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Cloud · head to head

Heroku vs OpenEBS

Heroku logo

Heroku

Cloud

Cloud Application Platform

From
$5/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
OpenEBS logo

OpenEBS

Cloud

Open source container-attached storage for Kubernetes

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only OpenEBS 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; OpenEBS there is no vendor on the other end of an incident unless you separately contract DataCore, so an outage at three in the morning is resolved by your own team and a public Slack channel.
  • They diverge on capability: Heroku covers Git-based deployment, OpenEBS covers Replicated engine.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Heroku and OpenEBS actually diverge.

Attributes where Heroku and OpenEBS differ
AttributeHerokuOpenEBS
Starting price$5/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, Api, WorkersLinux
Founded2007Unknown

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 OpenEBS

  • Replicated engine
  • Local PV engines
  • Kubernetes-native management
  • Snapshots and clones
  • No licence fee
  • Hardware independence

What people use each for

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

Heroku

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

OpenEBS

  • Running Cassandra or Kafka on Kubernetes where the application already replicates and node-local volumes are sufficientnot Heroku
  • A platform team that needs persistent volumes on bare metal Kubernetes without a per node subscriptionnot Heroku
  • An edge or lab deployment where a commercial storage licence cannot be justifiednot Heroku
  • Replacing hostpath volumes with something that has snapshots and a Container Storage Interface drivernot 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

OpenEBS

  • There is no vendor on the other end of an incident unless you separately contract DataCore, so an outage at three in the morning is resolved by your own team and a public Slack channel.
  • The project has several storage engines with different maturity and different operational characteristics, and choosing the wrong one for your workload produces poor results that look like a product failure.
  • Documentation and upgrade guidance assume real Kubernetes storage knowledge, so teams without that expertise underestimate the operational load they are taking on.
  • Project governance shifted after DataCore acquired MayaData in 2021, which means the direction of a supposedly neutral project is influenced by one commercial sponsor.
  • Disaster recovery, cross-cluster replication and policy-driven data services are thinner than in the commercial alternatives, so organisations with those requirements end up building them or buying a product anyway.

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

OpenEBS

Free
  • OpenEBSFree
    • Apache 2.0 licensed
    • All storage engines included
    • No node or capacity limits

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 OpenEBS if

  • You need replicated engine.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux.
  • You also want local pv engines.
OpenEBS review

Questions people ask

Is Heroku or OpenEBS better?
Neither clearly leads. Heroku starts at $5/month and OpenEBS at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Heroku or OpenEBS?
OpenEBS has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $5/month for Heroku and Free for OpenEBS.
Does Heroku or OpenEBS run on more platforms?
Heroku runs on Web, Api, Workers. OpenEBS runs on Linux.
Can I use OpenEBS for free?
Yes. OpenEBS 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 OpenEBS is typically brought in for.
What can Heroku do that OpenEBS cannot?
Heroku covers Git-based deployment, Buildpacks, Dynos (containers), Add-ons marketplace. OpenEBS covers Replicated engine, Local PV engines, Kubernetes-native management, Snapshots and clones.

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
OpenEBS: Who supports it in production?

The project is community supported. Commercial support is available from DataCore, which acquired the original sponsor MayaData in 2021. Establish that relationship before production, not during an incident.

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
OpenEBS: Which engine should we use?

If your application replicates its own data, use a Local engine and avoid replicating twice. If it does not, such as with PostgreSQL, use the Replicated engine.

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
OpenEBS: Does it cost anything?

No licence fee. The cost is operational, and a support contract if you want someone accountable.

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