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Heroku vs Render

SEPT 2026 audit

A comparison of Heroku and Render built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.

Reviewed by Palash BagchiUpdated 38 criteria comparedSources last checked

Adoption share

HTTP Archive counts — how much more of the web runs Render than Heroku, among the origins HTTP Archive actually detects. Measured . Source: HTTP Archive.

Render66.4% · 2,980 origins
Heroku33.6% · 1,506 origins

The short answer

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.

Neither quite fits? Every other option, ranked by iScore: Heroku alternatives · Render alternatives

10 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.

Visit Heroku documentationVisit Render documentation

No affiliate links, sponsored placements or paid rankings appear on this site. Ordering follows the sourced data and the stated criteria.

01.

At a glance.

CriterionHerokuRender
Pricing
Pricing modelUsage-based on wall-clock time, prorated to the secondThe Hobby plan does not have a monthly fee, so you only pay for usage.
When you exceed a capService 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 boughtPipeline minutes: overage is auto-purchased, but with no payment method or once the monthly spend limit is reached Render stops running pipeline tasks, builds included.
Limits
Memory (entry plan)
0.5 GB RAM on the Eco dyno ($5 flat/month, the cheapest paid dyno) and 0.5 GB on Basic.
512 MB RAM (with 0.5 CPU) on the 0.5c-512mb instance type, the cheapest paid web service compute plan.
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 deploymentSupportedSupported
Docker deploymentSupportedSupported
ContainersSupportedSupported
Scheduled jobsSupportedSupported
Infrastructure
Persistent processesSupportedSupported
Persistent storage
Not supported
Supported
Managed databasesSupportedSupported
Scales to zero
Limited
Supported
AutoscalingLimitedLimited — Requires a Pro workspace plan or higher; scales on CPU or memory utilisation targets.
Regions2 regions on the Common Runtime, which is what a standard dyno runs in: eu (Europe) and us (United States). A further 10 — Dublin, Frankfurt, London, Montreal, Mumbai, Oregon, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Virginia — exist only in Private Spaces, an Enterprise product.Oregon, USA; Ohio, USA; Virginia, USA; Frankfurt, Germany; Singapore
Support
Support on entry paid planTicket-based support to technical or billing staff for all customers. Heroku Enterprise adds Salesforce Success Plans — Standard, Premier and Signature — which are what buy a named contact and a committed response.Chat support, from the free Hobby plan upward. Professional ($25/month plus compute) adds seats, bandwidth and features but no separate support tier.

Only criteria both providers publish appear here; a tinted cell marks a real difference. Criteria only one of them documents are listed below, and an absence there means we found no source — not that the feature is missing. How we source this.

The small bar above a value is inetGeek's own lean toward that side — computed from the same facts shown, never a number the provider published. See the picker below "The short answer" to weigh only the criteria you care about.

02.

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) →

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 reached Render stops running pipeline tasks, builds included.
Sources (2) →
  • 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 · Report a correction

  • Build pipeline — Render Docs ↗

    “Running out of minutes 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.”

    Read 2026-09-14 · official docs · Report a correction

Memory (entry plan)

Heroku

0.5 GB RAM on the Eco dyno ($5 flat/month, the cheapest paid dyno) and 0.5 GB on Basic.

Render

512 MB RAM (with 0.5 CPU) on the 0.5c-512mb instance type, the cheapest paid web service compute plan.

Sources (2) →

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

Sources (2) →

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

Sources (2) →
  • 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 · Report a correction

  • 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 · Report a correction

Managed connection pooling

Heroku
Limited
Render
Supported
Sources (2) →

Persistent storage

Heroku
Not supported
Render
Supported
Sources (2) →
  • 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 · Report a correction

  • 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 · Report a correction

Scales to zero

Heroku
Limited
Render
Supported
Sources (2) →

Regions

Heroku
2 regions on the Common Runtime, which is what a standard dyno runs in: eu (Europe) and us (United States). A further 10 — Dublin, Frankfurt, London, Montreal, Mumbai, Oregon, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Virginia — exist only in Private Spaces, an Enterprise product.
Render
Oregon, USA; Ohio, USA; Virginia, USA; Frankfurt, Germany; Singapore
Sources (2) →
  • 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 · Report a correction

  • Regions — Render Docs ↗

    “You can deploy Render services to any of the following regions to minimize latency for your users: Oregon, USA Ohio, USA Virginia, USA Frankfurt, Germany Singapore”

