Is Heroku or Neon better?

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

Which is cheaper, Heroku or Neon?

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

Does Heroku or Neon run on more platforms?

Heroku runs on Web, Api, Workers. Neon runs on Cloud.

Can I use Neon for free?

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

What is Heroku best used for?

Heroku is most often used for application hosting, database as a service, ci/cd pipelines, api deployment. Of those, application hosting and database as a service are not what Neon is typically brought in for.

What can Heroku do that Neon cannot?

Heroku covers Git-based deployment, Buildpacks, Dynos (containers), Add-ons marketplace. Neon covers Serverless PostgreSQL, Database Branching, Autoscaling, Bottomless Storage. Both handle Cloud deployment, Web support.

Cloud · head to head

Heroku vs Neon

Heroku

Cloud

Cloud Application Platform

From: $5/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

Neon

Cloud

Serverless Postgres for modern developers

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Neon has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Heroku there is no free dyno tier; the cheapest Eco dyno is $5 per month; Neon compute pricing at $0.106-$0.222/CU-hour means costs scale directly with workload, unlike fixed-price alternatives
They diverge on capability: Heroku covers Git-based deployment, Neon covers Serverless PostgreSQL.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Heroku and Neon actually diverge.

Attributes where Heroku and Neon differ
Attribute	Heroku	Neon
Starting price	$5/month	Free
Pricing model	subscription	Unknown
Free tier	No	Yes
Platforms	Web, Api, Workers	Cloud
Founded	2007	2021

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 Heroku

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

Only in Neon

Serverless PostgreSQL
Database Branching
Autoscaling
Bottomless Storage
Point-in-time Recovery
Connection Pooling
Read Replicas
Instant Cloning

Both cover

Cloud deployment
Web support

What people use each for

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

Heroku

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

Neon

Serverless applicationsnot Heroku
Development databasesnot Heroku
Preview environmentsnot Heroku
Testingnot Heroku

Where each one falls short

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

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

Neon

Compute pricing at $0.106-$0.222/CU-hour means costs scale directly with workload, unlike fixed-price alternatives
Separation of compute and storage may add complexity to cost prediction compared to all-in-one plans

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Neon

Free

FreeFree
- 100 CU-hours/month
- 0.5 GB storage
- 1 project
Launch$15/month
- Pay-as-you-go compute
- $0.35/GB storage
- Multiple projects
Scale$31/month
- Higher compute rates
- 99.95% SLA
- HIPAA compliance

Which should you pick?

Choose Heroku if

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

Heroku review

Choose Neon if

You need serverless postgresql.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Cloud.
You also want database branching.

Neon review

Questions people ask

Is Heroku or Neon better?: Neither clearly leads. Heroku starts at $5/month and Neon at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Heroku or Neon?: Neon has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $5/month for Heroku and Free for Neon.
Does Heroku or Neon run on more platforms?: Heroku runs on Web, Api, Workers. Neon runs on Cloud.
Can I use Neon for free?: Yes. Neon has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Heroku starts at $5/month.
What is Heroku best used for?: Heroku is most often used for application hosting, database as a service, ci/cd pipelines, api deployment. Of those, application hosting and database as a service are not what Neon is typically brought in for.
What can Heroku do that Neon cannot?: Heroku covers Git-based deployment, Buildpacks, Dynos (containers), Add-ons marketplace. Neon covers Serverless PostgreSQL, Database Branching, Autoscaling, Bottomless Storage. Both handle Cloud deployment, Web support.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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

Neon: What is Neon and what makes it different?

Neon is a serverless PostgreSQL database that separates compute and storage, enabling automatic scaling and instant database branching. After acquisition by Databricks in May 2025, pricing has been significantly reduced.

Source

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

Neon: Does Neon offer a free tier?

Yes, Neon's free tier includes 100 compute units per month and 0.5 GB of storage. This is suitable for development and small projects.

Source

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

Neon: What are the paid plans and pricing for Neon?

Neon offers consumption-based pricing on Launch ($0.106/CU-hour, approximately $15/month) and Scale ($0.222/CU-hour, approximately $31/month) plans with separate storage billing at $0.35/GB-month. No monthly minimum required.

Source

Neon: What features does Neon provide?

Neon includes git-like branching for database copies, point-in-time recovery, data anonymization for testing, managed authentication, serverless functions, and object storage that branches with projects.

Source

Neon: What compliance and reliability guarantees does Neon provide?

Neon's Scale tier offers 99.95% uptime SLA, HIPAA compliance, SOC2 certification, and private networking via PrivateLink at no extra cost.

Source

Heroku vs Neon

Heroku

Neon

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Heroku

Only in Neon

Both cover

What people use each for

Heroku

Neon

Where each one falls short

Heroku

Neon

Pricing, plan by plan

Heroku

Neon

Which should you pick?

Choose Heroku if

Choose Neon if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Heroku

More on Neon

Keep looking

Other head to heads