StackBlaze vs Heroku
Heroku killed its free tier in 2022 and has raised prices every year since. StackBlaze gives you the same push-to-deploy simplicity, with a permanent free tier, persistent disks, preview environments, and Kubernetes-backed infrastructure, starting at $7/mo.
$7/mo
- ✓ Free tier
- ✓ Preview envs
- ✓ K8s-backed
$25/mo
+ $9 PG + $30 Redis
- ✗ No free tier
- ✗ Ephemeral disk
Feature comparison
| Feature | StackBlaze | Heroku |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | ✓ | ✗ |
| Sleep on free | No | N/A |
| Custom domains | Yes (all plans) | Yes (paid only) |
| Persistent disk | ✓ | No (ephemeral) |
| Managed Postgres | ✓ | Yes (+$9/mo min) |
| Managed Redis | ✓ | Yes (+$30/mo min) |
| Private networking | ✓ | Yes (Enterprise) |
| Autoscaling | ✓ | Yes (paid) |
| Deploy from GitHub | ✓ | ✓ |
| Docker support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Preview environments | ✓ | ✗ |
| Kubernetes-backed | ✓ | ✗ |
| Pricing (starter app) | $7/mo | $25/mo+ |
The real bill
A “starter” Heroku stack is rarely $25
Dyno plus Postgres plus Redis adds up fast. StackBlaze starts at $7 for compute with cheaper managed data services.
Monthly bill, starter production stack
Heroku
$64/mo
StackBlaze
$7/mo
Databases priced separately but far below Heroku add-ons
November 2022
Heroku discontinued its free tier, thousands of hobby apps and OSS projects lost hosting overnight. StackBlaze's free tier is always-on with no sleep timers, built for the developers Heroku left behind.
Pricing comparison
For a typical starter web application
StackBlaze
$7/mo
- ✓512 MB RAM, 0.5 vCPU
- ✓Always-on (no sleeping)
- ✓Free custom domain + TLS
- ✓Persistent disk included
- ✓Preview environments
Heroku Basic
$25/mo
- ·512 MB RAM
- ·Always-on
- ·Custom domain on paid plan
- ·Ephemeral filesystem
- ·No preview environments
Why developers switch
Free tier that actually stays free
Heroku removed its free tier in November 2022. StackBlaze brings it back, permanently. Hobby projects and open-source apps run at no cost, with no sleep timers and no credit-card surprises.
3× cheaper for production workloads
A starter production app on Heroku costs $25/mo for the dyno alone, then add $9+/mo for Postgres and $30+/mo for Redis. The same stack on StackBlaze starts at $7/mo with managed databases included at a fraction of the cost.
Real infrastructure, not a black box
StackBlaze runs on dedicated bare-metal Kubernetes. You get persistent disks, preview environments, private networking, and autoscaling, features Heroku charges enterprise prices for, available on every plan.
Migrating from Heroku
Most apps are fully running on StackBlaze in under an hour.
Update your git remote
Add the StackBlaze remote to your existing repository. Your Procfile requires zero changes, StackBlaze reads it exactly as Heroku does and maps each process type to the right Kubernetes workload.
# Add StackBlaze as a new remote
git remote add stackblaze https://git.stackblaze.cloud/my-app.git
# Deploy
git push stackblaze main
Attach your databases
Create a managed PostgreSQL or Redis service from the StackBlaze dashboard in one click. StackBlaze automatically injects DATABASE_URL and REDIS_URL into your app, no manual copy-pasting of connection strings.
Import environment variables
Export your Heroku config vars as JSON with the Heroku CLI, then paste the JSON directly into StackBlaze. All variables are imported in bulk, no re-typing required.
# Export from Heroku
heroku config -a my-app --json > env.json
# Paste into StackBlaze dashboard → Environment → Import JSON
Point your custom domain
Update your DNS CNAME to the StackBlaze edge address shown in the Domains panel. StackBlaze provisions a TLS certificate automatically via cert-manager, no extra steps and no third-party certificate service needed.
Procfile compatibility
StackBlaze reads your existing Procfile without any changes. A web: process becomes a Kubernetes Deployment with Ingress and automatic TLS. A worker: process becomes a background Deployment. A release: process runs as a Job before new pods start, the same guarantee Heroku's release phase provides.
Deploy your first app in minutes
No credit card required. Connect your GitHub repo, push your first commit, and your app is live, with a free TLS certificate and custom domain ready to attach.