Heroku vs WP Engine Pricing (2026)

How do these two stack up on price? Here's what each one costs, what you get, and where the value sits.

Heroku WP Engine
Starts at $5/mo $30/mo
Number of plans 9 3
Free plan
Free trial
Pricing model usage-based flat-rate

Eco

$5/mo
  • Deploy with Git and Docker
  • Custom domains
  • Unified logs
  • 2 process types
  • Container orchestration
  • Automatic OS patching
  • Automated certificate management
  • Personal accounts only
  • Sleeps after 30 minutes of inactivity

Basic

$7/mo
  • Includes all Eco features
  • Free SSL
  • 10 process types
  • Always on
  • 0.28 Dyno Units / Month

Standard-1X

$25/mo
  • Includes all Basic features
  • Simple horizontal scalability
  • App metrics and threshold alerts
  • Preboot and zero-downtime deploys
  • Unlimited process types
  • Unlimited background workers
  • Can combine with Performance dynos
  • 1 Dyno Units / Month

Standard-2X

$50/mo
  • Includes all Basic features
  • Simple horizontal scalability
  • App metrics and threshold alerts
  • Preboot and zero-downtime deploys
  • Unlimited process types
  • Unlimited background workers
  • Can combine with Performance dynos
  • 2 Dyno Units / Month

Performance-M

$250/mo
  • Includes all Standard features
  • Predictable performance for your highest traffic applications
  • Dedicated compute resources
  • Autoscaling
  • Can mix with Standard dynos
  • 8 Dyno Units / Month

Performance-L

$500/mo
  • Includes all Standard features
  • Predictable performance for your highest traffic applications
  • Dedicated compute resources
  • Autoscaling
  • Can mix with Standard dynos
  • 16 Dyno Units / Month

Performance-L-RAM

$500/mo
  • Includes all Standard features
  • Predictable performance for your highest traffic applications
  • Dedicated compute resources
  • Autoscaling
  • Can mix with Standard dynos
  • 16 Dyno Units / Month

Performance-XL

$750/mo
  • Includes all Standard features
  • Predictable performance for your highest traffic applications
  • Dedicated compute resources
  • Autoscaling
  • Can mix with Standard dynos
  • 30 Dyno Units / Month

Performance-2XL

$1500/mo
  • Includes all Standard features
  • Predictable performance for your highest traffic applications
  • Dedicated compute resources
  • Autoscaling
  • Can mix with Standard dynos
  • 60 Dyno Units / Month

Essential

$30/mo
  • Edge content delivery with global CDN
  • Managed WP, PHP & MySQL updates
  • 24/7 WordPress technical expertise
  • Real-time WordPress threat defense
  • Free automated migration plugin
  • Local development tool

Core

Popular
$400/mo
  • Isolated resources
  • 99.99% uptime SLA
  • AI-powered plugin & theme updates
  • NitroPack
  • Fast-track support from senior experts
  • On-demand performance investigations
  • Advanced uptime monitoring alerts
  • Managed bulk site migrations
  • Personalized onboarding experience
  • GeoTarget to show geographically relevant content
  • eCommerce Performance Pack
  • Application Performance
  • Failover
  • High Availability
  • Managed Vector Database
  • Smart Search AI

Enterprise

Custom
  • High capacity infrastructure designed for unexpected traffic spikes
  • High-availability and single-node solutions
  • NitroPack
  • Top-tier priority support access
  • Dedicated expert team
  • Ongoing technical & business alignment
  • Incident analysis & proactive performance management
  • Collaborative event preparation and real-time event monitoring
  • Advanced DDoS & managed WAF
  • Proactive account monitoring
  • Managed migration planning team
  • Consultative business development
  • Git-powered CI/CD
  • SSH gateway
  • eCommerce Performance Pack
  • Application Performance
  • Failover
  • High Availability
  • Managed Vector Database
  • Smart Search AI

Heroku vs WP Engine FAQ

Which one is cheaper?
Heroku starts lower at $5/mo, compared to $30/mo for WP Engine.
Can I use either one for free?
Neither has a free plan.
How do they charge?
Different approach here. Heroku uses usage-based pricing, while WP Engine goes with flat-rate. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.
Which one is a better deal?
Depends on what you need. Heroku: Premium pricing in the PaaS space - they're 3-4x more expensive than alternatives like Railway or Render for equivalent resources. They're betting on developer experience and ecosystem maturity over cost competitiveness. WP Engine: WP Engine sits at the premium end of managed WordPress hosting — they're not competing with Bluehost or SiteGround on price, they're going after teams that need performance, staging environments, and support SLAs. Kinsta and Flywheel (which they own) are the closest comparables.

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