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FBuyer beware
https://www.heroku.com/pricing

Heroku: Heroku steadily dismantled its free tier over time while shifting core dyno limits.

Heroku started with generous free and low-cost tiers in 2009 before systematically tightening access and raising entry prices across its evolution. Buyers should note that free tiers were eventually eliminated entirely, replaced by low-cost paid entry plans like Eco and Basic by 2026.

Based on 6 archived pricing pages, 2009-04-27 → 2026-09-01.
0
price increases
15
plans killed
Killed
free tier
—
biggest single hike

Monthly price by plan

Prices in the page's currency. "Custom" / contact-sales plans are not charted.

Planning & Defense

What to do about it, based on Heroku's track record.

Next hike
No direct base price hikes have been recorded, but historical volatility shows aggressive plan pruning and free tier elimination, signaling high risk for forced tier migrations.
Contract strategy
Stay month-to-month since historical price adjustments manifest as sudden plan deprecations and tier replacements rather than straightforward percentage increases on existing plans.
Architecture defense
Keep deployment configurations completely portable using containerization standards and avoid proprietary buildpacks or addons so migration off the platform remains straightforward.

What changed

18 of 42 changes went against the customer.

  1. 2011-08-02
    • RenamedKoi renamed to Shared Database
    • Limit cutRonin plan capacity was explicitly limited to 16 connections and 1.7 GB RAM.
    • Limit cutFugu plan capacity was explicitly limited to 20 connections and 1.7 GB RAM.
    • Limit cutZilla plan capacity was explicitly limited to 100 connections and 17 GB RAM.
    • Lineup overhauledDropped Blossom, Crane. Added Web Dynos, Worker Dynos, Ika, Baku.
  2. 2014-02-07
    • Lineup overhauledDropped Web Dynos, Worker Dynos, Shared Database, Ronin, Fugu, Ika, Zilla, Baku. Added Standard 1x, Standard 2x, Performance M, Free, Premium Support, Technical Account Manager.
  3. 2016-07-08
    • Renamed1X Dyno renamed to Standard 1x
    • Price down1X Dyno: $0.05/dyno-hour → $25/dyno per month (-31%)
    • Renamed2X Dyno renamed to Standard 2x
    • Price down2X Dyno: $0.10/dyno-hour → $50/dyno per month (-31%)
    • RenamedPerformance Dyno renamed to Performance M
    • Price downPerformance Dyno: $0.80/dyno-hour → $250/dyno per month (-57%)
    • RenamedStandard Support renamed to Free
    • Plan killedPremium Support plan (Starting at $1,000/month) disappeared
    • Plan killedTechnical Account Manager plan (Starting at $2,000/month) disappeared
    • New planNew Hobby plan at $7 /dyno per month
    • New planNew Performance L plan at $500/dyno per month
  4. 2026-09-01
    • Free tier killedFree tier killed: Free plan disappeared and no free plan remains
    • RenamedHobby renamed to Basic
    • Lineup overhauledDropped Standard 2x, Performance L. Added Eco, Private-S, Shield-S.

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