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Heroku vs Render

What the same app costs on each, how they bill, and where each one gets expensive.

prices checked 29 September 2026 · USD, without VAT

Monthly cost in 4 sample setups

SetupHerokuRender
Hobby API1 × 0.5 vCPU / 512 MB, 20 GB egress, 10 % load$7$9.25
App with Postgres1 × 1 vCPU / 1 GB, Postgres 1 GB RAM, 5 GB, 100 GB egress, 25 % load$59$59.45
Small SaaS2 × 2 vCPU / 4 GB, Postgres 4 GB RAM, 50 GB, 500 GB egress, 25 % load$1,000*$313.95
Staging, 8 hours a day1 × 0.5 vCPU / 512 MB, Postgres 1 GB RAM, 5 GB, 10 GB egress, 8 h a day, 10 % load$16$27.95

* Without the database or disk: no matching plan in our table.

Of our 4 sample setups, 3 can be priced on both; Heroku is cheaper in 3, Render in 0. Click a setup to open it in the calculator and change the numbers.

In short

Both sell fixed instances. Heroku sizes dynos by memory: 0.5 GB costs $7 on Basic, which can't scale past one dyno, or $25 on Standard-1X. Render's $7 instance also has 512 MB and can scale. Heroku's Essential Postgres plans are cheaper than Render's databases, while Render charges for bandwidth beyond 5 GB on its Hobby workspace. Heroku has been in sustaining engineering since February 2026.

Heroku

  • Dynos sold by memory: Basic $7 (0.5 GB, one dyno only), Standard-1X $25, Standard-2X $50 (1 GB), Performance-M $250 (2.5 GB).
  • Eco: $5 for a pool of 1,000 dyno hours; Eco dynos sleep after 30 minutes idle.
  • Postgres Essential from $5 (1 GB of storage); Essential-1 is $9 (10 GB).
  • Bandwidth is soft-limited at 2 TB per app a month.
  • In sustaining engineering since February 2026; no new Enterprise contracts.

Render

  • Fixed monthly instances from $7 (0.5 CPU, 512 MB) to $175 (4 CPU, 8 GB), billed by the second.
  • Free instances sleep after 15 minutes idle; a workspace gets 750 free instance hours a month.
  • Hobby workspace (one seat): 5 GB of bandwidth, then $0.15 per GB. Pro: $25 a month with 25 GB.
  • Postgres from $6 (256 MB) or $19 (1 GB) plus $0.30 per GB of storage; free Postgres expires after 30 days.
  • Disks $0.25 per GB-month; a service with a disk can't scale to several instances.

More comparisons

Sources

Prices were read from these pages on 29 September 2026.