Is Heroku or Poolside better?

Neither clearly leads. Heroku starts at $5/month and Poolside at $0.06/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Heroku or Poolside?

Heroku starts at $5/month and Poolside at $0.06/month.

Does Heroku or Poolside run on more platforms?

Heroku runs on Web, Api, Workers. Poolside runs on web, api, mac, windows, linux.

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 Poolside is typically brought in for.

What can Heroku do that Poolside cannot?

Heroku covers Git-based deployment, Buildpacks, Dynos (containers), Add-ons marketplace. Poolside covers Laguna S 2.1, Laguna XS 2.1, Desktop and CLI tools, Open-weight models.

Cloud · head to head

Heroku vs Poolside

Heroku

Cloud

Cloud Application Platform

From: $5/month
Free plan: No

Full review Website

Poolside

Open-weight foundation models built for agentic software engineering

From: $0.06/month
Free plan: No

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Heroku there is no free dyno tier; the cheapest Eco dyno is $5 per month; Poolside no self-serve public application; access is largely through enterprise sales or third-party model gateways
They diverge on capability: Heroku covers Git-based deployment, Poolside covers Laguna S 2.1.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Heroku and Poolside actually diverge.

Attributes where Heroku and Poolside differ
Attribute	Heroku	Poolside
Starting price	$5/month	$0.06/month
Pricing model	subscription	usage-based
Platforms	Web, Api, Workers	web, api, mac, windows, linux
Category	Cloud	AI
Founded	2007	2023

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Poolside

Laguna S 2.1
Laguna XS 2.1
Desktop and CLI tools
Open-weight models
Third-party gateway access

What people use each for

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

Heroku

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

Poolside

Enterprises deploying AI coding assistance across large developer organizationsnot Heroku
Government and defense agencies needing on-premise or sovereign coding modelsnot Heroku
Teams building custom coding agents on open-weight foundation modelsnot Heroku
Organizations wanting on-device lightweight coding modelsnot 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

Poolside

No self-serve public application; access is largely through enterprise sales or third-party model gateways
Pricing for the flagship enterprise and government offering is not public and requires a sales conversation
Targets organizations with large (5,000+) developer headcounts, making it a poor fit for individuals or small teams
Documentation and product surface area are thin compared to consumer-facing coding assistants

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

Poolside

$0.06/month

Laguna XS 2.1$undefined/month
- $0.06 per 1M input tokens
- $0.12 per 1M output tokens
- Available via OpenRouter and Vercel AI Gateway
Laguna S 2.1$undefined/month
- $0.10 per 1M input tokens
- $0.20 per 1M output tokens
- 1M token context window
Enterprise / Government$undefined/month
- Custom contracts for large engineering organizations
- Sales-quoted pricing
- On-premise or dedicated deployment options

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 Poolside if

You need laguna s 2.1.
You work on web, api, mac, windows, linux.
You also want laguna xs 2.1.

Poolside review

Questions people ask

Is Heroku or Poolside better?: Neither clearly leads. Heroku starts at $5/month and Poolside at $0.06/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Heroku or Poolside?: Heroku starts at $5/month and Poolside at $0.06/month.
Does Heroku or Poolside run on more platforms?: Heroku runs on Web, Api, Workers. Poolside runs on web, api, mac, windows, linux.
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 Poolside is typically brought in for.
What can Heroku do that Poolside cannot?: Heroku covers Git-based deployment, Buildpacks, Dynos (containers), Add-ons marketplace. Poolside covers Laguna S 2.1, Laguna XS 2.1, Desktop and CLI tools, Open-weight models.

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

Poolside: How is Poolside's Laguna model usage priced?

Laguna XS 2.1 is priced at $0.06 per 1M input tokens and $0.12 per 1M output tokens; Laguna S 2.1 is $0.10 per 1M input tokens and $0.20 per 1M output tokens.

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

Poolside: Where can I access Poolside's models?

Laguna models are available through third-party gateways OpenRouter and Vercel AI Gateway, as well as via Poolside's own desktop and CLI tools.

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

Poolside: Does Poolside offer enterprise or government pricing?

Yes, Poolside offers custom, sales-quoted contracts for large enterprises and government/defense customers, including on-premise or dedicated deployment options.

Source

Poolside: How do I get started building with Poolside's models?

Poolside's documentation provides a quickstart guide for installing the `pool` CLI and running an agent task, alongside API documentation for custom integrations.

Source

Heroku vs Poolside

Heroku

Poolside

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Heroku

Only in Poolside

What people use each for

Heroku

Poolside

Where each one falls short

Heroku

Poolside

Pricing, plan by plan

Heroku

Poolside

Which should you pick?

Choose Heroku if

Choose Poolside if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Heroku

More on Poolside

Keep looking

Other head to heads