Heroku was magic. git push heroku main and your app was live. No servers to manage, no infrastructure to think about. For a decade, it was the default answer to “how do I deploy this?”

Then Salesforce acquired it. The free tier disappeared in November 2022. Eco dynos sleep after 30 minutes. Basic dynos cost $7/mo each. Add a database ($5/mo), Redis ($3/mo), a worker dyno ($7/mo), and your simple side project costs $22/mo before you’ve written a line of business logic.

In 2026, there are platforms that give you more — real servers, flat pricing, databases included — for less.

Here are the best Heroku alternatives, what each does well, and which one fits your project.

Quick Comparison

HerokuRailwayRenderFly.ioInstaPods
Starting price$5/mo (sleeps)$5/mo + usage$7/moFree (limited)$3/mo
Always-on$7/mo (Basic)~$8-13/mo$7/mo~$3-5/mo$3/mo
DatabaseAdd-on ($5/mo+)Usage-based$7/mo extraBuilt-in (usage)Included
SSH accessNoNoPaid plansYesYes, all plans
Billing modelPer-dyno + add-onsUsage-basedFixed + add-onsUsage-basedFlat monthly
Docker supportContainer registryNativeNativeNativePresets
RegionsUS, EUUS, EU, AsiaUS, EU35+ regionsEU
AI/MCP deployNoNoNoNoYes

What’s Wrong with Heroku in 2026

Heroku’s problems aren’t about one thing — they’re structural.

Sleeping dynos kill user experience

Eco dynos ($5/mo) sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity. The first visitor after sleep waits 5-10 seconds while the dyno boots. For any user-facing app — a demo, a portfolio, a client project — that’s a dealbreaker.

Always-on requires Basic dynos at $7/mo. Per dyno. Per app. Three always-on apps cost $21/mo before databases.

Add-on pricing stacks up fast

Heroku’s base dyno price looks reasonable in isolation. Then you need infrastructure:

A Node.js API with Postgres and Redis costs $15/mo on the cheapest always-on plan. That’s $180/year for a side project.

No server access

You can’t SSH into a Heroku dyno. Need to check a log file on disk? Debug a memory leak with system tools? Install a system package that isn’t in a buildpack? You’re out of luck. Heroku gives you a black box.

Not built for AI-native development

The biggest shift since Heroku’s peak is how developers build apps. Tools like Claude Code, Cursor, and Lovable generate full-stack apps in minutes. These tools need hosting that integrates with their workflow — CLI deploys, MCP servers for agent-driven deployment. Heroku has neither.

The Alternatives

1. Railway — Best Modern PaaS Experience

Railway is often called “the modern Heroku,” and it earned that label. The UI is clean, deploys are fast, and Nixpacks auto-detect your stack without config files.

What you get:

The catch: Usage-based pricing. The Hobby plan costs $5/mo plus compute charges. A small Node.js app running 24/7 adds $3-8/mo on top. A traffic spike means a bill spike — one viral Show HN and your $8 month becomes $40. You don’t know what you’ll pay until the month ends.

Real cost for a typical app:

No SSH access. Like Heroku, Railway gives you a container, not a server.

Best for: Developers who want the best modern PaaS experience and can tolerate unpredictable billing.

2. Render — Best Heroku-Like Experience

Render is the closest drop-in replacement for Heroku. Similar workflow, modern dashboard, and gives you SSH access on paid plans — something Heroku never offered.

What you get:

The catch: Databases are separate services with separate pricing. Render Postgres starts at $7/mo on top of your $7/mo instance. Redis is $10/mo. The “free tier” for web services sleeps after 15 minutes with a 30-60 second cold start.

Real cost for a typical app:

That’s more expensive than Heroku for the same stack. Render wins on features (SSH, Docker, cron), not on price.

Best for: Developers who want a Heroku-like experience with SSH access and better Docker support. Willing to pay more for modern tooling.

3. Fly.io — Best for Global Edge Deployment

Fly.io takes a different approach. Instead of containers, it runs your app in lightweight VMs (Firecracker) across 35+ regions worldwide. Your app runs close to your users, everywhere.

What you get:

The catch: Complex pricing. CPU time, memory, bandwidth, persistent storage, and IP addresses are all metered separately. The free tier is limited. And the platform has a steeper learning curve — it’s CLI-first with a less polished dashboard than Heroku or Railway.

Real cost for a typical app:

Best for: Apps that need global distribution, persistent connections (WebSockets, real-time), or multi-region deployment. Expect a learning curve — Fly rewards infrastructure knowledge.

