Is Caddy or Heroku better?

Neither clearly leads. Caddy starts at Free and Heroku at $5/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Caddy or Heroku?

Caddy has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Caddy and $5/month for Heroku.

Does Caddy or Heroku run on more platforms?

Caddy runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker. Heroku runs on Web, Api, Workers.

Can I use Caddy for free?

Yes. Caddy has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Heroku starts at $5/month.

What is Caddy best used for?

Caddy is most often used for sites and services where expired certificates have caused outages before, small deployments where nginx configuration is more effort than the problem warrants, reverse proxying internal services with tls without a certificate workflow. Of those, sites and services where expired certificates have caused outages before and small deployments where nginx configuration is more effort than the problem warrants are not what Heroku is typically brought in for.

What can Caddy do that Heroku cannot?

Caddy covers Automatic HTTPS, Caddyfile, Reverse proxy, Single binary. Heroku covers Git-based deployment, Buildpacks, Dynos (containers), Add-ons marketplace.

Cloud · head to head

Caddy vs Heroku

Caddy

Cloud

Web server with automatic HTTPS by default

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Heroku

Cloud

Cloud Application Platform

From: $5/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Caddy has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Caddy smaller ecosystem than Nginx, so third-party guides and modules are fewer; Heroku there is no free dyno tier; the cheapest Eco dyno is $5 per month
They diverge on capability: Caddy covers Automatic HTTPS, Heroku covers Git-based deployment.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Caddy and Heroku actually diverge.

Attributes where Caddy and Heroku differ
Attribute	Caddy	Heroku
Starting price	Free	$5/month
Pricing model	Open source, no licence fee	subscription
Free tier	Yes	No
Platforms	Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker	Web, Api, Workers
Founded	Unknown	2007

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cloud).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Caddy

Automatic HTTPS
Caddyfile
Reverse proxy
Single binary

Only in Heroku

Git-based deployment
Buildpacks
Dynos (containers)
Add-ons marketplace
Postgres database
Environment variables
Logging
API

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Caddy

Sites and services where expired certificates have caused outages beforenot Heroku
Small deployments where Nginx configuration is more effort than the problem warrantsnot Heroku
Reverse proxying internal services with TLS without a certificate workflownot Heroku

Heroku

Application hostingnot Caddy
Database as a servicenot Caddy
CI/CD pipelinesnot Caddy
API deploymentnot Caddy

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Caddy

Smaller ecosystem than Nginx, so third-party guides and modules are fewer
Adding plugins means rebuilding the binary rather than loading a module
Under very high throughput Nginx generally still benchmarks ahead
Automatic certificate issuance needs outbound internet access, which complicates air-gapped deployments

Heroku

There is no free dyno tier; the cheapest Eco dyno is $5 per month
Eco dynos sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity, are restricted to personal accounts and allow only 2 process types
Free SSL and 10 process types start at the Basic dyno at $7 per month
Private and Shield dyno types require a Private Space, which is billed on top of the dynos
Private Space dynos start at $250 per month for Private-M and $500 per month for Private-L
Dyno prices are per dyno per month, so an app with several process types multiplies the bill

Pricing, plan by plan

Caddy

Free

CaddyFree
- Full functionality
- Commercial use permitted
- Community support

Heroku

$5/month

Eco Dyno$5/month
- 0.5 GB RAM
- Git/Docker deploy
- Custom domains
Basic Dyno$7/month
- 0.5 GB RAM
- Always-on
- Free SSL
Standard-1X Dyno$25/month
- 0.5 GB RAM
- Horizontal scaling
- App metrics
Standard-2X Dyno$50/month
- 1 GB RAM
- Horizontal scaling
- App metrics

Which should you pick?

Choose Caddy if

You need automatic https.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker.
You also want caddyfile.

Caddy review

Choose Heroku if

You need git-based deployment.
You work on Web, Api, Workers.
You also want buildpacks.

Heroku review

Questions people ask

Is Caddy or Heroku better?: Neither clearly leads. Caddy starts at Free and Heroku at $5/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Caddy or Heroku?: Caddy has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Caddy and $5/month for Heroku.
Does Caddy or Heroku run on more platforms?: Caddy runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker. Heroku runs on Web, Api, Workers.
Can I use Caddy for free?: Yes. Caddy has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Heroku starts at $5/month.
What is Caddy best used for?: Caddy is most often used for sites and services where expired certificates have caused outages before, small deployments where nginx configuration is more effort than the problem warrants, reverse proxying internal services with tls without a certificate workflow. Of those, sites and services where expired certificates have caused outages before and small deployments where nginx configuration is more effort than the problem warrants are not what Heroku is typically brought in for.
What can Caddy do that Heroku cannot?: Caddy covers Automatic HTTPS, Caddyfile, Reverse proxy, Single binary. Heroku covers Git-based deployment, Buildpacks, Dynos (containers), Add-ons marketplace.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Caddy: Is Caddy free?

Yes, open source under the Apache 2.0 licence, free for commercial use.

Heroku: How much does Heroku cost?

Heroku dyno pricing starts at $5 per month USD for the Eco tier (with 30-minute inactivity sleep), $7 per month for Basic (always-on), and scales up to $1,500 per month for Performance-2XL with 126 GB RAM.

Source

Caddy: What does automatic HTTPS mean?

Caddy obtains certificates from Let’s Encrypt or ZeroSSL on first request and renews them before expiry, with no cron job or configuration.

Heroku: What is the cheapest always-on Heroku plan?

The Basic Dyno at $7 per month USD is Heroku's cheapest always-on container option. It provides 0.5 GB RAM, free SSL, and support for 10 process types.

Source

Caddy: Caddy or Nginx?

Caddy is dramatically simpler to configure and removes certificate management. Nginx has the larger ecosystem and better peak throughput.

Heroku: How is Heroku Postgres priced?

Heroku Postgres Essential tier (shared resources) starts at $5-$20 per month for 1-32 GB disk. Standard tier (dedicated) ranges $50-$12,000 per month. Premium, Private, Shield, and Advanced tiers offer higher performance at corresponding prices.

Source

Caddy vs Heroku

Caddy

Heroku

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Caddy

Only in Heroku

What people use each for

Caddy

Heroku

Where each one falls short

Caddy

Heroku

Pricing, plan by plan

Caddy

Heroku

Which should you pick?

Choose Caddy if

Choose Heroku if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Caddy

More on Heroku

Keep looking

Other head to heads