Top 10 Heroku Alternatives for 2025

When Heroku discontinued its free tier in 2022, it sent developers of all backgrounds scrambling to find suitable alternatives.

Now, as we move through 2025, the landscape of cloud deployment platforms has evolved significantly, offering developers more options than ever before.

Whether you're building a personal project, working on a startup, or managing enterprise applications, there are numerous Heroku alternatives that can meet your needs without breaking the bank.

In this article, we'll explore the most viable Heroku alternatives in 2025, examining their features, pricing structures, and ideal use cases to help you make an informed decision about where to host your applications.

Why look for Heroku alternatives?

Before diving into the alternatives, it's worth understanding why developers might seek options beyond Heroku:

• Pricing changes: Since Salesforce's acquisition of Heroku and the elimination of its free tier, many developers have found the platform's cost structure less appealing, especially for smaller projects.
• Limited customization: Heroku's platform-as-a-service (PaaS) approach simplifies deployment but restricts customization of the underlying infrastructure.
• Scaling costs: As applications grow, Heroku's pricing model can become expensive compared to other cloud providers.
• Vendor lock-in concerns: Developers increasingly seek flexibility to move between platforms as their needs evolve.

Key factors to consider when choosing a cloud platform

When evaluating Heroku alternatives, keep these factors in mind:

1. Ease of deployment and management: How simple is it to deploy applications and manage them through their lifecycle?
2. Scalability options: Can the platform easily scale to accommodate growth in traffic and usage?
3. Pricing structure: Is there a free tier? Are costs predictable or usage-based?
4. Language and framework support: Does the platform support your preferred technologies?
5. Additional services: What complementary services (databases, caching, etc.) are available?
6. Developer experience: How developer-friendly is the platform in terms of CLI tools, documentation, and workflow integration?
7. Security and compliance: What security features and compliance certifications are offered?

Without further ado, let's look at the top Heroku alternatives to consider in 2025

1. Render

Render has emerged as one of the most popular Heroku alternatives, particularly for developers who value simplicity and ease of use.

Key features:

• One-click deployments from Git repositories
• Automatic SSL certificate provisioning
• Built-in CDN for enhanced performance
• Support for various service types (web services, static sites, databases)
• Native PostgreSQL database support

Pricing: Render offers a free tier for static sites and limited web services. Paid plans start at around $7/month for web services with more resources, which is competitive with Heroku's basic tier.

Ideal for: Small to medium-sized applications, static websites, and projects that require quick setup with minimal configuration.

2. Fly.io

Fly.io takes a unique approach by deploying applications closer to users through a global network of servers, resulting in lower latency and improved performance.

Key features:

• Global edge deployment for reduced latency
• Automatic load balancing
• Support for containerized applications
• Native storage and database services
• IPv6 support out of the box

Pricing: Fly.io provides a generous free tier with up to 3 shared-CPU VMs. Beyond that, pricing is usage-based, starting at approximately $2/month per VM.

Ideal for: Applications requiring global reach, low-latency performance, or microservices architectures.

3. Railway

Railway focuses on simplifying the development and deployment workflow with an intuitive, user-friendly interface.

Key features:

• GitHub integration for automatic deployments
• Customizable environments for staging and production
• Built-in database provisioning
• Team collaboration features
• Intuitive monitoring and logs

Pricing: Railway offers a free tier with limited usage. Paid plans start at around $5/month, with usage-based pricing for larger projects.

Ideal for: Startups, small teams, and individual developers who value simplified workflows and rapid iteration.

4. DigitalOcean App Platform

DigitalOcean's App Platform brings PaaS simplicity to its robust infrastructure services, offering a good balance between ease of use and powerful underlying capabilities.

Key features:

• Integrated CI/CD pipelines
• Automatic vertical and horizontal scaling
• Built-in monitoring and alerting
• Seamless integration with DigitalOcean's managed databases
• Global CDN and DDoS protection

Pricing: The App Platform offers a free tier for static sites. Paid plans start at $5/month for basic applications, with custom pricing for larger deployments.

Ideal for: Teams familiar with DigitalOcean's ecosystem looking for a more managed deployment solution.

5. Platform.sh

Platform.sh caters to larger organizations and complex applications with its robust, enterprise-focused PaaS offering.

Key features:

• Multi-cloud and multi-region deployments
• Advanced environment management
• Extensive database and service support
• Comprehensive security features
• Enterprise compliance certifications

Pricing: Platform.sh offers custom pricing based on project requirements, with plans typically starting around $50/month for production environments.

Ideal for: Large-scale applications, enterprise projects, and multi-team collaborations requiring advanced management features.

