Heroku vs Render
Kofi Agyem, Founder and CEO, CloudzyroPublished
Heroku and Render side by side on price, limits and how they charge, from each company's own pricing pages, with Cloudzyro as a third option.
| Feature | Heroku | Render | Cloudzyro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | None listed; Eco is $5 a month and sleeps after 30 minutes | Free web services that spin down after 15 minutes | Launch: free, business use included, never sleeps |
| Cheapest always-on app | Basic dyno: $7 a month | Starter instance: $7 a month | Free on Launch |
| Team pricing | Priced per dyno and add-on | Pro: $25 a month flat, plus each service | Boost: $20 a month per site, team included |
| Smallest Postgres | Essential-0: $5 a month, 1 GB | From $6 a month, 256 MB of memory | Bring your own (Supabase, Neon), connected in a click |
Other companies' figures from Heroku pricing, Render: updated workspace plans, Render: free instances, checked October 31, 2026. Prices change, so check their pages before you decide.
The short answer
Heroku and Render both run long-lived web apps, workers and databases, and both start at $7 a month for an app that stays awake. Heroku prices each dyno and add-on separately and has no free plan on its pricing page. Render has free web services that sleep when quiet, and a flat $25 Pro fee for teams plus each service. Cloudzyro is a third option: a free plan that never sleeps, and a flat price per site.
Free and cheap plans
Heroku's cheapest option is the Eco plan: $5 a month for 1,000 dyno hours shared by all your personal apps, which sleep after 30 minutes without traffic. When the hours run out, every Eco app sleeps until next month.
Render's free web services spin down after 15 minutes without traffic and take about a minute to wake, with 750 free instance hours per workspace a month.
For an app that never sleeps, Heroku Basic and Render Starter are both $7 a month. Cloudzyro's Launch plan is free, never sleeps and allows business use.
Growing apps and teams
On Heroku, a Standard-1X dyno is $25 a month and Standard-2X $50; Performance dynos start at $250. On Render, Standard instances are $25 a month and Pro $85, plus $25 a month for the Pro workspace. On Cloudzyro, Boost is $20 a month per site with 2 CPUs and 2 GB of memory, and extra CPU or memory can be added.
Databases
Heroku Postgres starts at $5 a month (Essential-0, 1 GB of storage), with dedicated Standard plans from $50. Render lists a free Postgres database and paid ones from $6 a month. Cloudzyro doesn't run databases itself: you connect Supabase, Neon or another provider on your site's Database tab.
Which should you choose?
Choose Heroku if you're already on it and rely on its add-on marketplace. Choose Render if you want managed databases and workers next to your app with a flat team fee. Choose Cloudzyro if you want your website or web app always on, free to start and then one flat price per site, deployed from your AI tool, Git or a zip.