Heroku vs Render
A comparison of Heroku and Render built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
- Pick Heroku if
- Teams that want to deploy by pushing to Git and let the platform handle the runtime, with Postgres, a scheduler and Docker deploys available on the same platform.
- Pick Render if
- Workloads that need real background workers and persistent processes alongside web services, deployed from a repository or a Dockerfile. Managed Postgres and static sites run on the same platform.
9 sourced criteria separate them:
- Pricing model
- Heroku: Usage-based on wall-clock time, prorated to the second
- Render: The Hobby plan does not have a monthly fee, so you only pay for usage.
- When you exceed a cap
- Heroku: Service sleeps: on the Eco plan ($5/month for a 1000 dyno-hour pool, the cheapest paid tier) exhausting the pool forces every Eco dyno on the account to sleep for the rest of the month, and extra hours cannot be bought
- Render: Pipeline minutes: overage is auto-purchased, but with no payment method or once the monthly spend limit is hit, Render stops all pipeline tasks including service builds for the rest of the month (platform-wide, all plans)
- Memory (entry plan)
- Heroku: 0.5 GB RAM on the Eco dyno ($5 flat/month, the cheapest paid dyno) and 0.5 GB on the Basic dyno ($7/month)
- Render: 512 MB RAM (with 0.5 CPU) on the `0.5c-512mb` instance type, the cheapest paid web service compute plan (legacy name: Starter)
- Sites or apps included
- Heroku: 100 apps per account, platform-wide on all plans (Heroku Team 100, Enterprise Team 200)
- Render: 25 total services on the Hobby workspace plan (Render's entry workspace tier, compute billed separately); also limited to a single team member
- Concurrent builds
- Heroku: 10 concurrent builds for verified users without an established payment history; 300 for verified users with one (platform-wide, all plans)
- Render: One active build per service, platform-wide on all plans; a new build cancels the in-progress one for that service
- Managed connection pooling
- Heroku: Limited
- Render: Supported
- Persistent storage
- Heroku: Not supported
- Render: Supported
- Scales to zero
- Heroku: Limited
- Render: Supported
- Regions
- Heroku: Common Runtime: us (United States), eu (Europe). Private Spaces: Dublin, Frankfurt, London, Montreal, Mumbai, Oregon, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Virginia
- Render: Oregon, USA; Ohio, USA; Virginia, USA; Frankfurt, Germany; Singapore
At a glance.
| Criterion | Heroku | Render |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Pricing model | Usage-based on wall-clock time, prorated to the second | The Hobby plan does not have a monthly fee, so you only pay for usage. |
| When you exceed a cap | Service sleeps: on the Eco plan ($5/month for a 1000 dyno-hour pool, the cheapest paid tier) exhausting the pool forces every Eco dyno on the account to sleep for the rest of the month, and extra hours cannot be bought | Pipeline minutes: overage is auto-purchased, but with no payment method or once the monthly spend limit is hit, Render stops all pipeline tasks including service builds for the rest of the month (platform-wide, all plans) |
| Limits | ||
| Memory (entry plan) | 0.5 GB RAM on the Eco dyno ($5 flat/month, the cheapest paid dyno) and 0.5 GB on the Basic dyno ($7/month) | 512 MB RAM (with 0.5 CPU) on the `0.5c-512mb` instance type, the cheapest paid web service compute plan (legacy name: Starter) |
| Sites or apps included | 100 apps per account, platform-wide on all plans (Heroku Team 100, Enterprise Team 200) | 25 total services on the Hobby workspace plan (Render's entry workspace tier, compute billed separately); also limited to a single team member |
| Concurrent builds | 10 concurrent builds for verified users without an established payment history; 300 for verified users with one (platform-wide, all plans) | One active build per service, platform-wide on all plans; a new build cancels the in-progress one for that service |
| Execution | ||
| Managed connection pooling | Limited | Supported |
| Deployment | ||
| Git deployment | Supported | Supported |
| Docker deployment | Supported | Supported |
| Containers | Supported | Supported |
| Scheduled jobs | Supported | Supported |
| Infrastructure | ||
| Persistent processes | Supported | Supported |
| Persistent storage | Not supported | Supported |
| Managed databases | Supported | Supported |
| Scales to zero | Limited | Supported |
| Autoscaling | Limited | Limited |
| Regions | Common Runtime: us (United States), eu (Europe). Private Spaces: Dublin, Frankfurt, London, Montreal, Mumbai, Oregon, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Virginia | Oregon, USA; Ohio, USA; Virginia, USA; Frankfurt, Germany; Singapore |
Where they differ.
