Heroku vs Platform.sh 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.
Heroku vs Platform.sh: quick answer
Heroku and Platform.sh both offer Git-push deploy workflows, but they differ where it counts. Heroku starts around $5/mo. Platform.sh (a French (EU) company) and Heroku (US-headquartered (Salesforce)) sit on different sides of the data-residency question. 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.
// 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 |
// the other side
What about Platform.sh?
Platform.sh (Upsun) is EU-based and enterprise-grade. But at €30-60+/mo minimum, it's not built for indie developers. Runsite is.
// platform.sh problems → runsite solutions
Common Platform.sh frustrations. Sound familiar?
Every Platform.sh frustration, solved.
Platform.sh problem
"€30+/mo for a simple app"
Platform.sh/Upsun charges a project fee plus per-hour compute, disk, and backup costs. Even small apps are expensive.
Runsite solution
€5/mo, all included
Web service with compute, SSL, and monitoring for €5/mo. Add PostgreSQL for €5/mo. No hidden fees.
Platform.sh problem
"15-day trial is not enough"
Platform.sh gives you 15 days to evaluate. After that, you're on usage-based billing with no free option.
Runsite solution
Free tier forever
Prototype and test as long as you need. No countdown, no credit card, no pressure to convert.
Platform.sh problem
"Platform YAML config is verbose"
Platform.sh requires .platform.app.yaml, services.yaml, and routes.yaml with platform-specific syntax.
Runsite solution
Push code, we figure it out
Runsite auto-detects your stack. Or bring a Dockerfile: standard tools, no proprietary config.
// comparison
Runsite vs Platform.sh
Side-by-side. No marketing fluff, just facts.
| Feature | Runsite | Platform.sh |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Cost | €5/mo | ~€30-60+/mo (project fee + compute) |
| Free Tier | ✓ Permanent, no credit card | ✗ 15-day trial only |
| Pricing Model | ✓ Fixed plans | Per-hour compute + disk + backup fees |
| EU Entity | ✓ EU-registered | ✓ French company (SAS) |
| GDPR Compliance | ✓ Full compliance | ✓ Full compliance |
| Multi-Environment | Coming soon | ✓ Git branch = environment |
| Configuration | ✓ Zero-config or Dockerfile | Platform-specific YAML |
| Spending Limits | ✓ Hard cap + Telegram alerts | ✗ Usage-based billing |
// pricing, side by side
Heroku vs Platform.sh: 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 Heroku and Platform.sh each compare to Runsite
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.
Platform.sh vs Runsite
Platform.sh gets the jurisdiction right and the price wrong. It is one of the few PaaS providers that is genuinely European, a French SAS company (now rebranding as Upsun) with EU data centers and real GDPR compliance. The git-branch-to-environment workflow is elegant, multi-app support is mature, and the infrastructure cloning feature is unique in the industry.
Then the bill arrives. A simple application runs €30-60+/month once you add the project fee to compute charges. The 15-day trial is too short for serious evaluation, and the configuration leans on platform-specific YAML files that do not port anywhere else.
Runsite tells the same EU compliance story, also an EU entity with EU-only data centers, but at a 10x lower entry point of €5/mo, with a permanent free tier and zero-config or Dockerfile-based deploys. Developers who value Platform.sh's EU credentials yet find the pricing prohibitive for side projects, MVPs, or early-stage startups get the same jurisdictional guarantees for a fraction of the cost, with simpler configuration.
// why consider runsite
Beyond Heroku and Platform.sh
EU PaaS for indie developers and small European startups. One region: Frankfurt.
EU-First Infrastructure
While Heroku and Platform.sh 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, Heroku or Platform.sh?
Platform.sh (a French (EU) company) has the stronger EU-residency story here, while Heroku is US-headquartered (Salesforce) and stays subject to the US CLOUD Act even in its European regions. If jurisdiction is your deciding factor, that gap matters. Runsite is EU-native as well, running exclusively in Frankfurt (eu-central) under an EU entity, and adds fully managed deploys, predictable EUR billing, and a permanent free tier — so you get European residency without giving up developer experience.
Which has the better free tier, Heroku or Platform.sh?
Free tiers on both Heroku and Platform.sh 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 Heroku or Platform.sh GDPR-compliant?
Platform.sh (a French (EU) company) can keep data under European jurisdiction, whereas Heroku, as a US-incorporated provider, remains subject to the US CLOUD Act regardless of the region you pick — a common sticking point in DPO review. For workloads where EU jurisdiction is a hard requirement, an EU-registered provider removes the ambiguity. Runsite keeps data in Frankfurt under an EU entity, so GDPR posture is the default rather than a per-region configuration exercise.
What is the cheapest way to deploy a side project, Heroku or Platform.sh?
For a single small service, both Heroku and Platform.sh 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 Heroku vs Platform.sh debate. Deploy on Runsite.
Start Free on Runsite →