6. Google Cloud Run

Google Cloud Run offers a serverless approach to running containerized applications, automating scaling and infrastructure management.

Key features:

• Automatic scaling based on traffic, including scaling to zero
• Pay-only-for-what-you-use pricing model
• Integration with Google Cloud monitoring and logging
• Support for any language or framework via containers
• Global network with low latency

Pricing: Google Cloud Run has a free tier covering 2 million requests per month and a generous amount of compute time. Beyond that, pricing is based on usage.

Ideal for: Applications with variable traffic patterns, where cost efficiency during idle periods is important.

7. AWS Elastic Beanstalk

For those already invested in the AWS ecosystem, Elastic Beanstalk provides a managed platform for deploying and scaling applications.

Key features:

• Auto-scaling and load balancing
• Health monitoring and reporting
• Integration with AWS services
• Support for multiple programming languages and platforms
• Deployment options including rolling and immutable

Pricing: There's no additional cost for Elastic Beanstalk itself; you pay only for the AWS resources your application consumes.

Ideal for: Organizations already using AWS services that want a simplified deployment solution within the same ecosystem.

8. Azure App Service

Microsoft's Azure App Service offers a fully managed platform for building, deploying, and scaling web apps.

Key features:

• Auto-scaling and load balancing
• Integration with Visual Studio and VS Code
• Built-in CI/CD capabilities
• Extensive authentication and authorization features
• Hybrid connectivity options

Pricing: Azure App Service offers a free tier with basic features. Paid plans start around $13/month for dedicated resources.

Ideal for: Organizations using Microsoft technologies or requiring integration with other Azure services.

9. Netlify

While primarily known for static site hosting, Netlify has expanded to offer robust serverless capabilities.

Key features:

• Continuous deployment from Git
• Built-in CDN and asset optimization
• Serverless functions for dynamic functionality
• Form handling and authentication
• Split testing capabilities

Pricing: Netlify offers a generous free tier for basic needs. Paid plans start at $19/month for additional features and capacity.

Ideal for: Static websites, JAMstack applications, and projects leveraging serverless architecture.

10. Koyeb

Koyeb brings serverless architecture to the forefront, providing a platform that automatically scales based on demand.

Key features:

• Global edge deployment
• Automatic scaling and load balancing
• Native support for Docker containers
• Integrated monitoring and logging
• Zero-configuration database integrations

Pricing: Koyeb offers a free tier with limited resources. Paid plans start at around $20/month for increased capabilities.

Ideal for: Event-driven applications, APIs, and projects that benefit from serverless architecture and global distribution.

Comparing deployment options

Here's a quick comparison of the platforms we've discussed:

Open-source self-hosted alternatives

For those who prefer to maintain complete control over their infrastructure, several open-source alternatives can be self-hosted:

Coolify

A self-hostable Heroku alternative that supports various programming languages and frameworks.

Key features:

• Deploy to your own servers via SSH
• Git integration for automatic deployments
• Built-in database support
• Automatic SSL certificate management
• Team collaboration features

Pricing: Free and open-source (you pay only for your own infrastructure).

Dokku

Often described as a "mini Heroku" Dokku provides a lightweight, self-hosted PaaS solution.

Key features:

• Git-based deployments
• Docker containerization
• Plugin ecosystem for extended functionality
• Supports multiple applications on a single server
• Easy SSL certificate management

Pricing: Free and open-source (you pay only for your own infrastructure).

CapRover

A user-friendly, self-hosted PaaS that focuses on simplicity and ease of use.

Key features:

• One-click app deployments
• Built-in SSL support
• Web-based dashboard
• Automatic HTTPS
• Docker swarm support for scaling

Pricing: Free and open-source (you pay only for your own infrastructure).

Monitoring your application across platforms

Regardless of which platform you choose, proper monitoring is essential. Consider implementing:

• Application Performance Monitoring (APM) tools to track performance metrics
• Error tracking to identify and resolve issues quickly
• Log management for troubleshooting and debugging
• Uptime monitoring to ensure availability
• Resource usage tracking to optimize costs, especially for pay-as-you-go services

You can get all these features and more by signing up for Better Stack.

Final thoughts

As you evaluate these options, consider not just your current needs but how each platform can support your growth over time. The best platform is one that can scale with your application while maintaining a balance between ease of use, performance, and cost effectiveness.

Article by

Ayooluwa Isaiah

Ayo is a technical content manager at Better Stack. His passion is simplifying and communicating complex technical ideas effectively. His work was featured on several esteemed publications including LWN.net, Digital Ocean, and CSS-Tricks. When he's not writing or coding, he loves to travel, bike, and play tennis.

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