Heroku Pricing
Explained: What It Really Costs
No free tier at all: Heroku discontinued free dynos, Postgres and Redis in November 2022.
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Heroku Plans & What They Include
Heroku removed all of its free tiers in November 2022. The cheapest always-on dyno is now Basic at $5/month, but that single dyno sleeps under load constraints and is underpowered for production. A realistic app needs a Standard dyno plus a paid Postgres plan.
Add-ons are Heroku's pricing trap: Postgres, Redis and most useful extensions are billed separately, and the jump from hobby to production-grade dynos and databases is steep.
1,000 dyno hours shared across apps. Sleeps when idle.
Always-on, 512 MB RAM. Entry production tier.
512 MB–1 GB RAM, metrics, no sleeping.
Dedicated dynos for high-traffic production.
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Add-ons & Metered Costs
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Hidden Costs of Heroku
Everything free is gone
Since November 2022 there is no free dyno, no free Postgres, no free Redis. Migrating hobby apps means a bill where there was none.
Production Postgres is expensive
The $5 Mini database is for hobbies. A production-grade Standard plan starts around $50/mo: often the single biggest line on the bill.
Add-on sprawl
Logging, scheduling, metrics and mail are separate paid add-ons. A 'simple' Heroku app often runs four or five billed components.
Runsite gives you the same git-push simplicity Heroku pioneered, but with a permanent free tier, managed Postgres from €5/mo, and EU hosting: no add-on sprawl, no surprise minimums.
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Runsite vs Heroku
Side-by-side. No marketing fluff, just facts.
| Feature | Runsite | Heroku |
|---|---|---|
| Free Tier | ✓ Permanent | ✗ Removed in 2022 |
| Basic Web Service | €5/mo | $7.00/mo |
| Web Standard (1 vCPU, 1GB) | €12/mo | $25/mo |
| Managed PostgreSQL | €5/mo | $9/mo |
| Spending Limits | ✓ Hard cap + alerts | ✗ No built-in limits |
// in-depth comparison
Heroku vs Runsite: What You Need to Know
Heroku still has the cleanest developer experience, but its pricing punishes hobbyists and small teams: no free tier, expensive production databases, and add-ons that quietly multiply the bill.
Pricing FAQ
Heroku Pricing: Common Questions
Does Heroku have a free tier in 2026?
No. Heroku discontinued all free dynos, free Postgres and free Redis in November 2022. The cheapest option today is the Eco dynos plan at $5/month, with always-on Basic dynos starting at $7/month.
How much does a production app cost on Heroku?
A realistic production app: a Standard dyno plus a production-grade Postgres, typically runs $75–$100+/month once you add a proper database and any monitoring add-ons. The $5 and $7 tiers are hobby-grade.
What is the cheapest way to replace Heroku?
Runsite offers a permanent free tier and git-based deploys similar to Heroku, with managed Postgres from €5/month and EU hosting. For developers who left Heroku after the free tier removal, it restores a no-cost option for side projects.
// same platform, other angles
Keep exploring
Predictable Pricing — in EUR, with a Hard Cap
A permanent free tier and spending limits you actually control. The opposite of a surprise Heroku bill.
Start Free on Runsite →