Best Google Cloud Run Alternatives in Europe (2026)

Google Cloud Run is a popular serverless container platform, but it comes with significant drawbacks for European developers: unpredictable pricing at scale, limited EU region options, and data residency concerns under GDPR. Whether you're hitting billing surprises, need guaranteed EU data sovereignty, or simply want more control over your infrastructure, there are strong alternatives available in 2026.

This guide compares the best Google Cloud Run alternatives for European teams, with a focus on pricing transparency, GDPR compliance, and real-world performance.

Why European Developers Are Moving Away from Cloud Run

The Data Residency Problem

Google Cloud Run runs on Google Cloud Platform infrastructure. While GCP offers EU regions (Belgium, Frankfurt, Netherlands, Finland), your data still flows through Google's global network. For many European companies, this creates compliance headaches:

• GDPR Article 44-49: Transfers to US-based processors require additional safeguards
• Schrems II ruling: EU-US Data Privacy Framework provides a legal basis, but many legal teams remain cautious
• Industry regulations: Healthcare (HIPAA-EU), finance (PSD2/DORA), and government workloads often require EU-only infrastructure
• Customer expectations: B2B SaaS customers increasingly ask where their data is processed

The Pricing Problem

Cloud Run's pay-per-use model seems attractive until you examine the bill:

• vCPU-second: $0.00002400 (first tier) — adds up fast with sustained traffic
• Memory (GiB-second): $0.00000250 — billed separately from CPU
• Requests: $0.40 per million — an extra line item many overlook
• Networking egress: $0.12/GB to internet — expensive for API-heavy workloads
• Minimum instances: Keeping containers warm to avoid cold starts adds a baseline cost that rivals fixed-price alternatives

A moderately busy API handling 5 million requests per month can easily cost $80-150/month on Cloud Run — far more than fixed-price European alternatives.

Other Concerns

• Cold starts: 500ms-2s latency spikes when containers scale from zero
• Vendor lock-in: GCP-specific logging, monitoring, and IAM integration
• Complexity: IAM roles, VPC connectors, Artifact Registry, and Cloud Build add operational overhead
• Request timeout: 60-minute maximum (was 15 minutes until recently)

Cloud Run Alternatives at a Glance

1. DanubeData Rapids (Recommended)

Best for: European teams wanting serverless containers with full GDPR compliance, predictable pricing, and integrated infrastructure

DanubeData Rapids is a Knative-based serverless container platform hosted entirely in Falkenstein, Germany. It offers true scale-to-zero, automatic builds from source code, and tight integration with DanubeData's managed databases, caches, and object storage — all within the same EU cluster.

Key Features

• Three deployment methods: Docker image, Git repository (with auto-deploy webhooks), or ZIP upload
• Buildpacks auto-detection: Node.js, Python, Go, Java, Ruby, PHP, .NET, and Rust — no Dockerfile needed
• Scale to zero: Pay nothing when your container is idle
• Auto-scaling: RPS or concurrency-based scaling from 0 to 100 replicas
• Custom domains: Up to 10 per container with automatic TLS provisioning
• Internal networking: Direct cluster DNS access to team databases and caches — no public internet traversal
• Security hardened: Non-root execution, read-only filesystem by default
• Git auto-deploy: Webhooks for GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket

Pricing

DanubeData Rapids also offers fixed-price resource profiles for teams that prefer predictable billing:

Deploy to DanubeData Rapids

# Option 1: Deploy from a Docker image
# Push your image to any registry, then configure in the dashboard

# Option 2: Deploy from Git repository
# Connect your GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket repo
# Rapids auto-detects your language and builds with Buildpacks
# Every push to your main branch triggers a new deployment

# Option 3: Deploy from ZIP
# Upload your source code directly
# Buildpacks handle the rest

# Example: Node.js API (no Dockerfile needed)
# Rapids detects package.json, installs dependencies, starts your app
# Just set the PORT environment variable and you're live

Why Choose DanubeData Rapids over Cloud Run

• 50% lower vCPU pricing: €0.000012 vs $0.000024 per vCPU-second
• 70% lower request costs: €0.12 vs $0.40 per million requests
• Generous free tier: 2M requests and 250K vCPU-seconds per month at no cost
• EU data sovereignty: German data center, EU-registered company, no US data transfers
• Integrated stack: Databases, caches, and object storage in the same cluster with internal DNS — no VPC connectors needed
• Simpler operations: No IAM roles, service accounts, or GCP project configuration

2. Fly.io

Best for: Teams needing global edge deployment with EU presence

Fly.io runs containers as micro-VMs (Firecracker) in 30+ regions worldwide, including Amsterdam. It's not strictly serverless (containers stay warm by default), but the auto_stop_machines feature provides scale-to-zero behavior.

