Heroku
Hetzner
| Feature | Heroku | Hetzner |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | From $5/mo | From $3.79/mo |
| Free Plan | ✗ No | ✗ No |
| Rating | 4 / 5 | 4.6 / 5 |
| Best For | startups, prototyping, small-teams, ruby-python-node-developers | startups, indie-hackers, european-companies, cost-conscious-teams |
| Founded | 2007 | 1997 |
| Git Deploy | ✓ | ✗ |
| Managed Postgres | ✓ | ✗ |
| Managed Redis | ✓ | ✗ |
| Add Ons | ✓ | ✗ |
| Review Apps | ✓ | ✗ |
| Pipelines | ✓ | ✗ |
| Auto Scaling | ✓ | ✗ |
| Cloud Servers | ✗ | ✓ |
| Dedicated Servers | ✗ | ✓ |
| Load Balancers | ✗ | ✓ |
| Block Storage | ✗ | ✓ |
| Object Storage | ✗ | ✓ |
| Firewalls | ✗ | ✓ |
| Private Networks | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Heroku Pros
- Simplest deployment experience (git push to deploy)
- Extensive add-on marketplace for databases and services
- Great for prototyping and MVPs
- Managed Postgres and Redis included
✗ Heroku Cons
- Removed free tier in 2022
- Expensive for production workloads at scale
- Limited infrastructure customization
✓ Hetzner Pros
- Dramatically cheaper than AWS, GCP, and Azure
- Excellent price-to-performance ratio
- European data centers with strong GDPR compliance
- Simple and transparent pricing
✗ Hetzner Cons
- Fewer managed services than hyperscalers
- Limited regions (Europe and US East only)
- Less ecosystem of integrated services
The Verdict
Heroku is built for startups and prototyping, with a focus on git-deploy and managed-postgres. Hetzner targets startups and indie hackers and leads with cloud-servers and dedicated-servers.
Pricing is close: Hetzner starts at $3.79/mo versus $5/mo for Heroku — not a deciding factor on its own.
Neither tool offers a free plan, so factor the subscription cost into your decision from the start.
Hetzner edges out on user ratings (4.6 vs 4). While both are well-regarded, that gap reflects real differences in user satisfaction worth considering.
Both tools are a solid fit for startups — in those cases, the decision often comes down to workflow style and how your team prefers to organize work.
Bottom line: Hetzner has a slight overall edge — but if simplest deployment experience (git push to deploy) matters most to you, Heroku may still be the right call.