blitz.cloud vs Render: free tier, sleeping services and EU hosting
Render against blitz.cloud on free tier sleep and expiry, Frankfurt region, Docker images, Postgres and git deploys, with sources checked 14 September 2026.
Render is the better choice when you need git push deploys, private registries or a platform that grows into paid production services with a known track record. blitz.cloud fits when you want free apps that stay awake and a free database that doesn't expire, hosted by a German company. On Render's free tier, web services sleep after 15 minutes and the free Postgres database expires after 30 days.
At a glance
| blitz.cloud | Render | |
|---|---|---|
| Company | BlitzWorks UG, Regensburg, Germany. No US parent | Render Services, Inc., San Francisco, US |
| EU regions | Falkenstein, Germany (the only region) | Frankfurt (others: Oregon, Ohio, Virginia, Singapore) |
| Free tier | 15 apps, 2 GB memory, 10 GB storage, one database. No sleeping, no expiry, no card | Web services sleep after 15 minutes without traffic, 750 hours a month. Free Postgres (1 GB) expires after 30 days plus 14 days' grace. Files are lost on redeploy. No card needed |
| Cheapest paid plan | Not on sale yet. Pro is planned at 5 EUR a month | Starter instance $7 a month, Postgres from $6 a month |
| Run a finished Docker image | Yes, public Docker Hub images, amd64, running as non-root | Yes, public images from any registry, private ones from Docker Hub, GHCR, GitLab, Google Artifact Registry and ECR |
| Git push deploys | Not yet, planned | Yes |
| Managed databases | PostgreSQL 17, MariaDB 11.4, Redis (Valkey 8), with nightly backups | Postgres and Key Value (Redis-compatible), both with limited free versions |
| Custom domains and HTTPS on free | HTTPS on your blitz.cloud subdomains. Custom domains not yet | Yes. Hobby includes 2 domains, then $0.25 each a month |
Where Render is the better choice
Render connects to your repository and redeploys on every push, which blitz.cloud can't do yet. It pulls images from private registries, so you don't need to make your image public. Custom domains work on the free tier.
Render also has more regions, including the US and Singapore, and paid instances that scale well beyond a hobby project. If you already know your app will grow into a paid production service, Render's paid plans are a proven path. blitz.cloud has one data centre and is in public beta.
Where blitz.cloud fits better
- Your app should answer the first request of the day without a cold start. blitz.cloud apps don't sleep.
- You want a free database for a long-running personal project. Render's free Postgres expires, blitz.cloud's doesn't, and it's backed up every night.
- Files your app writes should survive a restart. On Render's free tier they are lost on redeploy; on blitz.cloud, folders an app writes to stay.
- You want a German operator and a single German data centre, without choosing a region.
Moving from Render to blitz.cloud
If your Render service already runs from a Docker image, push that image to Docker Hub as a public repository and deploy it on blitz.cloud. Make sure it listens on a port such as 8080 and runs without root. If Render builds your code from git, add a Dockerfile first. See deploy a Docker image and deploy a Node.js API.
Sources
- https://render.com/terms
- https://render.com/docs/regions
- https://render.com/docs/free
- https://render.com/pricing
- https://render.com/docs/deploying-an-image
Facts checked on 14 September 2026. Prices and plans change; tell us at hallo@blitzworks.io if something here is out of date.
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