Heroku review

Heroku is a managed cloud platform for building, deploying and scaling applications. It runs apps in dynos, with managed runtime and data services, so teams can avoid taking on all the infrastructure and database work themselves. The platform supports Heroku Postgres and a managed Redis-based key-value store, along with deployment options such as GitHub deployments, Review Apps and continuous delivery.

The pricing page lists plans from $5 per month for Eco, but Eco dynos sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity. Basic costs $7 per month and stays on. There is no free plan listed, and the page does not show annual billing or discounts. Heroku also offers add-ons and buildpacks, plus managed AI options that include inference, agents, MCP hosting and pgvector for Heroku Postgres. In short, it trades infrastructure control for a more managed route from code to a running app.

Heroku’s case is convenience: it bundles app deployment, runtime management and data services instead of asking every team to assemble and maintain those pieces. Its GitHub deployment support, disposable Review Apps and continuous delivery tools can also fit a workflow where developers want to push changes and review them without building a separate deployment system.

A commenter in an r/node thread praised the familiar “git push heroku master” flow, while asking for alternatives with a similar feel. That points to the kind of simplicity Heroku is known for, though it is one user’s view, not proof that the platform fits every stack.

• The $7 Basic plan is the lowest listed option that stays on; Eco is cheaper at $5 but sleeps after 30 minutes of inactivity.
• Plans cover several workload needs, from Standard dynos with autoscaling on higher tiers to Private and Shield options. The listed Shield plans include PCI compliance; Private plans require a Private Space.
• Heroku’s managed Postgres, Redis-based key-value store, add-ons and buildpacks keep common app components within the platform. Its AI options include managed inference, agents, MCP hosting and pgvector.

For teams prioritizing less infrastructure upkeep over granular control, that package can be appealing. The trade-off is that the price of the convenience rises with capacity and specialized requirements.

Price is the clearest drawback. The entry-level $5 Eco plan sleeps after 30 minutes of inactivity, so an always-on app starts at $7 per month for Basic. That plan has 0.5 GB RAM and supports 10 process types. Standard-1X is $25 per month, with 0.5 GB RAM and unlimited process types; higher-capacity Performance plans start at $250 per month. Private and Shield tiers start at $125 and $150 per month, respectively, and require or include their specialized networking and compliance features as listed.

Those are plan prices, not a complete estimate for an application: the published pricing information does not list add-on prices or provide a total-cost calculator. Annual billing and discounts are not shown, and a free trial is not published on the vendor's site. That makes it worth pricing the full setup before switching a production app.

There are also reliability concerns in the Reddit discussions. Users in r/rails raised questions about dyno costs, high availability and a lengthy outage; these are individual reports and concerns, not an uptime record. If you need a highly available service, validate the architecture and total cost rather than assuming the managed label settles either question.

Heroku’s listed plans start at $5/month, but Eco sleeps after 30 minutes of inactivity. For an app that needs to stay on, Basic is $7/month, with 0.5 GB RAM and up to 10 process types. That’s a small step up in price, but a meaningful one if the app must remain available.

The next jump is Standard-1X at $25/month, then Standard-2X at $50/month. Both have unlimited process types; Standard-2X doubles memory to 1 GB. Performance plans start at $250/month, while private and Shield plans start at $125 and $150/month respectively. Those tiers add dedicated compute, private networking or PCI compliance, depending on the plan.

Treat these as starting prices, not a complete bill. The pricing data lists managed data services and add-ons, but does not provide their prices. It lists monthly prices only; annual billing and discounts are not shown. There’s no free plan.

The work of moving to Heroku—or away from it—depends on which parts of the platform your app uses. Account for the runtime and deployment setup, then identify dependencies on Heroku Postgres, its Redis-based store, add-ons, buildpacks, and any AI services such as managed inference or pgvector. A replacement needs equivalents for the pieces you rely on; the published material does not document data-export steps or compatibility details, so check those before committing to a cutover.

Cost can also prompt a move: Eco sleeps, Basic starts at $7/month, and compute-heavy plans reach $250/month and above. But we can’t responsibly say what Reddit users most often cite as a reason to leave: no Reddit posts or comments were included in the published material. Before switching, confirm the destination’s database migration path, deployment workflow, and pricing for comparable always-on capacity. Those details are not published in the material here.