Pros

• Deploy to multiple EU regions simultaneously
• No cold starts by default (containers stay warm)
• Built-in PostgreSQL with read replicas
• WebSocket support and long-running connections
• Flexible networking with WireGuard-based private networking

Cons

• US-based company — data processing governed by US law
• Steeper learning curve (flyctl CLI, TOML config)
• No buildpacks — requires a Dockerfile
• Pricing can be complex (CPU, memory, bandwidth all metered)
• Limited autoscaling compared to true serverless platforms

Pricing

• Free: 3 shared-cpu-1x VMs, 160GB outbound bandwidth
• Shared CPU: ~$0.0000022/s (~$5.70/mo for always-on)
• Dedicated CPU: From $0.0000139/s (~$36/mo)
• Bandwidth: $0.02/GB outbound after free allowance

Deploy to Fly.io

# Install Fly CLI
curl -L https://fly.io/install.sh | sh

# Initialize and deploy
fly launch

# fly.toml — configure EU region
app = "my-api"
primary_region = "ams"  # Amsterdam

[http_service]
  internal_port = 8080
  force_https = true
  auto_stop_machines = true
  auto_start_machines = true
  min_machines_running = 0

# Deploy
fly deploy

3. Railway

Best for: Full-stack applications with managed databases, teams wanting great developer experience

Railway is a container platform with excellent DX — connect a repo, and it auto-detects your stack, provisions databases, and deploys. It runs containers as always-on services (not serverless), which avoids cold starts but means you pay for idle time.

Pros

• Excellent developer experience with auto-detection
• Built-in PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, and MongoDB
• Preview environments per pull request
• No cold starts (always-on containers)
• Simple, transparent pricing

Cons

• US-based infrastructure primarily — EU region availability is limited
• No scale-to-zero — you pay for idle containers
• No edge functions or multi-region deployment
• Can get expensive for workloads that genuinely benefit from serverless

Pricing

• Hobby: $5/mo + $0.000231/vCPU-minute + $0.000231/GB-minute
• Pro: $20/seat/mo + usage
• Typical small app: $10-30/mo

Deploy to Railway

# railway.json
{
  "build": {
    "builder": "NIXPACKS"
  },
  "deploy": {
    "startCommand": "npm run start",
    "healthcheckPath": "/api/health"
  }
}

# Or connect your GitHub repo — Railway auto-detects everything

4. Render

Best for: Simple deployments with predictable pricing and a Frankfurt region option

Render offers a straightforward PaaS with a Frankfurt (EU) region. Like Railway, it runs always-on containers rather than true serverless, but the fixed pricing makes costs predictable.

Pros

• Frankfurt region available for EU data residency
• Straightforward, fixed-price plans
• Built-in PostgreSQL and Redis
• Free SSL and managed TLS
• Preview environments from pull requests

Cons

• US-based company — not EU-native
• No serverless / scale-to-zero (except free tier, which spins down)
• Slower builds than Cloud Run or DanubeData
• Limited autoscaling options
• Bandwidth overage pricing ($0.10/GB) adds up

Pricing

• Free: 750 hours/mo (spins down after 15 min inactivity)
• Starter: $7/mo (512MB RAM, always on)
• Standard: $25/mo (2GB RAM)
• Pro: $85/mo (4GB RAM)
• Bandwidth: 100GB included, then $0.10/GB

Deploy to Render

# render.yaml
services:
  - type: web
    name: my-api
    runtime: docker
    region: frankfurt
    plan: starter
    healthCheckPath: /health
    envVars:
      - key: PORT
        value: 8080

5. Scaleway Serverless Containers

Best for: Teams wanting a true European cloud provider with serverless containers

Scaleway is a French cloud provider (Iliad Group) with data centers in Paris and Amsterdam. Their Serverless Containers product is a direct Cloud Run competitor with scale-to-zero, automatic HTTPS, and pay-per-use pricing — all on EU-owned infrastructure.