4. DigitalOcean App Platform — Best from a Cloud Provider

App Platform brings PaaS simplicity to DigitalOcean’s infrastructure. If you’re already using DigitalOcean droplets and want a step up from raw VPS management, this is the natural upgrade.

What you get:

The catch: Managed databases start at $15/mo — triple what Heroku charges. The starter tier ($5/mo) is limited. And the platform feels bolted onto DigitalOcean’s infrastructure rather than purpose-built — the dashboard and docs lack the polish of Railway or Render.

Real cost for a typical app:

Best for: Teams already on DigitalOcean who want PaaS convenience without leaving the ecosystem.

5. Coolify — Best Self-Hosted Option

Coolify is open-source and self-hosted. Install it on your own VPS ($5-20/mo on Hetzner or DigitalOcean) and get a Heroku-like experience with zero vendor lock-in.

What you get:

The catch: You manage the server. Updates, security patches, backups, uptime — that’s on you. There’s no global CDN. The community is active but a fraction of Heroku’s ecosystem — fewer one-click templates, fewer Stack Overflow answers. Initial setup takes 30-60 minutes.

Real cost:

Best for: Developers comfortable with VPS management who want PaaS convenience without PaaS pricing.

6. InstaPods — Best for Flat Pricing and AI Deployment

We built InstaPods because we kept hitting the same wall: AI tools generate full-stack apps in minutes, and deploying them still took hours. Heroku doesn’t give you a server. Railway bills by usage. Render charges extra for databases. VPS requires DevOps knowledge.

InstaPods gives you a real Linux server with SSH access, databases included, flat pricing, and one-command deploys. No add-ons, no usage billing, no sleeping.

What you get:

What we don’t do (yet):

Real cost for a typical app:

Compare that to $15-24/mo on Heroku, Render, or Railway for the same stack. No add-on juggling, no usage surprises.

The deploy experience:

curl -fsSL https://instapods.com/install.sh | sh
instapods deploy my-app

The CLI detects your stack, creates a server, uploads your code, installs dependencies, and returns a live URL. No Procfile, no Dockerfile, no YAML.

With AI tools, it’s even simpler — Claude Code or Cursor can deploy via MCP:

“Deploy this Flask app to InstaPods”

The agent creates a pod, pushes code, and returns the URL. No terminal needed.

Best for: Solo developers, indie hackers, and AI-native builders who want real servers, flat pricing, and the fastest path from localhost to production.

How to Choose

The right alternative depends on what matters most to you:

The Cost Reality

Here’s what a typical app (Node.js API + PostgreSQL + Redis) actually costs on each platform:

PlatformComputeDatabaseCacheTotal
Heroku$7/mo$5/mo$3/mo$15/mo
Render$7/mo$7/mo$10/mo$24/mo
Railway~$10/mo~$3/mo~$3/mo~$16/mo
Fly.io~$5/mo~$5/mo~$3/mo~$13/mo
DO App Platform$5/mo$15/mo—$20/mo
InstaPods$7/mo$0$0$7/mo

InstaPods is cheaper because databases run on the same server instead of being billed as separate managed services. The trade-off: you’re managing a single server, not a distributed database cluster. For most side projects, MVPs, and small production apps, a co-located database is the practical choice.

Migrating from Heroku

Moving from Heroku to most alternatives is straightforward:

  1. Export your data — heroku pg:backups:capture then download
  2. Set environment variables — copy from heroku config
  3. Deploy — most platforms support git push or CLI deploy
  4. Import your database — restore the backup on the new platform
  5. Update DNS — point your domain to the new host

For InstaPods specifically:

# Install CLI
curl -fsSL https://instapods.com/install.sh | sh

# Deploy your app
instapods deploy my-heroku-app

# Import database (SSH in and restore)
instapods ssh my-heroku-app
pg_restore -d mydb backup.dump

The whole process takes 5-10 minutes for a typical app.

Bottom Line

Heroku pioneered simple deployment. But in 2026, you’re paying more for less — sleeping dynos, no SSH, add-on pricing that stacks up, and no support for AI-native workflows.

Every platform on this list solves Heroku’s problems in a different way. Railway modernizes the PaaS experience. Render adds SSH and Docker. Fly.io goes global. Coolify gives you full control. InstaPods bundles everything at a flat price.

Pick the one that matches how you build. If you’re shipping side projects, building with AI tools, or you want hosting that doesn’t require a spreadsheet to understand the bill — try InstaPods. $3/mo, real servers, no lock-in, no surprises.