The European Heroku alternative
The git-push workflow Heroku invented — on modern Docker runtimes, with EU data residency, from an EU company that is still shipping features.
By Michael, Founder of HostStack · Updated October 2026
Heroku prices checked 29 September 2026 against its public pricing pages.
The short answer
Heroku invented the git-push deploy, and HostStack keeps that workflow. What changes underneath is the runtime and the roadmap. HostStack builds Docker images, so any base image or system dependency works without a buildpack, and there is no 30-second request timeout in the way of WebSockets or long requests. Heroku announced in February 2026 that it is moving to a sustaining-engineering model with no new features.
For an always-on app with Postgres and Redis, HostStack’s three Micro tiers come to €13/mo against $15/mo for Heroku’s closest always-on bundle, and there is a free tier again. Heroku’s Common Runtime has a single EU region; HostStack runs in Helsinki under a Danish company.
Heroku still wins if you need its compliance runtimes such as HIPAA or PCI Shield, VPC peering from Private Spaces, or an add-on with no standalone equivalent.
HostStack or Heroku? Pick by workload
| Your app | Better fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Rails, Django, Laravel or Node app with a worker, Postgres and Redis | HostStack | The same shape as a Heroku app, always on from €5 per process, with Postgres, Redis, MySQL and MongoDB first-party. |
| Requests that run longer than 30 seconds, WebSockets, streaming AI responses | HostStack | Heroku’s router ends a request with no response after 30 seconds. HostStack gives a response at least 100 seconds to start, and no limit once it is streaming. |
| Customer data that must stay with an EU company | HostStack | Helsinki, a Danish operator and a DPA at signup. Heroku’s EU regions are run by US-incorporated Salesforce on AWS. |
| Workloads that need HIPAA, PCI or Heroku Shield | Heroku | HostStack does not hold those certifications yet. |
| Apps peered into an AWS VPC through Private Spaces | Heroku | HostStack’s private network is between HostStack services; it does not peer with external VPCs. |
| An app held together by a Heroku add-on with no standalone vendor | Heroku | Most add-ons are ordinary SaaS you can keep, but one that only exists inside Heroku has to be replaced first. |
Where HostStack differs from Heroku
- A Micro service (€5/mo) + Micro Postgres (€4/mo) + Micro Redis (€4/mo) is €13/mo, always-on; Heroku's closest always-on bundle (Basic dyno + Essential-0 Postgres + Mini Key-Value Store) is $15/mo
- Still being built: in February 2026 Heroku announced a move to a sustaining-engineering model focused on stability and support, with no new features. HostStack ships every week
- Modern Docker runtime — bring any base image, runtime version, or system dependency. No buildpack incompatibility surprises during framework upgrades
- Real EU data residency on European infrastructure with a DPA at signup. Heroku's Common Runtime has a single EU region; Frankfurt and London require Private Spaces, run by US-incorporated Salesforce on AWS
- No 30-second request timeout. A response has at least 100 seconds to start and no limit once it streams, so long-running requests, websockets and AI workloads work without workarounds
- First-party TypeScript SDK and Terraform provider
- Managed MySQL, MariaDB, and MongoDB out of the box. Heroku's own data services are Postgres, Key-Value Store and Kafka; MySQL and MongoDB are third-party add-ons
Features: HostStack vs Heroku
| Feature | HostStack | Heroku |
|---|---|---|
| Web services | ||
| Background workers | ||
| Cron jobs | Free add-on (Heroku Scheduler, billed as dyno time) | |
