blitz.cloud vs Heroku: a Heroku alternative in the EU with a free plan

Heroku is the better choice when your team already runs on it, deploys with git push and uses its add-on marketplace. blitz.cloud fits when you want a free plan in the EU without a credit card, or a small app with a database for less than Heroku's cheapest dyno and database together. Heroku has had no free plan since 2022: the cheapest option is Eco at $5 a month, and Eco web dynos sleep after 30 minutes without traffic.

In February 2026 Heroku said it is moving to a "sustaining engineering model focused on stability, security, reliability, and support" and no longer offers Enterprise contracts to new customers. Customers who pay by card keep the same pricing and service, according to the same announcement. If that news is why you're looking around, the table below is what matters day to day.

At a glance

Where Heroku is the better choice

Heroku deploys on every git push, has pipelines with review apps and a large add-on marketplace for logging, monitoring, queues and search. Its buildpacks turn many projects into a running app without a Dockerfile, and it has years of production use behind it. If your team depends on those workflows, staying is cheaper than rebuilding them.

Heroku also offers US regions and, with Private Spaces, named locations in Dublin, Frankfurt and London. blitz.cloud has one data centre in the EU and is in public beta.

Where blitz.cloud fits better

• You want to try something without a card. Heroku needs one before you can create an app, blitz.cloud doesn't.
• A side project with a database. On Heroku an Eco dyno plus the smallest Postgres is $10 a month. On blitz.cloud both are on the free plan, and Pro is 5 EUR a month if you need more.
• Apps that answer without a cold start. An Eco web dyno sleeps after 30 minutes, a free blitz.cloud app after two hours, and on Pro all your apps can stay awake for the same 5 EUR.
• You want a European operator with the data in the EU, without paying for a Private Space to pick the location.

Moving from Heroku to blitz.cloud

1. If your app has a Dockerfile, build the image for amd64, push it to Docker Hub as a public repository and deploy it from the dashboard. Heroku's container registry isn't needed any more. See deploy a Docker image.
2. If Heroku builds your app with a buildpack and the repository is public on GitHub, paste its link into Host something new. blitz.cloud reads the project and writes a Dockerfile if it has none. See deploy a GitHub project.
3. Copy your config vars into the app's Environment tab. Your app should read its port from PORT, as it already does on Heroku.
4. Add a PostgreSQL database to the app, then move your data with pg_dump from Heroku and pg_restore into the new database. DATABASE_URL is set for you, the same name Heroku uses. See databases.
5. On Pro, connect your own domain and point it at the new app.

Private repositories and redeploy on every push come with connecting a GitHub account, which is not live yet. Until then, a private project needs a public image on Docker Hub.

Sources

• https://www.heroku.com/pricing/
• https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/eco-dyno-hours
• https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/regions
• https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/account-verification
• https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/container-registry-and-runtime
• https://www.heroku.com/blog/an-update-on-heroku/

Facts checked on 25 September 2026. Prices and plans change; tell us at hallo@blitzworks.io if something here is out of date.