Heroku is hired to do one job: build, run and scale web apps and their databases so a team does not manage servers. That convenience is the reason it sticks, and also why moving off it is a project, not a toggle. Below: the published prices, two open-source platforms people run instead, and the procedure for moving without breaking production.
It removes a job. Nobody has to patch an operating system or restart a database at night, and the app deploys with a Git push. That is worth money, and the people who relied on it may not be at the company anymore.
What sticks is the accumulation: apps built years ago, a database nobody dares touch, add-ons billed per app. The first saving is usually inside Heroku, from removing what is idle, before any move is considered.
Only alternatives we have checked. An open-source project is listed with the license its repository reports, on the date shown; one whose license could not be read as a single standard id is not offered as open source. Read the license guide before running any of them.
| Alternative | Kind | License | Read from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coolify | Open source | Apache-2.0 | Coolify repositoryChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
| Dokku | Open source | MIT | Dokku repositoryChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
Each feature below is what the product's own page or README says, linked to where we read it on the date shown. Pros and cons are limited to what those pages state and to what the path itself changes. We do not rank products on quality.
| Plan | Price as published | Includes | Read from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eco | $5 per month | Cedar dyno | Heroku pricingChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
| Basic | $7 per month | Cedar dyno | Heroku pricingChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
| Standard-1X | $25 per month | Cedar dyno | Heroku pricingChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
| Standard-2X | $50 per month | Cedar dyno | Heroku pricingChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
| Performance-M | $250 per month | Cedar dyno | Heroku pricingChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
| Postgres Essential-0 | $5 per month | Postgres, Essential tier | Heroku pricingChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
| Postgres Essential-1 | $9 per month | Postgres, Essential tier | Heroku pricingChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
| Postgres Essential-2 | $20 per month | Postgres, Essential tier | Heroku pricingChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
| Key-Value Store Mini | $3 per month | Key-Value Store (Redis) | Heroku pricingChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
| Key-Value Store Premium 0 | $15 per month | Key-Value Store (Redis) | Heroku pricingChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
A selection of list prices as printed on Heroku's pricing page on the checked date, per month and excluding tax. The page lists many more tiers, including Fir dynos, Advanced Postgres and Private and Shield spaces.
A platform-as-a-service is bought partly for the software and partly so nobody has to carry a pager for servers. The price difference to a self-run platform is real, and so is the work. This is a hard switch to rate lightly: a company without an engineer who owns operations should usually reduce what it runs on Heroku before moving it.
Samples are made up and are not Heroku's prices. Type in the figures from your own invoice or order form.
The honest yearly cost of running open-source software yourself, set against the bill it replaces, with the seat count where it stops paying.
Paid seats against seats in use: what the idle ones cost a year, and what you save by right-sizing at renewal.
Arithmetic only, not tax, accounting or legal advice. Check the figures against your own order form.
Moving an app platform is moving code, config and data, in that order of risk. In outline:
List every app, add-on, domain and scheduled job, with the monthly cost of each from the invoice. Switch off what nobody uses first.
Choose the destination and stand up one low-risk app there, built from the same Git repository, with the same config variables.
Back up the database, restore it on the new host and run the app against the copy. Time the restore, since that is the length of your cutover window.
Lower DNS time-to-live ahead of time, freeze writes, take the final backup, restore, switch DNS and watch logs and error rates.
Keep the old app and database stopped but available for a full billing cycle, then delete them and end the add-ons.
Run the vendor report for QuickBooks Online or Xero, then open the free audit.
General information, not legal advice. See cancelling without penalties. Last reviewed Oct 25, 2026. Product names belong to their owners and are used only to identify them.
Send us the export and see which lines are worth a second look. A connected version is planned. Heroku is one of the lines worth a look.
Worked example. Type over it.
Result
| Self-hosting, per year | Amount |
|---|---|
| Hosting, backups, tooling | 720.00 |
| Admin and restore-test time | 2,640.00 |
| Total | 3,360.00 |
| One-off set-up (not in the yearly total) | 1,200.00 |
The saving holds only if the time is real. Price the admin hours at what that person's time costs the company, not at zero.
Worked example. Type over it.
Result
“In use” is your call: last sign-in in the past 30 or 90 days from the vendor's admin report. A seat for someone on leave is not idle.