Zerops
Prague developer cloud that runs containers and managed databases on hardware it operates itself, with CPU, RAM and disk billed by the minute
Quick Overview
| Company | Zerops s.r.o. |
|---|---|
| Category | PaaS Platforms |
| Headquarters | Prague, Czech Republic |
| Founded | 2024 |
| EU Presence | Yes - Czech Republic (EU) |
| Data Location | Not stated on the pages read; Zerops says it runs its own hardware |
| Open Source | No |
| GDPR Compliant | Yes |
| Self-Hosting | No |
| Main Features | zerops.yaml build and deploy pipeline, Linux containers with root and SSH, managed PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Valkey, Kafka and others, private network per environment, zero-downtime deploys, per-minute billing |
| Pricing | Project core package free (Lightweight) or $10 per month (Serious), plus resources: shared CPU $0.60 per core, RAM $3.00 per GB and disk $0.10 per GB per 30 days |
| Best For | Developers who want to size CPU and RAM themselves and pay for exactly that |
| Replaces | Render, Railway, Fly.io |
Detailed Review
Zerops sells a project, and a project is a set of containers that share a private network. You describe the build and the runtime in one zerops.yaml file, push, and the same definition produces a development, staging or production environment.
The company states it was founded in 2024 as a spin-off of vshosting.eu, a Czech managed-hosting provider, and that every layer is its own: Incus containers, VXLAN networking and its own L3 and L7 balancing on AMD EPYC servers.
One Definition, Any Number of Environments
The pipeline page shows one file driving both the build artifact and the runtime image, with ten versions kept and rollback as a switch. Environments are created and removed through the console, the CLI, the API or an MCP endpoint, and each one only costs money while it runs.
Inside a project every service gets a stable hostname such as db:5432, and a laptop can join the private network over a VPN, which keeps local development close to what production does.
Billing Down to the Resource
Instead of plans, the pricing page lists a unit price per core, per gigabyte of RAM and per gigabyte of disk, quoted per 30 days and charged by the minute. The only fixed element is the project core package, which is free in its Lightweight form and $10 a month as Serious.
Shared CPU is $0.60 per core and dedicated CPU $6.00 per core, so a team can see exactly what an extra gigabyte costs before it adds one.
A Hosting Company Behind the Platform
Because the platform is a spin-off of an established hosting business, the pitch is operational rather than aspirational: managed PostgreSQL, MariaDB, ClickHouse, Valkey, Elasticsearch, Kafka and more come with injected credentials and backups, and high availability is a toggle.
The home page also lists ISO 27001 and GDPR next to the production features.
Limitations to Consider
Zerops is a young company (2024), and its prices are quoted in US dollars. The pages read do not say in which country the servers stand, so a team with a data-residency rule has to ask. Two of its three product lines, Mate and Box, are marked as coming soon or in build. Deployment is described around the zerops.yaml file, and the pages read do not mention Heroku-style buildpack detection. A larger, git-push-first alternative is Scalingo.
Who Should Use Zerops
Developers and small teams in Europe who are comfortable describing their runtime in a YAML file and want transparent per-resource pricing from a Czech company.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Prices listed per core, per GB of RAM and per GB of disk
- Billed by the minute, no seat fees
- Managed databases with credentials injected
- One definition builds every environment
- Operated by a Czech hosting spin-off on its own servers
Cons
- Founded in 2024, so a short track record
- Server location not stated on the pages read
- Prices in US dollars
- Mate and Box products are not yet released
Alternatives to Zerops
Other European paas platforms worth comparing before you decide:
Scalingo
France · Strasbourg git-push PaaS with HDS and SecNumCloud options
Sliplane
Germany · Berlin Docker hosting with unlimited apps per flat-priced server
Upsun
France · Paris platform with a full environment for every branch
Clever Cloud
France · Nantes PaaS with fifteen runtimes and managed data stores
See all European paas platforms or compare them directly against Render on our alternatives page.
Frequently Asked Questions
The project core package comes in a free Lightweight form (15 build hours, 100 GB egress, 5 GB backups) and a $10 per month Serious form. Container resources are charged on top, and signing up is advertised with up to $65 in credits.
Zerops s.r.o., with its registered office in Prague and entered in the Commercial Register kept at the Municipal Court in Prague, according to its terms and privacy policy.
Yes. The platform lists managed PostgreSQL, MariaDB, ClickHouse, Valkey, Elasticsearch, Meilisearch, Typesense, Qdrant, NATS and Kafka, with backups and scaling handled for you.