App platforms

Heroku vs Render

Choose Heroku when you want a mature add-on catalog and you will pay for dynos. Choose Render when you want Git deploys, a free tier that sleeps, and static sites next to web services.

Heroku

Mature app platform with a large add-on catalog

Paid dynos

Strengths

  • Add-ons cover databases, cache, and logging
  • Buildpacks still cover common stacks

Limits

  • Dynos cost more than a comparable VPS
  • There is no permanent free dyno

Vendor pricing Alternatives

Render

Git-based deploys for web services and static sites

Free tier, then instance plans

Strengths

  • Deploys from Git with little config
  • Static sites and web services in one place

Limits

  • Free web services sleep
  • Instance plans cost more than a small VPS

Vendor pricing Alternatives