Free Heroku alternatives
Heroku is a cloud platform used by developers to deploy and run web apps and APIs without managing servers. Its paid compute and add-ons are charged on a recurring basis, which adds up for small projects. Vercel Hobby is a free tier for personal, non-commercial front-end projects, while Netlify Free suits static sites.
Best free alternative to Heroku: Vercel Hobby. Free for non-commercial projects, with Git deploys and serverless functions.
Side by side
| Option | What you get | What you miss |
|---|---|---|
| Vercel Hobby | Free for non-commercial projects, with Git deploys and serverless functions. | Always-on backend processes, background workers and managed Postgres add-ons. |
| Netlify Free | Free static site hosting with Git deploys, deploy previews and basic serverless functions. | Always-on backend apps, background workers and Heroku's managed database add-ons. |
Questions people ask
What is the best free alternative to Heroku?
Vercel Hobby. Free for non-commercial projects, with Git deploys and serverless functions.
Is there a free version of Heroku?
Not a full one, but Vercel Hobby and Netlify Free are free and cover most of what Heroku does.
What do you miss with a free Heroku alternative?
Always-on backend processes, background workers and managed Postgres add-ons.