Pros

• EU-owned company (French) with Paris and Amsterdam data centers
• True serverless with scale-to-zero
• Native container registry included
• Pay-per-use pricing similar to Cloud Run
• Part of a full cloud ecosystem (databases, object storage, Kubernetes)

Cons

• Smaller ecosystem and community than GCP
• No buildpacks — requires pre-built container images
• Limited autoscaling granularity
• Documentation and tooling less mature than Cloud Run
• No Git-based auto-deploy — you manage your own CI/CD pipeline

Pricing

• Free tier: 400,000 GB-s/month, 1M requests
• vCPU: €0.000011/vCPU-s
• Memory: €0.0000012/GB-s
• Requests: €0.15 per million after free tier

Deploy to Scaleway

# Push image to Scaleway Container Registry
docker tag my-api rg.fr-par.scw.cloud/my-namespace/my-api:latest
docker push rg.fr-par.scw.cloud/my-namespace/my-api:latest

# Deploy via CLI
scw container container create 
  name=my-api 
  namespace-id=<ns-id> 
  registry-image=rg.fr-par.scw.cloud/my-namespace/my-api:latest 
  port=8080 
  min-scale=0 
  max-scale=10

6. AWS App Runner

Best for: Teams already in the AWS ecosystem wanting a simpler Cloud Run equivalent

AWS App Runner is Amazon's answer to Cloud Run — a fully managed container service that abstracts away infrastructure. It offers EU regions (Frankfurt, Ireland) and integrates with the AWS ecosystem.

Pros

• Simple to deploy from ECR or source code
• Frankfurt and Ireland regions for EU presence
• Automatic scaling and load balancing
• Integrates with AWS services (RDS, ElastiCache, S3)
• VPC Connector for private resources

Cons

• US-based company — same GDPR concerns as GCP
• More expensive than Cloud Run for comparable workloads
• No scale-to-zero for the container (pauses provisioned instances, but still bills for them)
• Limited to 25 concurrent instances
• Fewer regions than Cloud Run
• AWS IAM and account complexity

Pricing

• Provisioned: $0.007/GB-hour (even when paused)
• Active: $0.064/vCPU-hour + $0.007/GB-hour
• Requests: $1.00 per million (2.5x Cloud Run)
• Automatic scaling: Included, but provisioned instances always cost money

Deploy to AWS App Runner

# apprunner.yaml
version: 1.0
runtime: nodejs18
build:
  commands:
    build:
      - npm ci
      - npm run build
  env:
    - name: NODE_ENV
      value: production
run:
  command: npm run start
  network:
    port: 8080
  env:
    - name: PORT
      value: "8080"

# Deploy
aws apprunner create-service 
  --service-name my-api 
  --source-configuration file://apprunner-source.json 
  --region eu-central-1

Pricing Comparison: Real-World Scenarios

Let's compare costs across platforms for three common workloads. All prices are monthly estimates in euros.

Scenario 1: Low-Traffic API (500K requests/month, 100ms avg response)

Scenario 2: Medium-Traffic SaaS (5M requests/month, 150ms avg response)

Scenario 3: High-Traffic API (20M requests/month, 200ms avg response)

Key takeaway: DanubeData Rapids is the most cost-effective option across all traffic levels, with savings of 50-75% compared to Google Cloud Run and AWS App Runner. The fixed-price profiles provide a cost ceiling that usage-based platforms cannot match.

Feature Comparison Matrix

GDPR Compliance: What Actually Matters

For European companies processing EU citizen data, GDPR compliance involves more than just picking an EU region. Here's what to evaluate:

Data Residency vs Data Sovereignty

• Data residency: Your data is stored in an EU data center. Google Cloud Run in europe-west1 satisfies this.
• Data sovereignty: Your data is governed exclusively by EU law. This requires an EU-owned provider — US companies are subject to the CLOUD Act, which can compel disclosure regardless of where data is stored.

GDPR Compliance Matrix

For strict GDPR compliance, only EU-owned providers like DanubeData and Scaleway guarantee that your data remains under EU jurisdiction. US-owned providers with EU regions still fall under US CLOUD Act obligations.

Migration from Cloud Run to DanubeData Rapids

Switching from Cloud Run is straightforward because both platforms run standard containers:

Step 1: Verify Your Container

# If you're already using Cloud Run, you have a container image.
# Test it locally:
docker run -p 8080:8080 -e PORT=8080 your-image:latest

# Ensure your app:
# - Listens on the PORT environment variable
# - Is stateless (no local file storage)
# - Responds to health checks

Step 2: Deploy to DanubeData Rapids

# Option A: Use your existing Docker image
# Push to any public registry or DanubeData's registry
# Configure in the dashboard: image URL, port, environment variables

# Option B: Deploy from source (if using Cloud Build)
# Connect your Git repository directly
# Rapids auto-detects the language and builds with Buildpacks
# No Dockerfile or cloudbuild.yaml needed

Step 3: Update DNS

# Add your custom domain in the DanubeData dashboard
# TLS certificates are provisioned automatically
# Update your DNS CNAME to point to your Rapids endpoint
# Zero-downtime migration when TTL expires

What to Remove

• cloudbuild.yaml or Cloud Build triggers
• GCP-specific IAM service accounts
• VPC connectors (DanubeData uses internal cluster DNS instead)
• gcloud run deploy commands from CI/CD
• GCP Secret Manager references (use environment variables directly)

Recommendations by Use Case

For GDPR-Sensitive Workloads

Recommendation: DanubeData Rapids

EU-owned, German data center, no US data transfers. The only option on this list that combines true serverless containers with full EU data sovereignty. If your legal team requires CLOUD Act immunity, DanubeData or Scaleway are your only choices — and DanubeData offers the better developer experience with buildpacks and Git auto-deploy.

For Startups and Side Projects

Recommendation: DanubeData Rapids (free tier)

The free tier covers 2 million requests per month — more than enough for most early-stage products. Unlike Fly.io's free tier (limited VMs) or Railway ($5/mo minimum), you truly pay nothing until you outgrow the free tier.

For High-Traffic APIs

Recommendation: DanubeData Rapids (fixed-price profiles)

At 20M+ requests per month, Cloud Run's per-request pricing balloons. DanubeData's €40/month Large profile gives you a predictable cost ceiling. Alternatively, consider DanubeData VPS (from €4.49/mo) for always-on workloads where scale-to-zero isn't needed.

For Global Edge Deployment

Recommendation: Fly.io

If sub-50ms latency across continents is critical, Fly.io's 30+ region deployment is unmatched. Accept the trade-off of a US-based provider for the performance benefit. Note: this is rarely needed for European-focused products.

For AWS-Native Teams

Recommendation: AWS App Runner (with caveats)

If your organization is deeply invested in AWS with existing VPCs, RDS instances, and IAM policies, App Runner offers the path of least resistance. Be aware that it's the most expensive option and lacks true scale-to-zero.

Conclusion

Google Cloud Run is a solid product, but it's not the only — or even the best — option for European developers in 2026. The combination of rising costs at scale, GDPR complexity with US providers, and the maturity of European alternatives makes it worth exploring other options.

DanubeData Rapids stands out as the strongest Cloud Run alternative for European teams. It matches Cloud Run's core capabilities (scale-to-zero, container-based, auto-scaling) while offering significant advantages: 50% lower compute pricing, an EU-owned infrastructure stack, integrated databases and caches in the same cluster, and buildpack support for 8 languages.

For teams where data sovereignty is non-negotiable, DanubeData and Scaleway are the only options that guarantee your data stays under EU jurisdiction. DanubeData's developer experience — with Git auto-deploy, buildpacks, and a generous free tier — gives it the edge for most use cases.

Get Started

Ready to move beyond Cloud Run?

👉 Deploy on DanubeData Rapids - Free tier includes 2M requests/month

DanubeData Rapids includes:

• Scale-to-zero serverless containers
• Buildpacks for Node.js, Python, Go, Java, Ruby, PHP, .NET, and Rust
• Git auto-deploy from GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket
• Custom domains with automatic TLS
• German data center — full GDPR compliance
• Internal networking to managed databases and caches

Migrating from Cloud Run? Contact our team — we'll help you transition with zero downtime.