About Heroku
Heroku taught the industry what platform-as-a-service should feel like: push code, get a running app with managed Postgres, add-ons, and zero server care. Under Salesforce it lost momentum and its free tier, ceding startups to Render and Fly, yet the operational simplicity for small production apps remains hard to beat. Costs escalate sharply as apps scale.
Key Features
- Buildpack deployments
- Managed Postgres and Redis
- Add-on ecosystem
- Pipelines and review apps
- Autoscaling dynos
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Legendary deployment simplicity
- Managed Postgres done well
- Mature add-on marketplace
- Predictable per-dyno pricing
Cons
- Free tier eliminated in 2022
- Expensive at scale
- Innovation slowed under Salesforce
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Heroku still free?
No, plans start at $5 monthly for Eco dynos.
What replaced Heroku for hobbyists?
Render, Railway, and Fly.io absorbed much of that audience.
Reviews
Similar Software
Best For
Teams that value shipping over infrastructure management.