Compare / Heroku vs Hetzner Cloud
Heroku vs Hetzner Cloud
Pre-calculated from hand-checked data — Heroku checked 2026-08-01, Hetzner Cloud checked 2026-08-01.
The short version
Heroku wins more of our comparison points, but Hetzner Cloud still fits if european projects that need serious compute or move a lot of traffic describes you.
Price Heroku
Heroku is cheaper at every stage we model — about $50/mo even for a growing project.
Ease Heroku
Heroku is easier to get running: git push heroku main; buildpacks detect the stack and the platform handles the rest.
Control Hetzner Cloud
Hetzner Cloud gives you more control over the stack — the flip side of the convenience trade.
Features Heroku
Heroku comes out ahead on 6 of the 15 features we track, versus 1.
What developers say about this matchup
First-person discussions from the past three years that compare these products directly. Summaries are paraphrased; follow the source for the full context.
Developers directly contrast Heroku's backend and full-stack strengths with Vercel's frontend focus, newer PaaS alternatives, and much cheaper Hetzner compute.
Been a while since I used Heroku — how is it faring with Vercel out?At a glance
| Heroku | Hetzner Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Teams that already know Heroku and value its mature workflow over price. | European projects that need serious compute or move a lot of traffic. |
| How deploys work | git push heroku main; buildpacks detect the stack and the platform handles the rest. | You get root on a bare server: bring your own setup, or use one-click apps like Docker and WordPress. |
| The tradeoff | You pay a platform premium — comparable raw compute costs a third as much elsewhere. | Self-managed like any VPS, and the bandwidth advantage mostly applies to EU locations. |
| Free tier | None | None |
What you'd realistically pay
| Project stage | Heroku | Hetzner Cloud | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Just starting | ≈$7/mo Basic | ≈€43.49/mo CCX13 (EU) | Heroku |
| Steady traffic | ≈$25/mo Standard-1X | ≈€43.49/mo CCX13 (EU) | Heroku |
| Growing | ≈$50/mo Standard dynos + add-ons | ≈€86.49/mo CCX23 (EU) | Heroku |
Our ratings
Ease of use Heroku
Pricing clarity Hetzner Cloud
Free tier
Scaling Heroku
Control Hetzner Cloud
Feature by feature
Heroku wins 6, Hetzner Cloud wins 1, with 8 even.
Deploy workflow
| Heroku | Hetzner Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy from Git push | Yes git push heroku main is the original deploy story; GitHub integration too. | No No deploy pipeline — bring your own CI or scripts. |
| Preview deploys | Yes Review Apps create a running app per pull request. | No Nothing built in. |
| Official CLI | Yes The heroku CLI covers deploys, logs, scaling, and add-ons. | Yes hcloud CLI manages servers, networks, and snapshots. |
| Instant rollbacks | Yes heroku releases:rollback reverts to any previous release instantly. | Partial Snapshots and paid backups restore machines; no deploy-level rollback. |
Platform
| Heroku | Hetzner Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Custom domains + HTTPS | Yes Custom domains with automated certificate management on paid dynos. | Yes Point DNS at the server; TLS is yours via certbot or a proxy. |
| Built-in CDN / edge network | No No built-in CDN — pair with Cloudflare or Fastly yourself. | No No CDN product — put Cloudflare in front if needed. |
| Serverless functions | No Dynos are long-running processes; there is no function product. | No Not a VPS feature. |
| Docker containers | Yes Deploy container images through the Heroku container registry. | Yes Docker CE one-click app or install it yourself. |
| SSH / shell access | Partial heroku run bash gives a one-off shell in a fresh dyno, not the live one. | Yes Full root SSH. |
| EU hosting region | Yes Common Runtime offers a Europe region at the same prices. | Yes Germany and Finland are the home turf — this is where the value is. |
Runtime & operations
| Heroku | Hetzner Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic scaling | Partial Built-in autoscaling requires Performance-tier dynos; standard dynos scale manually. | No Manual resizing or manual fleet management. |
| Scale to zero | Partial Eco dynos sleep after 30 idle minutes; Basic and Standard run continuously. | No Servers bill until deleted, even powered off. |
| Scheduled jobs | Yes Heroku Scheduler (free add-on) runs tasks on a schedule. | Yes Classic cron on the box. |
| Managed database | Yes Heroku Postgres and Key-Value Store are fully managed add-ons. | No No managed database product — self-host or go external. |
| Logs & metrics built in | Partial Log stream and basic metrics included; serious monitoring means add-ons. | Partial Basic server graphs in the console; app-level monitoring is yours. |
Watch out for
Heroku
- There is no free tier.
- Compute is expensive for what you get: Standard-1X costs $25/month for 512 MB of RAM.
- Databases and other add-ons bill separately and can dominate the total.
Hetzner Cloud
- US locations include only 1–2 TB of traffic versus 20 TB in the EU — the famous value is a European value.
- A public IPv4 address costs €0.50/month extra; only IPv6 is free.
- Servers bill until deleted, even while powered off.
- Cheaper shared-CPU (CX) plans exist but are not yet in our checked dataset.
Read the full reviews: Heroku and Hetzner Cloud. Or answer four questions to see what fits your project.