Render vs Heroku Pricing (2026)

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

Render Heroku
Starts at $25/mo $5/mo
Number of plans 4 9
Free plan
Free trial
Pricing model hybrid usage-based

Hobby

$0/mo
  • Connect your repo, and go
  • Deploy up to 25 services
  • 5 GB of bandwidth included
  • Single-service previews
  • Global regions & CDN
  • Custom domains
  • Firewall & DDoS mitigation
  • Database PITR
  • Chat support

Pro

Popular
$25/mo
  • Unlimited seats & services
  • 25 GB bandwidth included
  • Full-stack previews
  • Horizontal autoscaling
  • Isolated environments
  • OIDC authentication
  • AWS Private Links
  • Workspace audit logs

Scale

$499/mo
  • Multiple workspaces
  • 1 TB of bandwidth included
  • Extended metrics retention
  • Inbound IP rules
  • HIPAA-compliant workspaces
  • SAML SSO & SCIM
  • Advanced RBAC roles
  • Organization audit logs

Enterprise

Custom
  • Contractual uptime SLAs
  • Technical account manager
  • Support Slack channel
  • Support response SLAs

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

Render vs Heroku FAQ

Which one is cheaper?
Heroku is the cheaper option, starting at $5/mo vs $25/mo for Render.
Can I use either one for free?
Render has a free plan. Heroku doesn't — you'll need to pay from day one.
How do they charge?
Different approach here. Render uses hybrid pricing, while Heroku goes with usage-based. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.
Which one is a better deal?
Depends on what you need. Render: Render sits mid-market — cheaper and simpler than AWS/GCP's raw infrastructure pricing, but pricier than scrappy PaaS alternatives like Railway once you factor in the workspace fee stacked on top of usage. They're chasing teams who want Heroku-like simplicity without Heroku's legacy baggage or AWS's complexity tax. 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.

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