| Static sites | ||
| Managed PostgreSQL | ||
| Managed MySQL / MariaDB | Add-on (e.g. JawsDB) | |
| Managed MongoDB | Third-party add-on only | |
| Managed Redis | ||
| Object storage | Managed, S3-compatible | |
| Custom domains + SSL | ||
| GitHub auto-deploy | ||
| Docker runtime | Cedar only (heroku.yml); not supported on Fir | |
| CLI tool | ||
| TypeScript SDK | ||
| EU data residency | Helsinki, FI | Common Runtime EU; Dublin/Frankfurt/London on Private Spaces |
| Long-running requests (no 30s ceiling) | ||
| DPA included | Salesforce DPA (US processor) |
Pricing: HostStack vs Heroku
| Tier | HostStack | Heroku |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | 1 Nano + 1 Starter Postgres — €0/mo, no card | No free tier (eliminated Nov 2022) |
| Cheapest always-on | €1/mo Pico (128 MB) | Eco $5/mo (still sleeps); Basic $7/mo (always-on) |
| 512 MB always-on service | €5/mo Micro | $7/mo Basic |
| 2 GB service | €20/mo Standard | $50/mo Standard-2X (1 GB only) |
| Cheapest managed Postgres | €4/mo Micro (256 MB / 1 GB) | $5/mo Essential-0 (shared RAM / 1 GB) |
| Production Postgres (4 GB / 40 GB) | €50/mo Pro | $50/mo Standard-0 (4 GB / 64 GB); $200/mo Premium-0 with HA |
| Bandwidth | 200 GB/team free, €0.01/GB after | Not separately metered (included in dyno cost) |
| Team seats | Unlimited collaborators included on every team | Free up to 25 members (Heroku Teams) |
What a month costs: worked examples
List prices before tax, in each provider's own currency. Heroku figures checked 29 September 2026.
A small production app
One web process and one worker, each always on with 512 MB, the smallest managed Postgres and Redis.
| Line item | HostStack | Heroku |
|---|---|---|
| Web | €5 Micro (512 MB) | $7 Basic (512 MB) |
| Worker | €5 Micro (512 MB) | $7 Basic (512 MB) |
| Postgres | €4 Micro (256 MB RAM, 1 GB) | $5 Essential-0 (1 GB) |
| Redis | €4 Micro (256 MB) | $3 Mini Key-Value Store (25 MB) |
| Total / month | €18 | $22 |
Close at this size. The difference that matters is the Redis: 256 MB against 25 MB for about the same money, and a free tier on HostStack for the staging copy.
A growing app with a production database
Two 1 GB web instances, one 1 GB worker, and Postgres with 4 GB of RAM. Redis left out because the larger Heroku Key-Value plans were not checked.
| Line item | HostStack | Heroku |
|---|---|---|
| Web (2 × 1 GB) | €20 (2 × Small, €10 each) | $100 (2 × Standard-2X, $50 each) |
| Worker (1 GB) | €10 Small | $50 Standard-2X |
| Postgres (4 GB RAM) | €50 Pro (40 GB storage) | $50 Standard-0 (64 GB storage) |
| High availability | 3-node cluster on Pro at no extra cost (beta, enabled per team) | $200 Premium-0 instead of Standard-0 |
| Total / month | €80 | $200 ($350 with HA Postgres) |
Dynos are where Heroku costs pile up. Heroku gives you more database storage (64 GB against 40 GB), so a storage-heavy database narrows the gap.
When NOT to choose HostStack
Heroku is the better fit in some cases. Here's when we'd tell you so.
You depend on a specific Heroku add-on with no Docker equivalent. Most are replaceable, but if you rely on add-ons like New Relic Heroku-tier, Memcachier, or Heroku Scheduler's exact UI you'll need to swap to the standalone vendor.
You're happy paying Heroku for the SOC 2 Type 2 / HIPAA / PCI Shield runtime. Our compliance roadmap is solid but we don't carry every certification yet.
You're running on Heroku Private Spaces with VPC peering to AWS. Our private networking is service-to-service inside HostStack; we don't peer to external VPCs.
You want zero-config Buildpack autodetection for an obscure runtime. We support Docker + framework presets; rare buildpacks need a Dockerfile.