Pricing model
- Heroku
- Usage-based on wall-clock time, prorated to the second
- Render
- The Hobby plan does not have a monthly fee, so you only pay for usage.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Usage & Billing | Heroku Dev Center ↗
“Heroku computes usage from wall-clock time, not CPU time. Any dynos scaled above 0 accrue usage, regardless of traffic or activity. Heroku prorates all costs to the second.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Platform Features by Plan – Render Docs ↗
“The Hobby plan does not have a monthly fee, so you only pay for usage.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
When you exceed a cap
- Heroku
- Service sleeps: on the Eco plan ($5/month for a 1000 dyno-hour pool, the cheapest paid tier) exhausting the pool forces every Eco dyno on the account to sleep for the rest of the month, and extra hours cannot be bought
- Render
- Pipeline minutes: overage is auto-purchased, but with no payment method or once the monthly spend limit is hit, Render stops all pipeline tasks including service builds for the rest of the month (platform-wide, all plans)
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Eco Dyno Hours | Heroku Dev Center ↗
“When you use all your Eco dyno hours for a given month, all Eco dynos on your account are forced to sleep for the rest of the month. You can't purchase additional dyno hours.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Build Pipeline – Render Docs ↗
“If you run out of pipeline minutes during a given month, you automatically purchase a supplementary amount of minutes for your current tier, unless you've reached your monthly spend limit, or you haven't added a payment method. In the above cases, Render stops running pipeline tasks (including service builds!) for the remainder of the current month.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Memory (entry plan)
0.5 GB RAM on the Eco dyno ($5 flat/month, the cheapest paid dyno) and 0.5 GB on the Basic dyno ($7/month)
512 MB RAM (with 0.5 CPU) on the `0.5c-512mb` instance type, the cheapest paid web service compute plan (legacy name: Starter)
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Dyno Types | Heroku Dev Center ↗
“Eco | 0.5 GB | 1x | 1x-4x | $5 flat* | N/A | No | ✔”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Compute Plans – Render Docs ↗
“0.5 | 512 MB | `0.5c-512mb` | Starter”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Sites or apps included
100 apps per account, platform-wide on all plans (Heroku Team 100, Enterprise Team 200)
25 total services on the Hobby workspace plan (Render's entry workspace tier, compute billed separately); also limited to a single team member
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Limits | Heroku Dev Center ↗
“An account can have up to 100 apps.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Platform Features by Plan – Render Docs ↗
“Each Hobby workspace is limited to a single team member and 25 total services.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Concurrent builds
10 concurrent builds for verified users without an established payment history; 300 for verified users with one (platform-wide, all plans)
One active build per service, platform-wide on all plans; a new build cancels the in-progress one for that service
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Limits | Heroku Dev Center ↗
“Verified users without an established payment history can create up to 10 concurrent builds at one time. Verified users with an established payment history can create up to 300 concurrent builds at one time.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Build Pipeline – Render Docs ↗
“Each Render service can have only one active build at a time. Whenever a new build is initiated, Render cancels any in-progress build for the same service.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Managed connection pooling
- Heroku
- Limited
- Render
- Supported
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Server-Side Connection Pooling for Heroku Postgres | Heroku Dev Center ↗
“Server-side connection pooling is available for Standard, Premium, Private, and Shield-tier databases. [...] Server-side connection pooling isn't available for Essential-tier databases.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Connection Pooling for Render Postgres — Render Docs ↗
“If your Render Postgres database requires more simultaneous connections than its compute plan allows, you can enable connection pooling for it at no additional cost. When enabled, Render runs PgBouncer in front of your database to manage its connection volume: [...] Connection pooling is not available for free databases.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Persistent storage
- Heroku
- Not supported
- Render
- Supported
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Dynos (App Containers) | Heroku Dev Center ↗
“Each dyno gets its own ephemeral filesystem, with a fresh copy of the most recently deployed code. During the dyno's lifetime, its running processes can use the filesystem as a temporary scratchpad, but no files that are written are visible to processes in any other dyno.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Persistent Disks – Render Docs ↗
“You can attach a persistent disk to a paid Render web service, private service, or background worker. This enables you to preserve local filesystem changes across deploys and restarts.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Scales to zero
- Heroku
- Limited
- Render
- Supported
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Eco Dyno Hours | Heroku Dev Center ↗
“If an app has an Eco web dyno, and that dyno receives no web traffic in a 30-minute period, it sleeps. In addition to the web dyno sleeping, if you have a worker Eco dyno, it also sleeps. Eco web dynos do not consume Eco dyno hours while sleeping.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Free Instances – Render Docs ↗
“Render spins down a Free web service that goes 15 minutes without receiving any inbound traffic.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Regions
- Heroku
- Common Runtime: us (United States), eu (Europe). Private Spaces: Dublin, Frankfurt, London, Montreal, Mumbai, Oregon, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Virginia
- Render
- Oregon, USA; Ohio, USA; Virginia, USA; Frankfurt, Germany; Singapore
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Regions | Heroku Dev Center ↗
“eu Europe Common Runtime us United States Common Runtime dublin Dublin, Ireland Private Spaces frankfurt Frankfurt, Germany Private Spaces london London, United Kingdom Private Spaces montreal Montreal, Canada Private Spaces mumbai Mumbai, India Private Spaces oregon Oregon, United States Private Spaces singapore Singapore Private Spaces sydney Sydney, Australia Private Spaces tokyo Tokyo, Japan Private Spaces virginia Virginia, United States Private Spaces”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Regions ↗
“Oregon, USA / Ohio, USA / Virginia, USA / Frankfurt, Germany / Singapore”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Which should you choose?
Choose Heroku if…
Teams that want to deploy by pushing to Git and let the platform handle the runtime, with Postgres, a scheduler and Docker deploys available on the same platform.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose Render if…
Workloads that need real background workers and persistent processes alongside web services, deployed from a repository or a Dockerfile. Managed Postgres and static sites run on the same platform.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- Heroku: The dyno filesystem is ephemeral, and a web process must respond within 30 seconds of receiving a request.
- Render: Free web services spin down after 15 minutes without traffic, which makes the free tier unsuitable for anything that must answer immediately.
Documented by only one.
These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing.