Heroku
Cloud application platform for rapid app deployment without infrastructure management
Heroku is a fully managed Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) built on AWS that allows developers to deploy applications directly from Git without managing underlying infrastructure. It provides integrated container management via dynos, managed databases (Postgres, Redis), and a rich ecosystem of add-ons for rapid development cycles.
How we scored it
A weighted average of the 4 dimensions below, each judged 0–10 from published pricing, vendor documentation and independent user feedback. We do not run hands-on tests, and no vendor has any say in a score.
2 further dimensions are not scored for this product yet, so they are left out of the average rather than counted as zero. How the score works.
What it actually costs
Intro pricing shown — see the renewal note for what you'll pay after the introductory term. We don't hide the second-act price.
What to check before you commit to Heroku
A tool is judged on what it costs once it is adopted, not what it costs to try. These are the four things that change that number.
The price once it is adopted
At $5 a seat, five people is $25 a month ($300 a year) and ten is $50 ($600 a year). Tools are bought one seat at a time and paid for by the dozen.
Where the usage ceiling sits
Credits, generations, exports and API calls are the lines that run out mid-month. Find what happens when you hit the cap — hard stop, throttle, or an overage rate you have not budgeted for.
Whether you can evaluate it properly
Without a free tier, the trial length and the refund terms are your only way to find out whether it fits before the money is committed.
Getting your work back out
Export formats decide how reversible this decision is. A tool that only exports to its own format costs more to leave than its price suggests.
These are the checks we apply across developer tools, in the same order, so two pages can be compared line for line.
How much does Heroku really cost?
Our calculation from the vendor's published prices — not a figure the vendor advertises.
One price covers the account whatever the team size, so cost per person falls as the team grows. Heroku uses flat-rate monthly pricing per dyno type. Eco is special with a shared pool of 1,000 hours. Standard and Performance dynos are charged per unit. All costs are prorated to the second based on actual usage.
| Team size | Per month | Per year | Over 3 years | How it is charged |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 person | $5 | $60 | $180 | Flat rate — seats are not charged separately on this plan |
| 5 people | $5 | $60 | $180 | Flat rate — seats are not charged separately on this plan |
| 10 people | $5 | $60 | $180 | Flat rate — seats are not charged separately on this plan |
| 50 people | $5 | $60 | $180 | Flat rate — seats are not charged separately on this plan |
Based on the Eco plan at $5 a month. Three years at the current monthly price. The vendor does not publish a renewal rate, so no increase is assumed.
- The vendor does not publish a renewal price, so three-year totals assume today's price holds.
- No annual price recorded, so annual figures are twelve times the monthly price.
Work out your own cost
- Flat rate — the price does not change with team size.
- No renewal increase is published, so today's price is held flat.
Heroku against the field
The highest-scoring alternatives in the same category, compared on the figures we hold for all of them.
| HerokuThis page | Supabase | GitHub | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ReviewCost score | 7.1/10 | 8.8/10 | 8.6/10 |
| Cheapest plan | Eco | — | — |
| From | $5.00/mo | — | — |
| Renews at | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Biggest strength | Simplest deployment workflow—git push deploys live, eliminating infrastructure overhead | Postgres foundation means you're not locked into a proprietary database — you can self-host or migrate if needed | GitHub Copilot demonstrably accelerates development — customers like Duolingo report 25% speed gains and Mercado Libre cuts coding time by 50% |
| Biggest drawback | Expensive at scale—total bill compounds quickly when adding dynos, databases, and add-ons; production stacks often exceed $100/month | Dashboard can be overwhelming for developers new to Postgres — the SQL editor and migration tools assume some database literacy | Pricing can become punitive at scale — enterprise features and Copilot seats add up quickly for larger teams, making alternatives like GitLab worth evaluating |
Prices are the published figures at the time of writing and change often. Renewal pricing is shown where the vendor publishes it. See how we review.
What people ask about Heroku
Straight answers to what buyers actually ask, drawn from the documentation and published user reports.
Is Heroku still worth it in 2026?
What happened to Heroku's free tier?
Why is Heroku in sustaining mode?
How much does a real production app cost on Heroku?
Page history
- Published
- 13 September 2026
- Last updated
- 1 October 2026
- Pricing checked against vendor
- 26 September 2026
Sources & verification
Pricing on this page was taken from the vendor's published pricing page on 26 September 2026.
- Usage & BillingOfficial documentation · Heroku · read 26 September 2026
- New Dynos and Pricing Are Now Generally AvailableOfficial documentation · Heroku · read 26 September 2026
- Cloud Application Platform Pricing & PlansOfficial pricing page · Heroku · read 26 September 2026