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Heroku vs Render
Short answer: Pick Heroku if you want managed containers and data services for web apps; pick Render if you want full-stack app hosting with built-in autoscaling. Heroku starts at $5/month; Render has a free plan, paid from $25/month.
Which to pick
Pick Heroku if you want…
- Managed containers and data services for web apps
- General-purpose PaaS
- The lower starting price: $5/month against $25/month
- Integrations with Git, GitHub or Node.js (on Heroku's list, not Render's)
Pick Render if you want…
- Full-stack app hosting with built-in autoscaling
- Simple app hosting with custom Docker
- A free plan to start with (Hobby)
- Integrations with Node, Rust or Elixir (on Render's list, not Heroku's)
Heroku offers a similar PaaS experience but lacks Render's built-in private networking, detailed autoscaling and enterprise-grade compliance out of the box.
Side by side
- What it is
- Heroku:Heroku is a fully managed PaaS that lets developers build, deploy, and scale apps using git, containers, and managed data services.
- Render:Render is a cloud platform that lets you deploy, host, and scale web apps, APIs, databases, cron jobs and more with zero ops.
- Best for
- Heroku:Managed containers and data services for web apps
- Render:Full-stack app hosting with built-in autoscaling
- Who it’s for
- Heroku:Developers, teams, startups and enterprises needing simple app hosting
- Render:Developers and teams building web services, APIs, background jobs, and static sites.
- Pricing
- Heroku:Paid
- Render:Freemium
- Starting price
- Heroku:$5/month (Eco)
- Render:$25/month (Pro)
- Free plan or trial
- Heroku:—
- Render:Free plan (Hobby)
- Plans
- Heroku:Eco $5 per month · Basic $7 per month · Standard-1X $25 per month · Performance-M $250 per month · Private-S $125 per month
- Render:Hobby $0/mo · Pro $25/mo · Scale $499/mo
- Works with
- Heroku:Git, GitHub, Docker, Node.js, Ruby, Java, PHP, Python
- Render:Node, Python, Go, Rust, Ruby, Elixir, Docker
Heroku features
- Dyno containers. Runs apps in smart, isolated containers with automatic scaling and patching.
- Heroku Postgres. Fully managed PostgreSQL database service optimized for developers.
- Heroku Redis. Managed key-value store with a developer-friendly experience.
- GitHub Integration. Creates disposable Review Apps for pull requests and auto-deploys on push.
- Add-ons & Buildpacks. Extend apps with 150+ third-party add-ons and community buildpacks.
- Security & Compliance. Provides PCI, HIPAA, ISO, SOC compliance and optional Shield environments.
Render features
- Zero-ops deployments. Connect a repo and Render automatically builds, deploys and scales your service.
- Full-stack previews. Ephemeral preview environments for every pull request across the whole architecture.
- Load-based autoscaling. Automatic horizontal scaling that handles traffic bursts up to 100x.
- Managed Postgres. Fully-managed PostgreSQL with point-in-time recovery, read replicas and high availability.
- Durable workflows. Run background agents and long-running jobs without managing queues or retry logic.
- Private networking & security. Private networks, DDoS protection, TLS, RBAC and compliance (SOC 2, HIPAA, ISO 27001).
- Integrated logs & monitoring. Built-in metrics, logs and optional streaming to external observability tools.
- Infrastructure as code. Define the entire stack in a single YAML file for reproducible deployments.
Heroku vs Render FAQ
What is the difference between Heroku and Render?+
Render offers similar PaaS hosting but focuses on static site builds and custom Docker, without Heroku’s Shield compliance tier. Heroku offers a similar PaaS experience but lacks Render's built-in private networking, detailed autoscaling and enterprise-grade compliance out of the box.
Should I use Heroku or Render?+
Pick Heroku if you want managed containers and data services for web apps, general-purpose PaaS or the lower starting price: $5/month against $25/month. Pick Render if you want full-stack app hosting with built-in autoscaling, simple app hosting with custom Docker or a free plan to start with (Hobby).
Is Heroku or Render free?+
Heroku is paid, from $5/month (Eco). Render has a free plan (Hobby); paid plans start at $25/month (Pro).
Which is cheaper, Heroku or Render?+
Heroku is cheaper to start with: Heroku's Eco plan ($5/month) against Render's Pro plan ($25/month).
Do Heroku and Render integrate with the same tools?+
Partly. Both list Docker, Ruby, Python and Go. Heroku also lists Git, GitHub, Node.js, Java and 4 more; Render also lists Node, Rust and Elixir.
On DevHunt
Based on each tool's website and DevHunt data. Details may change; check the official sites.