Best Heroku Alternatives in 2026: 9 Platforms Compared

Salesforce froze Heroku feature development on February 6, 2026, transitioning the platform to "sustaining engineering" — security patches and stability fixes only. No new features. No new enterprise contracts for new customers. If you're still on Heroku, you're running on a platform that Salesforce has transitioned to "sustaining engineering." Here are 9 alternatives, from quick-deploy PaaS to bring-your-own-cloud platforms, with honest pricing and trade-offs verified as of February 2026.

This guide compares 9 Heroku alternatives across pricing, developer experience, scaling, compliance, and whether they deploy to shared infrastructure or your own cloud account. No fluff. Just the facts you need to pick the right platform.

#TL;DR — Quick picks

Not every platform fits every team. Here's the short version, based on our editorial analysis as of February 2026:

• Best for BYOC: AZIN — deploys to your GCP today (AWS and Azure on roadmap) with Kubernetes abstracted away
• Best developer experience: Railway — visual canvas, 1,800+ templates, fast iteration
• Closest Heroku migration path: Render — similar CLI workflow, managed Postgres, comparable pricing tiers
• Best for global edge deployment: Fly.io — micro-VMs in 18 regions, scale-to-zero
• Best BYOC for enterprises: Porter — Kubernetes-based, SOC 2/HIPAA one-click
• Best BYOC for AWS shops: Flightcontrol — deploys directly into your AWS account
• Best for beginners on a budget: DigitalOcean App Platform — simple, cheap, predictable
• Best self-hosted / open-source: Coolify — free, deploy to any server via SSH
• Best for CI/CD pipelines: Northflank — full CI/CD, per-second billing, BYOC on all plans, 600+ regions

#What happened to Heroku

Heroku was the developer platform that defined PaaS. git push heroku main was how a generation learned to deploy. Then Salesforce acquired it in 2010, and feature development slowed over the following years.

The timeline

• 2010 — Salesforce acquires Heroku for $212M
• 2022 (April) — Security incident exposes GitHub OAuth tokens
• 2022 (August) — Heroku announces free tier removal
• 2022 (November) — Free dynos, free Postgres, and free Redis shut down. Mass exodus begins.
• 2024 — No major feature releases announced. Some pricing tiers unchanged since at least 2015 (as of February 2026).
• 2026 (February 6) — Salesforce freezes all Heroku feature development. Shifts to "sustaining engineering model." Stops selling Enterprise contracts to new customers. Nitin T. Bhat, Salesforce's SVP and GM, confirmed the pivot toward "enterprise-grade AI."

Nitin T. Bhat, Salesforce's SVP and GM, confirmed the pivot: Salesforce is redirecting investment toward "enterprise-grade AI." Existing customers can renew, but the platform's development trajectory has changed.

What "sustaining engineering" means for you

Security patches will continue. Stability fixes will ship. But no new runtimes, no new regions, no new integrations. If you need anything beyond what Heroku offers today, you won't get it from Heroku.

#How we evaluated these alternatives

Every platform was assessed on six criteria:

• Developer experience — How fast can you go from code to production? Git push deploy? CLI? Dashboard?
• Pricing — Real numbers. Not "contact sales" hand-waving.
• BYOC (bring your own cloud) — Does it deploy to your cloud account, or to shared infrastructure?
• Scaling — Horizontal autoscaling? Scale-to-zero? How many regions?
• Compliance — SOC 2? HIPAA? Data residency controls?
• Migration effort — How hard is it to move from Heroku specifically?

#AZIN

Deploy to your own cloud with the simplicity of Heroku.

AZIN is a PaaS that deploys applications to your own GCP infrastructure while giving you a Heroku-grade developer experience. AWS and Azure support are on the roadmap. You get git push deploys, managed databases, auto-scaling, and preview environments. Your code runs in your cloud account, not on shared infrastructure.

Key features

• True BYOC — deploys to your GCP account today (AWS and Azure on roadmap)
• Web services, workers, cron jobs, and managed databases
• Preview environments per pull request
• Zero Kubernetes knowledge required
• European infrastructure (Netherlands, Romania)
• Claw Now for secure AI agent deployment

Pricing

AZIN offers a free tier to get started. Platform fees are separate from your cloud costs — you pay your cloud provider directly for compute, so there's no markup on infrastructure.

Best for

Teams that want Heroku simplicity but need their data and compute to stay in their own cloud account. Strong fit for companies with compliance requirements, data residency needs, or teams that have outgrown shared PaaS pricing.

Limitations

AZIN currently supports GCP — you're paying Google directly, so there's no free-tier compute. AWS and Azure are on the roadmap. If you need global edge presence, Fly.io offers 18 regions across 6 continents.

