Pick Heroku if
app teams who will stay on Eco at $5 / month (1,000 shared dyno hours, sleeps after 30 minutes) while they open a first Datastores list, then buy Basic at $7 / dyno / month when they need always-on.
Read the Heroku pageHeroku vs Render
Our take
Pick Heroku if app teams who will stay on Eco at $5 / month (1,000 shared dyno hours, sleeps after 30 minutes) while they open a first Datastores list, then buy Basic at $7 / dyno / month when they need always-on. Pick Render if teams who will stay on Hobby at $0 / month + the free 512 MB web service while they deploy a first project, then buy Pro at $25 / month when they need unlimited seats and full-stack previews.
Best for
Heroku Postgres rows you attach at a public $
Render Web services and a Postgres you start at $0
Free plan
Heroku No free plan
Render $0 · / month + compute. Deploy up to 25 services. 5 GB bandwidth. Single-service previews
Lowest paid
Heroku Eco $5
Render Pro $25
Next step up
Heroku Basic $7/hour
Render Scale $499
Runs where
Heroku Hosted
Render Hosted
Watch out
Heroku There is no $0 dyno
Render Hobby $0 is the workspace tile, not unlimited RAM
Last checked
Heroku 2026-10-23 · heroku.com/pricing
Render 2026-10-23 · render.com/pricing
Which one, then?
Pick Render if
teams who will stay on Hobby at $0 / month + the free 512 MB web service while they deploy a first project, then buy Pro at $25 / month when they need unlimited seats and full-stack previews.
Read the Render page