Migrate from Heroku
Heroku concepts, translated
| On Heroku | On HostStack |
|---|---|
| Dyno | An instance of a service at a size from Pico (128 MB, €1) to XLarge (8 GB, €80). hoststack services scale svc_… 2:5 autoscales between 2 and 5. Autoscaling |
| Procfile (web, worker, …) | Not read. The web command becomes the start command; each other process type is its own worker service, sized and scaled on its own. Deploying |
| Buildpacks | Runtime detection for Node.js, Bun, Python, Ruby, Go, Rust, PHP, Java, .NET and Elixir, on the version your project declares. Anything else builds from a Dockerfile. Runtime detection |
| Release phase | A pre-deploy command (--pre-deploy-command) runs in the new container before traffic switches; if it fails, the old version stays live. Pre-deploy command |
| Preboot | Every deploy is rolling and health-gated by default: the new container takes traffic only once it answers. Health checks |
| Config vars | Environment variables, imported from a .env file with hoststack env import, and shared across services with env groups. Environment variables |
| Heroku Postgres, DATABASE_URL | Managed Postgres; linking it injects DATABASE_URL just as Heroku does. Nightly backups, 7 kept; no point-in-time recovery yet. Managed databases |
| Heroku Key-Value Store | Managed Redis on the same plans as Postgres, from €4 for 256 MB. Managed databases |
| Heroku Scheduler | A cron job service on a 5-field UTC schedule, up to 10 minutes per run; longer jobs go in a workflow. Cron jobs |
| Review apps | A preview environment per pull request. It shares the service’s env vars and databases; there is no per-preview database. Preview environments |
| Pipelines: promote | hoststack deploy promote svc_… dpl_… --to env_… runs the same image in another environment without a rebuild. CLI |
| heroku releases:rollback | hoststack deploy rollback svc_… dpl_… runs an earlier image again without a rebuild. Rollback |
| heroku logs --tail | Live logs in the dashboard; hoststack logs svc_… --since 1h --search … from the CLI, which does not follow yet. CLI |
The full walkthrough — price comparison, before/after config, and the gotchas worth knowing — is in the Heroku migration guide.
Reference for the move: environment variables (including hoststack env import for a .env export), managed databases, the CLI and, to script the whole thing, the TypeScript SDK.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest Heroku alternative for always-on apps?
HostStack's Pico service is €1/month (128 MB) and stays on 24/7. Heroku's cheapest paid dyno, Eco at $5/month, is a 1,000-hour pool shared across your account and sleeps after 30 minutes of inactivity; the Basic dyno that stays awake is $7/month (512 MB). So HostStack is cheaper at the entry point and no paid tier sleeps. HostStack's free Nano does sleep after an hour idle until a card is on file.
Does HostStack have the 30-second request timeout that Heroku does?
No. Heroku’s router ends a request whose response has not started within 30 seconds. HostStack puts no limit on how long a response takes: it has at least 100 seconds to send its first byte, and once it is streaming it runs for as long as data keeps flowing. So long-running requests, streaming responses and WebSockets are not cut off at 30 seconds. Uploads have limits of their own — body size, and five minutes for the request to arrive — listed under request size and time limits in the networking docs.
How much is managed Postgres compared to Heroku Postgres?
HostStack managed PostgreSQL starts at €4/month (Micro, 256 MB / 1 GB) versus Heroku's Essential-0 at $5/month (1 GB), and includes nightly backups to S3-compatible object storage, kept off the database's machine. At production size the prices are close: HostStack Pro (4 GB RAM / 40 GB) is €50/month with a 3-node Patroni HA cluster available, while Heroku's Standard-0 (4 GB / 64 GB) is $50/month single-node and Premium-0 with HA is $200/month.
Is HostStack a good Heroku alternative for European teams?
Yes — it is built for it. Heroku runs on AWS in the US and Europe, but Salesforce is US-incorporated (CLOUD Act exposure), and since February 2026 Heroku has been in a sustaining-engineering model with no new features planned. HostStack is operated by the Danish company MICCI with data resident in Helsinki, Finland today (Germany regions on the roadmap), a DPA at signup, and a familiar git-push deploy workflow plus Docker runtime, so the migration keeps the Heroku developer experience while fixing the EU-residency gap.
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