Migrate from Heroku

AZIN supports Dockerfiles, Railpack (zero-config auto-detection), and git-based deploys. Most Heroku apps can migrate with minimal changes:

# Connect your repo, configure services, deploy
# (CLI coming soon — deploy today via the AZIN dashboard)
azin deploy --cloud gcp --region europe-west4

The key difference: your app runs in your cloud account from day one. No data migration to third-party infrastructure.

#Railway

Visual-first PaaS with the best developer experience in the category.

Railway is a modern PaaS built around a visual project canvas. You see your services, databases, and connections as a graph. It's fast, opinionated, and optimized for solo developers and small teams who want to ship quickly.

Key features

• Visual project canvas — drag, connect, deploy
• 1,800+ one-click templates (Next.js, Django, Rails, FastAPI, and more)
• Managed PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis
• Preview environments per PR
• Built-in logs, metrics, and environment variable management
• CLI and API for automation

Pricing (as of February 2026)

Usage is billed per resource consumed (~$20/vCPU/mo, ~$10/GB RAM/mo, $0.05/GB egress). If you stay within the plan's included usage, you only pay the subscription. BYOC is only available on Enterprise.

Best for

Individual developers and small teams that prioritize speed and visual workflows. The template library makes it easy to prototype fast.

Limitations

No horizontal autoscaling on Hobby or Pro. App sleeping available but with cold boot latency. Only 4 regions (US-West, US-East, EU-West, Asia-Southeast). No BYOC below Enterprise tier. If you outgrow Railway's constraints, see Railway alternatives or our AZIN vs Railway comparison.

#Render

The closest modern replacement for Heroku.

Render was built explicitly as a Heroku replacement. The UX mirrors what Heroku should have become: clean dashboard, git-based deploys, unified platform for web services, static sites, cron jobs, workers, and databases. If you want the easiest migration path off Heroku, this is it.

Key features

• Web services, static sites, cron jobs, background workers
• Managed PostgreSQL and Redis
• Auto-deploy from GitHub/GitLab
• SOC 2 Type II certified
• Free TLS, DDoS protection
• Blueprints (infrastructure-as-code via render.yaml)

Pricing (as of February 2026)

Free PostgreSQL databases expire after 30 days (reduced from 90 days in May 2024). Paid Postgres starts at $7/mo (Starter) or $55/mo (Pro).

Best for

Teams migrating directly from Heroku who want a similar workflow. Render's render.yaml is a natural successor to Heroku's app.json. SOC 2 certification makes it viable for production workloads with compliance needs.

Limitations

No BYOC — your code runs on Render's infrastructure. No scale-to-zero for web services. Limited regions compared to Fly.io. Free Postgres is time-bombed (30-day expiration). For more options, see Render alternatives or the AZIN vs Render breakdown.

#Fly.io

Global edge deployment with micro-VMs and scale-to-zero.

Fly.io converts Docker containers into micro-VMs (Firecracker) and distributes them across 18 regions worldwide. It's the closest thing to "deploy everywhere" without managing infrastructure. Scale-to-zero is built in — if no traffic hits your app, you pay nothing for compute.

Key features

• Firecracker micro-VMs (not containers)
• 18 regions across 6 continents
• Scale-to-zero — no traffic, no cost
• Machines API for programmatic VM management
• Managed Postgres (Supabase partnership) starting at $38/mo
• Anycast networking — automatic global routing
• GPU support for ML workloads

Pricing (as of February 2026)

Fly.io is purely usage-based. No subscription tiers.

Best for

Applications that need global presence with low latency. APIs, real-time apps, multiplayer games, edge functions. Teams comfortable with a bit more ops work in exchange for fine-grained control.

Limitations

Steeper learning curve than Render or Railway. The Machines API is powerful but requires more operational knowledge. Managed Postgres is relatively expensive ($38/mo minimum). No BYOC — runs on Fly's infrastructure. Community-driven support with no dedicated enterprise support tier.

#Porter

Kubernetes-based BYOC with one-click compliance.

Porter gives you a Heroku-like experience on top of Kubernetes in your own cloud account. It provisions and manages EKS (AWS), GKE (GCP), or AKS (Azure) clusters. You push code; Porter handles the K8s.

Key features

• True BYOC — runs on your AWS, GCP, or Azure account
• Provisions and manages Kubernetes clusters (EKS, GKE, AKS)
• One-click SOC 2 and HIPAA compliance controls
• Auto-scaling based on CPU/memory
• Startup program with credits
• Porter Cloud option for smaller projects (no BYOC needed)

Pricing (as of February 2026)

Porter uses metered billing: $20/vCPU/mo + $10/GB RAM/mo on Porter Cloud, or $13/vCPU/mo + $6/GB RAM/mo on BYOC (plus your cloud bill). Prorated to the minute.

