Heroku vs Porter (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Heroku grades higher than Porter: 1.8 against 1.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Heroku grades higher on value for money and features. Porter grades higher on ease of use. They get the same grade on the free plan and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Which one is for you
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
Pick Porter if
- Fits if you want Heroku-style deploys on your own cloud account
- Works for startups moving off Heroku
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you add it up: the fee comes on top of your cloud provider's bill
- Skip it if you want a free tier, as none is listed
- Tight if you need SSO, advanced roles or volume discounts, which need Enterprise and a sales call
- Watch out: billing is on requested resources, not cloud instance capacity
How we grade them
| 1.8GPAHerokuWeak | 1.6GPAPorterWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | D$6 per GB of RAM and $13 per vCPU a month, so 1 vCPU with 2 GB is $25 before the cloud bill, above the ordinary range. |
| Free plan and trial | FNo free plan and no trial are listed anywhere on the pages read. | FNo free plan and no trial on record, so you pay from the start. |
| Features | BDynos, managed Postgres and key-value, an add-ons marketplace, many languages, zero-downtime deploys and AI inference. | CGitHub deploys, autoscaling, monitoring, logs, alerts and a Heroku migration path. It relies on a cloud account you supply. |
| Ease of use | DNo store rating on record. You deploy with Git or Docker and a command line, which puts it below 3.8 on our ladder. | CYou connect a cloud account and configure apps, with no store rating. |
| Platforms and integrations | BA web platform with a Git and Docker workflow and a large add-on marketplace. No desktop or phone apps. | BWeb dashboard with a few integrations, built on GitHub. |
| Best for | developers deploying apps without managing servers | Heroku-style deploys on your own cloud |
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: Heroku and Porter. How we grade
Price against what you get
Heroku starts at $5 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Porter starts at $13 a month and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and Heroku starts $8 a month lower. Of the other web hosts on the chart, 1 scores higher than Heroku for less, and 4 score higher than Porter 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
- Heroku also covers databases.
- Porter also covers workflow automation and job scheduling.
At a glance
| Heroku | Porter | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| Starts at | $5 per month for an Eco dyno plan | Metered: $6 per GB of RAM and $13 per vCPU, per month, plus your cloud bill |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Salesforce | Porter |
| Price read from | heroku.com | porter.run |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Porter
- Porter's metered fee does not include the underlying AWS, Azure or Google Cloud cost, which is billed separately by the provider.
- Rates are $6 per GB of RAM and $13 per vCPU a month, billed on requested resources rather than cloud instance capacity.
- Volume discounts, SSO and advanced roles are Enterprise features that require talking to sales.
- The pricing FAQ mentions startup deals through some accelerators and investors, and a 50% discount for non-profits.
Key features
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.
Porter
- Your own cloud account
- Applications run in your AWS, Azure or Google Cloud account, and the servers keep running if you stop paying Porter, according to the pricing FAQ.
- Deploy from GitHub
- Unlimited applications can be deployed from GitHub with preview environments, jobs and cron jobs.
- Autoscaling
- Applications autoscale, including custom autoscaling rules.
- Monitoring, logging and alerts
- Monitoring, logging and alerting are part of the Standard offering, along with certificate management.
- Heroku migration path
- The site has a dedicated guide for moving apps off Heroku.
- Enterprise controls
- Advanced role-based access control, SAML-based SSO and on-premise installation are offered on the Enterprise tier.
Plans
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.
Porter
StandardCustom
Pay as you go for requested app resources: $6 per GB RAM and $13 per vCPU per month ($0.009 and $0.019 per hour). Unlimited apps, preview environments, autoscaling and cron jobs.
EnterpriseCustom
Volume discounts above 40 vCPU or 80 GB RAM, premium support, advanced RBAC, SAML SSO, custom alerts and on-prem installation. Sold through sales.
Ways to pay less
Heroku
No public discounts listed.
Porter
- Nonprofit
50% discount for non-profits
The pricing FAQ states Porter offers non-profits a 50% discount.
- Startups
Startup deal through accelerators and investors
The pricing FAQ says funded startups often have access to a deal through investors such as Y Combinator and a16z speedrun, and others can apply for the startup deal.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Heroku or Porter?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Heroku is cheaper to start with: $5 a month, against $13 a month for Porter. Heroku starts at $5 per month for an Eco dyno plan, and Porter starts at Metered: $6 per GB of RAM and $13 per vCPU, per month, plus your cloud bill.
Which has a free plan, Heroku or Porter?
As of Nov 13, 2026, neither Heroku nor Porter has a free plan.
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.