PodBy
Flat-price EU hosting for static sites and containers: €5 sites, €15 pods with databases included
Quick Overview
| Company | I'm Blue, Lda. (VAT ID PT514795468) |
|---|---|
| Category | PaaS Platforms |
| Headquarters | Portugal (city not stated on the pages read) |
| EU Presence | EU (Portugal) |
| Data Location | EU, on Hetzner or Webdock infrastructure |
| Open Source | No |
| Pricing | Static sites €5 a month (as many sites as fit in 1 GB, 100 GB egress a month, own domains, HTTPS, deploy from zip or CLI). Pod €15 a month (2 vCPUs, 4 GB RAM, 20 GB SSD, 1 TB egress, PostgreSQL or MySQL at no extra cost, 2 daily and 3 weekly backups, deploy from Dockerfile, image or CLI). Larger pods on request by email. Flat monthly prices, no overage charges, prices exclude VAT (23% Portuguese VAT for Portugal and EU customers without a VAT ID). Payments via Mollie. |
| Free Option | No free trial stated; 14-day refund of unused full days on recent payments |
| Replaces | Heroku, Vercel, Cloudflare |
Detailed Review
PodBy is a deliberately small hosting service from I'm Blue, Lda., a Portuguese software company incorporated in 2018. It sells two things: static sites at €5 a month and pods at €15 a month. A pod is a container built from a Dockerfile or image, with 2 vCPUs, 4 GB of RAM, 20 GB of SSD and a PostgreSQL or MySQL database at no extra cost. Everything runs on Hetzner or Webdock servers in the EU, and prices exclude VAT.
The pitch is predictability. Nothing is metered, a pod costs the same whether it runs for one day or thirty, and the vendor says it never bills overages on its own, it asks you to upgrade instead. That is a clear contrast with usage-priced platforms such as Koyeb or Northflank on this page. PodBy also lists what it leaves out: no edge network, no serverless workers, no AI features, no Kubernetes and no add-on marketplace.
That focus is also the limit. There is no autoscaling, no managed add-ons beyond databases on the pod, no certifications are mentioned, and larger machines are arranged by email. It is a good fit for a side project, a small SaaS or a marketing site plus an app, and a weaker one for teams that need scaling, compliance paperwork or a rich ecosystem like Scalingo or Upsun offer.
What PodBy does well
- Two flat prices (€5 and €15 a month) with no metering or overage bills
- Database included in the pod price, PostgreSQL or MySQL
- Deploy from a zip, Dockerfile, image, CLI or API
- Automatic backups: 2 daily and 3 weekly restore points on pods
- EU infrastructure (Hetzner or Webdock) and a named Portuguese operator
Where PodBy falls short
- No autoscaling, edge network or serverless workers by design
- Fixed pod size (2 vCPU, 4 GB); bigger pods only by emailing the vendor
- No free trial and no certifications mentioned
- Small operator, so support is email, and Signal only for paying customers
Standout feature. Flat €5 and €15 hosting with the database included: the most predictable bill on this page, in exchange for far fewer features.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Two flat prices (€5 and €15 a month) with no metering or overage bills
- Database included in the pod price, PostgreSQL or MySQL
- Deploy from a zip, Dockerfile, image, CLI or API
- Automatic backups: 2 daily and 3 weekly restore points on pods
- EU infrastructure (Hetzner or Webdock) and a named Portuguese operator
Cons
- No autoscaling, edge network or serverless workers by design
- Fixed pod size (2 vCPU, 4 GB); bigger pods only by emailing the vendor
- No free trial and no certifications mentioned
- Small operator, so support is email, and Signal only for paying customers
Alternatives to PodBy
Frequently Asked Questions
What is PodBy?
PodBy is a deliberately small hosting service from I'm Blue, Lda., a Portuguese software company incorporated in 2018. It sells two things: static sites at €5 a month and pods at €15 a month. A pod is a container built from a Dockerfile or image, with 2 vCPUs, 4 GB of RAM, 20 GB of SSD and a PostgreSQL or MySQL database at no extra cost. Everything runs on Hetzner or Webdock servers in the EU, and prices exclude VAT.
Where is PodBy based?
PodBy operates from Portugal (city not stated on the pages read), which places it under EU (Portugal).
What does PodBy cost?
Static sites €5 a month (as many sites as fit in 1 GB, 100 GB egress a month, own domains, HTTPS, deploy from zip or CLI).
Pod €15 a month (2 vCPUs, 4 GB RAM, 20 GB SSD, 1 TB egress, PostgreSQL or MySQL at no extra cost, 2 daily and 3 weekly backups, deploy from Dockerfile, image or CLI). Larger pods on request by email. Flat monthly prices, no overage charges, prices exclude VAT (23% Portuguese VAT for Portugal and EU customers without a VAT ID). Payments via Mollie.. No free trial stated; 14-day refund of unused full days on recent payments.
Who is PodBy best for?
Small teams wanting flat-price EU container hosting. Flat €5 and €15 hosting with the database included: the most predictable bill on this page, in exchange for far fewer features.
What are the drawbacks of PodBy?
No autoscaling, edge network or serverless workers by design. Fixed pod size (2 vCPU, 4 GB); bigger pods only by emailing the vendor. No free trial and no certifications mentioned. Small operator, so support is email, and Signal only for paying customers.
Is PodBy a good alternative to Heroku?
PodBy is built as a European alternative to Heroku: Flat-price EU hosting for static sites and containers: €5 sites, €15 pods with databases included. It will not be a like-for-like feature match in every respect, so check the review above for where the two genuinely differ before switching.
How does PodBy compare to other PaaS Platforms?
PodBy is one of several European PaaS Platforms we cover. It is most often compared with Heroku, Vercel, Cloudflare.