The minimum viable AWS setup (EKS cluster + node group) runs approximately $225/mo in cloud costs alone (as of February 2026), plus Porter's platform fees. The startup program (25 vCPU + 50 GB RAM free for 6 months) can offset initial platform costs, but the underlying AWS bill still applies.

Best for

Funded startups and mid-size companies that need BYOC with compliance. Porter's SOC 2 and HIPAA controls are production-ready out of the box. Good for teams that want K8s power without K8s complexity.

Limitations

Expensive floor. The minimum AWS infrastructure cost (~$225/mo) prices out hobby projects and early-stage bootstrappers. The Kubernetes abstraction works well but adds another layer between you and your infrastructure. Porter Cloud is an alternative for smaller projects, but it's not BYOC.

#Flightcontrol

BYOC for AWS — flat platform fee, full access to all 28 AWS regions.

Flightcontrol deploys directly to your AWS account using native AWS services (ECS Fargate, RDS, S3). You get a clean dashboard and git-based deploys. AWS pays for compute. Flightcontrol charges a flat platform fee.

Key features

• Deploys to your AWS account using native AWS services
• All 28 AWS regions available
• ECS Fargate, RDS, ElastiCache, S3 integration
• Git-based deploys from GitHub
• Preview environments
• Available on AWS Marketplace

Pricing (as of February 2026)

Plus your AWS costs (billed directly to AWS). A basic Fargate web service with load balancer runs ~$26/mo on AWS (as of February 2026).

Best for

Teams already invested in AWS who want PaaS simplicity without leaving their AWS account. The flat platform fee is predictable, and you retain full access to AWS services.

Limitations

AWS only. No GCP, no Azure. Small team (roughly 6 people as of early 2026) — which means slower feature velocity and support capacity compared to larger platforms. The per-service pricing on higher tiers can add up if you're running many microservices.

#DigitalOcean App Platform

Simple, affordable PaaS for beginners and small projects.

DigitalOcean App Platform is a managed PaaS on DigitalOcean's infrastructure. It auto-builds from Git, handles TLS, and scales containers. No BYOC, but the pricing is straightforward and cheap.

Key features

• Git-based auto-deploy from GitHub/GitLab
• Managed containers with built-in scaling
• Free static site hosting
• Managed databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, MongoDB)
• 99.95% uptime SLA
• App Spec (infrastructure-as-code via YAML)
• 8 data center regions

Pricing

Billed by the second, minimum one minute. Each container includes a data transfer allowance.

Best for

Hobby projects, learning deployments, and small production apps where cost is the primary concern. The UX is beginner-friendly. If you're leaving Heroku's free tier (which no longer exists), DigitalOcean is the cheapest managed option.

Limitations

No BYOC. Only 8 regions. Limited autoscaling compared to Fly.io or Railway Pro. No SOC 2 certification for App Platform specifically. The ecosystem is smaller — fewer one-click templates than Railway.

#Coolify

Open-source, self-hosted PaaS. Free. Deploy to any server.

Coolify is an open-source alternative to Heroku, Vercel, and Netlify that you install on your own server. It connects via SSH and manages deployments, databases, SSL, and backups. 50,800+ GitHub stars (as of February 2026). Completely free.

Key features

• Open source (MIT license)
• Deploy to any server via SSH — VPS, bare metal, Raspberry Pi
• Git integration (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Gitea)
• One-click database deployment (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis, and more)
• Automatic SSL via Let's Encrypt
• S3-compatible backups
• Docker and Docker Compose support
• 280+ one-click service templates

Pricing

Self-hosted means you provide and pay for your own server. A $5/mo VPS from Hetzner or DigitalOcean is enough for small projects. Coolify Cloud is a managed version if you don't want to maintain the Coolify instance itself.

Best for

Developers who want full control and zero platform fees. Side projects, personal apps, and teams comfortable managing their own servers. The self-hosted nature means total data ownership.

Limitations

Maintained by a small team led by Andras Bacsai. No managed experience — you're responsible for server uptime, updates, and security. Docker Swarm support exists but Kubernetes support is still in development. No enterprise support tier. If things break at 3 AM, you're on your own.

#Northflank

Full-featured PaaS with CI/CD pipelines and BYOC on every plan.

Northflank is a developer platform that combines build pipelines, deployment, databases, and cron jobs into one system. It runs on Kubernetes under the hood and offers BYOC on all plans — including the free Developer Sandbox (1 BYOC cluster) — with 600+ regions across all major cloud providers.

