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Most buyers should pick Vercel.
Choose Heroku if you want a managed runtime with Postgres, Redis, and add-ons; its Eco plan is $5/month but sleeps after 30 minutes of inactivity, while always-on Basic is $7/month. Choose Vercel for global delivery, deployment environments, and AI infrastructure. Its Hobby plan is free for personal, non-commercial projects; Pro is $20/month, with metered usage charges possible. Vercel’s review scores are higher, but the right pick depends on your workload and budget.
01Side by side
| Heroku | Vercel | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $5/month Eco; $7/month always-on Basic | $20/month Pro; free Hobby has limits |
| Free plan | No free plan listed | Hobby free for personal, non-commercial projects |
| Best for | Managed app hosting, databases, and scaling | App deployment, global delivery, and AI infrastructure |
| Core strength | Managed runtime, Postgres, Redis, and add-ons | Deployment environments, global delivery, and AI services |
| Learning curve | Ease-of-use review score: 7/10 | Ease-of-use review score: 9/10 |
| Integrations/data | Postgres, Redis, add-ons, and buildpacks | AI Model Gateway; managed database offering not listed |
| Team/seat costs | Seat costs not published | Unlimited viewer seats; developer seat $20/month |
| Support | Support review score: 5/10 | Support review score: 7/10 |
Heroku Choose Heroku if
- Choose Heroku if you need managed Postgres and Redis.
- Choose Heroku if you want always-on Basic at $7/month.
- Choose Heroku if you want add-ons and buildpacks.
Vercel Choose Vercel if
- Choose Vercel if you need a free noncommercial starting tier.
- Choose Vercel if global delivery and deployment environments matter.
- Choose Vercel if you need AI infrastructure and accept metered charges.
02Pricing compared
Heroku is cheaper to keep running at the entry level: Eco is $5/month, but sleeps after 30 minutes of inactivity; Basic is $7/month and stays on. The pricing page lists no free plan or annual rate. Higher Heroku tiers range from $25/month for Standard-1X to $1,500/month for Performance-2XL; private and compliance tiers cost more.
Vercel has a free Hobby plan for personal, non-commercial projects, with 1M CDN requests and 100 GB data transfer per month. Pro is $20/month and includes a $20 usage credit, but add-ons are metered: function invocations start at $0.60 per 1M and Fluid active CPU at $0.128/hour. Enterprise pricing is custom. Compare expected usage, not just the plan price.
03Features and depth
Heroku is the more explicit fit if you want an application runtime plus data services under one platform. It runs apps in managed dynos and offers Heroku Postgres, a managed Redis-based key-value store, scaling, GitHub deployments, Review Apps, continuous delivery, add-ons, and buildpacks. Its listed AI services include managed inference, agents, MCP hosting, and pgvector for Postgres.
Vercel’s feature list focuses on deploying apps and AI agents, with sandboxed environments, durable orchestration, an AI Model Gateway, Fluid Compute, global delivery, and deployment environments. Its pricing page also lists usage-based charges for functions, sandboxes, storage, and AI services. The published Vercel material does not list a managed Postgres or Redis equivalent, so teams relying on Heroku’s data services should check their migration plan before switching. Vercel has the stronger stated emphasis on global delivery and AI infrastructure; Heroku bundles more of the traditional app-and-data stack.
04Ease of use and learning curve
Heroku’s listed deployment tools include GitHub deployment, Review Apps, and continuous delivery, while its managed runtime handles the app environment. Vercel lists deployment environments and global delivery, with infrastructure features for apps and AI agents. Those differences point to different workflows, rather than a universal winner.
The published reviews score Vercel higher for ease of use, 9/10 versus Heroku’s 7/10, but these are review scores, not a controlled comparison. For a switch, check how your app deploys, which data services it depends on, and whether Vercel’s metered charges fit your usage.
Questions people ask
Is Vercel a good app?
Vercel is a cloud platform for deploying apps and AI agents, with global delivery, deployment environments, sandboxed environments, and an AI Model Gateway. Its Hobby plan is free for personal, non-commercial projects; Pro is $20/month before any usage beyond included credits. Whether it fits depends on your workload and budget.
Who are Heroku's main competitors?
The published material does not name Heroku’s main competitors. It does describe Vercel as an alternative for teams prioritizing deployment environments, global delivery, and AI infrastructure. Heroku’s listed strengths are its managed runtime, Postgres, Redis-based key-value store, add-ons, and buildpacks.
Is Heroku being discontinued?
The published Heroku material lists current plans and features, but it does not address a discontinuation announcement. That is not enough to confirm Heroku’s status. Check Heroku’s official announcements before making a migration decision based on this concern.
Is Vercel better than Google Cloud?
The published material does not include Google Cloud pricing or features, so it cannot establish which is better. Vercel’s listed strengths include global delivery, deployment environments, and AI infrastructure. Compare those with the specific Google Cloud services, usage costs, and migration requirements your app needs.