    Read 2026-09-14 · official docs · Report a correction

Support on entry paid plan

Heroku
Ticket-based support to technical or billing staff for all customers. Heroku Enterprise adds Salesforce Success Plans — Standard, Premier and Signature — which are what buy a named contact and a committed response.
Render
Chat support, from the free Hobby plan upward. Professional ($25/month plus compute) adds seats, bandwidth and features but no separate support tier.
Sources (2) →
  • Heroku Support ↗

    “Heroku Enterprise customers have access to a range of Salesforce Success Plans that offer additional guidance and support. All Customers Standard Success SELF-GUIDED RESOURCES Premier Success EXPERT GUIDANCE Signature Success PROACTIVE, PERSONALIZED PARTNERSHIP”

    Read 2026-09-14 · official site · Report a correction

  • Render Pricing ↗

    “firewall & DDoS mitigation database PITR Chat support All Hobby features, plus: unlimited seats & services 25 GB bandwidth included”

    Read 2026-09-14 · official pricing · Report a correction

When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.

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03.

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 — except where we say we read the other provider's own page on a given date and it does not state it. Those rows lean, and the provider can correct them with a link.

Free tierRender: Yes
Kind of free offerRender: Free tier
What the free plan includesRender: Free instances of web services, Render Postgres and Key Value, plus static sites at no charge. Free instances carry documented limitations.
Credit card to startRender: No — Free services run without one until the workspace's included bandwidth or pipeline minutes run out.
When the free offer endsRender: Free Postgres databases expire 30 days after creation, with a 14-day grace period to upgrade to a paid plan.
Entry paid planHeroku: $5 per month (Eco dynos plan, 1000 dyno hours shared across the account)
Storage (entry plan)Render: No persistent disk is included on any instance type, including the entry `0.5c-512mb` plan; services run on an ephemeral filesystem unless a persistent disk is attached separately
Monthly visits capRender: No request-count cap is published; traffic is capped by outbound bandwidth, 5 GB/month included on Hobby and 25 GB on Pro.
Included bandwidthRender: Hobby: 5 GB; Pro: 25 GB; Scale: 1 TB; Enterprise: Custom
File, inode or volume limitHeroku: 1000 MB maximum compressed slug size, platform-wide on all plans; raisable via support ticket
Build allowanceRender: 500 build-pipeline minutes a month on Hobby, 1,000 on Pro, 5,000 on Scale. Minutes, not builds.
Max request durationHeroku: 30 seconds (initial window for the web process to return response data)
Streaming response limitHeroku: Platform-wide (router): 30 seconds to send the first byte, then a rolling 55-second idle window — if no data is sent for 55 seconds the connection is terminated
Edge networkRender: Supported
Uptime SLARender: Enterprise only, and custom-priced. Hobby, Professional and Organization publish no uptime SLA, and no percentage is given for the Enterprise one.
Audit logsRender: Built-in audit logging and monitoring for platform events.Heroku: not stated on its own page when read on 2026-09-21 — corrections welcome · every such claim about Heroku.
Response time commitmentHeroku: Best effort for a business-stopping issue on the plans any customer can buy. Heroku Enterprise Success Plans commit to 2 days in business hours, 1 hour, or 15 and 30 minute updates. Business hours are Monday to Friday, 9am-9pm Eastern.
SOC 2Heroku: SOC 1 and SOC 2/SSAE 16/ISAE 3402 (Previously SAS 70 Type II)Render: not stated on its own page when read on 2026-09-21 — corrections welcome · every such claim about Render.
HIPAARender: Meet SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA, ISO 27001, and GDPR requirements without overhead.Heroku: not stated on its own page when read on 2026-09-21 — corrections welcome · every such claim about Heroku.
GDPR / data residencyRender: Meet SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA, ISO 27001, and GDPR requirements without overhead.Heroku: not stated on its own page when read on 2026-09-21 — corrections welcome · every such claim about Heroku.
Private networking / VPCRender: Intuitive hosting and private networking for web services , Postgres databases , cron jobs , workflows , static sites , background jobs , key value stores , private services , WebSockets , edge caches , isolated environments ,Heroku: not stated on its own page when read on 2026-09-21 — corrections welcome · every such claim about Heroku.
04.

Questions this comparison answers.

When you exceed a cap: Heroku or Render?

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 reached Render stops running pipeline tasks, builds included.

Should I choose Heroku or Render?

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.

Provider pages

HerokuManaged application platform that runs apps in containers called dynos, deployed from Git or Docker images, with add-on services such as Heroku Postgres.RenderManaged cloud platform that builds and runs web services, background workers, static sites and databases from Git repositories or Docker images.

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Comments

Every page here is sourced and dated.