Key features

• Built-in CI/CD pipelines
• Per-second billing — no hourly rounding
• Preview environments and release flows
• Managed databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis)
• BYOC with 600+ regions across AWS, GCP, and Azure
• Templates and one-click addons
• API and Terraform provider for automation

Pricing

Northflank uses usage-based pricing. No fixed tiers — you pay for what you consume.

Best for

Teams that need integrated CI/CD with their deployment platform. Teams who want BYOC across multiple cloud providers — available on all plans, including the free tier. The per-second billing is fair for workloads with variable usage.

Limitations

More complex UX than Railway or Render — it's powerful but takes longer to learn. The free tier includes 2 services, 1 database, and 1 BYOC cluster. Pricing can be hard to predict for complex setups.

#Heroku alternatives comparison table (February 2026)

As of February 2026, AZIN is the only BYOC platform we are aware of with no minimum infrastructure cost — deploy to your own GCP account with the first GKE Autopilot cluster free. Here is how all 9 alternatives compare on pricing, BYOC support, regions, and scale-to-zero.

#Shared platform vs. BYOC — which model is right for you?

This is the most important architectural decision when choosing a Heroku replacement.

Shared platforms (Railway, Render, Fly.io, DigitalOcean)

Your code runs on the platform's infrastructure. Simpler setup. Lower starting cost. But your data lives on someone else's servers, you share compute with other customers, and you're subject to the platform's pricing, regions, and scaling limits.

BYOC platforms (AZIN, Porter, Flightcontrol, Northflank)

Your code runs in your own cloud account. You own the data, the infrastructure, and the cloud relationship. Compliance is simpler because data never leaves your environment. But the starting cost is higher (you pay cloud provider minimums), and setup takes slightly longer.

For a deeper comparison of BYOC platforms, see our BYOC platform guide.

When to choose shared

• Side projects and prototypes
• Solo developers optimizing for speed
• No compliance requirements
• Budget under $50/mo

When to choose BYOC

• Production workloads with customer data
• Compliance needs (SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR)
• Teams that need data residency control
• You want to avoid vendor lock-in on infrastructure
• Cloud credits you want to use (AWS Activate, GCP Startup, Azure credits)

#How to migrate from Heroku

The migration path depends on your stack, but the general process is similar across platforms. For a detailed step-by-step walkthrough covering database migration, add-on replacement, and DNS cutover, see the Heroku migration guide.

Export your data

# Dump your Heroku Postgres database
heroku pg:backups:capture --app your-app
heroku pg:backups:download --app your-app
 
# Export environment variables
heroku config --app your-app --shell > .env.heroku

Choose your target

• Quickest migration: Render (closest UX to Heroku, supports app.json concepts via render.yaml)
• Cheapest migration: Coolify on a $5 VPS or DigitalOcean App Platform
• Most future-proof: AZIN or Porter (BYOC means no platform migration later)

Deploy and verify

Every platform on this list supports Docker-based deploys. If your app has a Dockerfile, you can deploy Docker containers to any of them. If you rely on Heroku buildpacks, Render and Railway support buildpack-compatible builds. AZIN uses Railpack for zero-config auto-detection across 13+ languages. For Rails apps specifically, see the Rails deployment guide for the full Heroku-to-AZIN migration walkthrough.

# Example: deploying to AZIN from an existing repo
git remote add azin https://git.azin.run/your-app.git
git push azin main

What about Heroku add-ons?

Heroku's add-on marketplace was one of its strengths. Most alternatives don't have equivalent marketplaces, but the services themselves are available directly:

• Heroku Postgres — Use managed Postgres from your target platform, or services like Neon, Supabase, or your cloud provider's managed database
• Heroku Redis — Upstash, Dragonfly, or managed Redis from your cloud provider
• Heroku Scheduler — Built-in cron jobs on Railway, Render, AZIN, and most alternatives
• Papertrail/Logentries — Axiom, Betterstack, Datadog, or your cloud's native logging

#Pricing reality check (as of February 2026)

Heroku's current pricing for reference:

The "$7/mo" Heroku dyno with a "$5/mo" Postgres database seems cheap until you scale. Two Standard-1X dynos with a Standard-0 Postgres database is $100/mo. At that price point, the alternatives on this list provide features like BYOC, more regions, autoscaling, or scale-to-zero that Heroku does not include.

#Frequently asked questions

Heroku defined what PaaS could be. But it stopped evolving years ago, and the February 2026 freeze made that official. The platforms on this list are where the ecosystem is moving — whether you want managed simplicity, global edge presence, or full infrastructure ownership through BYOC.

If you want the control of your own cloud without the complexity of Kubernetes, try AZIN.