Best free option: Coolify (Strong). Switching saves about $84 USD a year.
$84 USDa year
≈$119.76 CAD (converted from USD)
Every pick below has a free version.
5 alternatives
Covers most of the same work, with trade-offs noted on each card.
Best for a self-hosted Heroku-style platform
Apache-2.0 and free to self-host with no feature limits, but you pay for and maintain the servers. Coolify Cloud costs $5 a month for a hosted dashboard. Free version: Self-hosted Coolify is free with no feature limits. Coolify Cloud costs $5 a month for a hosted dashboard.
Best for a self-hosted platform with buildpack support
Apache-2.0 core with a few paid features. Free to self-host, but you pay for and maintain the servers. Dokploy Cloud starts at $4.50 a month per server. Free version: Self-hosted Dokploy is free. Dokploy Cloud starts at $4.50 a month per server; the Startup plan adds users and backups.
Right for specific needs, or not yet mature enough to recommend widely.
Best for static sites and edge functions at no cost
Static requests and bandwidth are free and unlimited. Cloudflare now advises starting new projects on Workers. Not a fit for apps that need a long-running server. Free version: Free plan has unlimited static requests and bandwidth, 500 builds a month and 100 projects per account.
Best for static sites and serverless functions
Free plan has a monthly limit of 300 credits shared by deploys, bandwidth and compute. Personal costs $9 and Pro $20 a month. Free version: Free plan has a 300 credit monthly limit covering deploys, bandwidth and compute. Personal costs $9 and Pro $20 a month.
Best for a simple single-server PaaS you run yourself
Apache-2.0 and free. Fewer built-in deploy workflows than Coolify or Dokploy, and you maintain the server.
Sponsor this page: $149 for 30 days. Sponsors appear above the ranking, labeled; the ranking itself is not for sale.
How each alternative covers what people use Heroku for. Numbers link to editor notes.
| Feature | Coolify | Dokploy | Cloudflare Pages | Netlify | CapRover |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deploy | |||||
| Deploy with git push or GitHub | YesNote 1Deploys from GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket on push | YesNote 2Deploys from Git providers on push | Yes | Yes | PartialNote 3A webhook triggers builds on push, or you deploy with the CLI; you set it up by hand |
| Review apps and pipelines | YesNote 4Preview deployments for pull requests | PartialNote 5Preview deployments work for GitHub repositories only and are off by default | YesNote 6Preview deployments for branches and pull requests | YesNote 7Deploy previews for every pull request | No |
| Build | |||||
| Buildpacks for common languages | PartialNote 8Nixpacks, Dockerfile and Docker Compose builds rather than Heroku buildpacks | YesNote 9Nixpacks, buildpack and Dockerfile builds | PartialNote 10Builds static sites and JavaScript frameworks; it does not run long-lived Ruby, Python or Java servers | PartialNote 11Builds static sites and JavaScript frameworks; it does not run long-lived Ruby, Python or Java servers | PartialNote 12Builds follow a captain-definition file; there is no automatic language detection |
| Data | |||||
| Managed Postgres and Redis | PartialNote 13One-click databases on your own server; you run and upgrade them | PartialNote 14One-click databases on your own server; you run and upgrade them | PartialNote 15D1 and KV are separate Cloudflare products with their own free allowances | PartialNote 16Netlify Database and Blobs cover simple storage needs | PartialNote 17One-click databases on your own server; you run and upgrade them |
| Compute | |||||
| Scale app processes up and out | PartialNote 18Scaling is manual | PartialNote 19Scaling is manual | YesNote 20Functions scale automatically | YesNote 21Functions scale automatically | PartialNote 22Scaling is manual |
| Observability | |||||
| Log aggregation and metrics | PartialNote 23Container logs and server metrics | PartialNote 24Container logs and resource monitoring | PartialNote 25Free Web Analytics and limited logs | PartialNote 26Deploy and function logs; analytics and metrics are on paid plans | PartialNote 27Container logs and basic metrics |
| Delivery | |||||
| Custom domains with automatic SSL | YesNote 28Automatic Let's Encrypt certificates | YesNote 29Traefik routing with Let's Encrypt certificates | Yes | Yes | YesNote 30One-click Let's Encrypt certificates |
| Parity score | 71% | 71% | 79% | 79% | 50% |
Not covered by any free alternative yet: Managed Postgres and Redis, Log aggregation and metrics. See all feature gaps
Switching saves about $84 USD / ≈$120 CAD (estimated from the USD price) a year. Prices checked ; ≈ means converted from USD.
Based on Basic dyno, one app. Price source. USD to CAD at 1.4257 as of Oct 7, 2026.
Last verified . Ranking: tier first, then the published score.
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Heroku is a product of Heroku (Salesforce), named here for comparison only. Platforms listed for Heroku: Web, Command line.