Hatchbox vs Heroku (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Hatchbox grades higher than Heroku: 2.0 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Hatchbox grades higher on the free plan and ease of use. Heroku grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Hatchbox
Deploy Rails and Ruby apps to servers you own, billed per server
Which one is for you
Pick Hatchbox if
- Fits if you run Rails and want servers in your own DigitalOcean or Hetzner account
- Works for people with several apps who want a flat fee per server
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a free plan, since there is none
- Tight if you dislike giving a card first: the 7-day trial needs a payment method
- Watch out: the cloud server is billed separately at the provider's list price on top of $15
- Not for you if you want hands-off hosting, as you still run your own servers
- Watch out: the pricing page has a Yearly toggle but lists no yearly plan
Pick Heroku if
- Fits if you are a developer who wants to push code and not run servers
- Makes sense if you want managed Postgres next to your app
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a free plan, as the lowest tier is $5 a month
- Tight if you need an app awake, because Eco dynos sleep after 30 minutes and are for personal accounts only
- Pricey as you scale, since prices are per dyno and the database is billed separately
- Watch out: Eco charges the $5 in full even if you subscribe mid-month
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAHatchboxFair | 1.8GPAHerokuWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C$15 a server a month with unlimited apps, level with the $10.99 middle of hosting. The server itself is billed by your cloud provider on top. | CEco is $5 a month and Basic $7, but always-on scaling and metrics start at $25 per dyno, and a Postgres database is billed separately from $5. |
| Free plan and trial | DA 7-day free trial that needs a payment method, with billing starting after day 7. No free plan. | FNo free plan and no trial are listed anywhere on the pages read. |
| Features | CServer setup, Rails-aware zero-downtime deploys, workers, cron, databases, SSL and a beta MCP server. The vendor says it is not a hands-off replacement for Heroku. | BDynos, managed Postgres and key-value, an add-ons marketplace, many languages, zero-downtime deploys and AI inference. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You connect a cloud account or Ubuntu server and keep SSH access to run it. | DNo store rating on record. You deploy with Git or Docker and a command line, which puts it below 3.8 on our ladder. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb dashboard with DigitalOcean, Hetzner, AWS, Linode, Vultr, AppSignal, Honeybadger and Sidekiq. No desktop or phone apps. | BA web platform with a Git and Docker workflow and a large add-on marketplace. No desktop or phone apps. |
| Best for | deploying Rails apps to your own cloud servers | developers deploying apps without managing servers |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Hatchbox and Heroku. How we grade
Price against what you get
Hatchbox starts at $15 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Heroku starts at $5 a month and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and Heroku starts $10 a month lower. Of the other web hosts on the chart, 5 score higher than Hatchbox for less, and 1 scores higher than Heroku for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
At a glance
| Hatchbox | Heroku | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Paid |
| Starts at | $15 per server / month | $5 per month for an Eco dyno plan |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial; a payment method is required at checkout and billing starts after day 7. | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Hatchbox | Salesforce |
| Price read from | hatchbox.io | heroku.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Hatchbox
- The server is paid separately to the cloud provider at its list price, on top of $15 a month per server Hatchbox manages.
- There is no free plan, and the trial needs a payment method.
- The vendor says it is not a hands-off replacement for Heroku: you still run your own servers.
- The pricing page has a Yearly toggle but lists no yearly plan.
Heroku
- No free plan is listed on the pricing page; the lowest dyno price is $5 a month.
- Eco dynos are for personal accounts only and sleep after 30 minutes without traffic.
- Databases are priced separately from dynos: Postgres Essential-0 is $5 a month for 1 GB of storage.
- Dyno prices are per dyno, so running several dynos multiplies the monthly cost.
Key features
Hatchbox
- Your own servers
- Servers are created in your DigitalOcean, Hetzner, AWS, Linode or Vultr account, or you can bring an Ubuntu server, and you keep full SSH access.
- Rails-aware deploys
- Rails is detected from the Gemfile; the Ruby version comes from the repo and Puma runs behind Caddy, with zero-downtime deployments.
- Workers and cron
- Sidekiq or Solid Queue workers, other processes, cron jobs, environment variables and streaming logs are managed in the dashboard.
- Databases
- PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis and SQLite can run on the server, or managed databases can be connected with environment variables.
- Automatic SSL
- Caddy handles SSL redirects, and On-Demand TLS issues certificates for custom domains.
- MCP server (beta)
- A beta MCP server lets Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or another MCP client ask what is deployed and investigate failing jobs.
Heroku
- Dynos
- Apps run in managed containers deployed with Git or Docker. The Cedar generation is the full-integration option and Fir is the Kubernetes-based one.
- Managed data services
- Heroku Postgres, Key-Value Store and Apache Kafka run as managed services, with Postgres plans starting at $5 a month.
- Language support
- The site lists Python, .NET, Java, Node.js, Go, PHP, Ruby, Scala and Clojure.
- Add-ons marketplace
- Heroku Elements lists add-ons, integrations and buildpacks that extend an app.
- Zero-downtime deploys and scaling
- Standard dynos add preboot, horizontal scaling and metrics, and Performance dynos add dedicated compute and autoscaling.
- Heroku AI
- Managed inference and agents, with MCP support, for building AI features into apps.
Plans
Hatchbox
Standard$15
per server / month
Unlimited apps and team members, zero-downtime deployments, hosted Hatchbox domains, custom domains with SSL and human support.
Heroku
Eco$5
per month, a shared pool of 1,000 dyno hours
0.5 GB RAM, personal accounts only, two process types. Dynos sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity. The $5 is charged in full for the month even if you subscribe late.
Basic$7
per dyno / month
0.5 GB RAM, always on, free SSL and up to 10 process types.
Standard-1X$25
per dyno / month
0.5 GB RAM with horizontal scaling, app metrics and alerts, preboot and zero-downtime deploys.
Standard-2X$50
per dyno / month
1 GB RAM with the Standard-1X features.
Performance-M$250
per dyno / month
2.5 GB RAM on dedicated compute with autoscaling.
Performance-L$500
per dyno / month
14 GB RAM on dedicated compute with autoscaling. Performance-XL is $750 with 62 GB RAM.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Hatchbox or Heroku?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Heroku is cheaper to start with: $5 a month, against $15 a month for Hatchbox. Hatchbox starts at $15 per server / month, and Heroku starts at $5 per month for an Eco dyno plan.
Which has a free plan, Hatchbox or Heroku?
As of Nov 13, 2026, neither Hatchbox nor Heroku has a free plan. Hatchbox has a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.