Top Free Alternatives to Heroku
Stop paying expensive subscriptions for Hosting & DevOps tools. Discover the best free and open-source replacements for Heroku.
Why switch from Heroku?
Heroku eliminated its free tier and its pricing escalates dramatically for larger dynos. Self-hosting your own PaaS allows you to run dozens of apps on a cheap VPS with automatic SSL and git deployments.
Dokku
A Docker-powered PaaS that helps you build and manage the lifecycle of applications.
Key Features
- Git push deployments
- Docker-powered scaling
- Automatic SSL certificate generation
- Database plugins
Pros
- + Extremely lightweight (runs on a $5/month server)
- + Simple Heroku-like workflow
- + Huge ecosystem of official plugins
Cons
- - Command-line only (no built-in web dashboard)
- - Limited to a single host server natively
CapRover
Easy to use app/database deployment & web server manager. Extremely lightweight.
Key Features
- Web GUI dashboard
- One-click app deployments (WordPress, MySQL, etc)
- Automatic Let's Encrypt SSL
- Clustering support
Pros
- + Very user-friendly web interface
- + One-click templates make deploying databases and tools instant
- + Supports Docker Swarm for multi-server scaling
Cons
- - Less custom buildpack configuration compared to Dokku
- - Web GUI dashboard must be secured carefully
Coolify
Self-hostable Heroku alternative
Key Features
- 100% data control
- Self-hostable
- No vendor lock-in
- Community-driven
Pros
- + Ownership of your data
- + Flexible and customisable
- + Cost-effective
Cons
- - Requires server setup
- - Smaller commercial support
Otomi
Self-hosted PaaS for Kubernetes
Key Features
- 100% data control
- Self-hostable
- No vendor lock-in
- Community-driven
Pros
- + Ownership of your data
- + Flexible and customisable
- + Cost-effective
Cons
- - Requires server setup
- - Smaller commercial support
Porter
Kubernetes powered PaaS that runs in your own cloud
Key Features
- 100% data control
- Self-hostable
- No vendor lock-in
- Community-driven
Pros
- + Ownership of your data
- + Flexible and customisable
- + Cost-effective
Cons
- - Requires server setup
- - Smaller commercial support
Pulumi
Universal Infrastructure as Code
Key Features
- 100% data control
- Self-hostable
- No vendor lock-in
- Community-driven
Pros
- + Ownership of your data
- + Flexible and customisable
- + Cost-effective
Cons
- - Requires server setup
- - Smaller commercial support
Qovery
Kubernetes powered PaaS that runs in your own cloud
Key Features
- 100% data control
- Self-hostable
- No vendor lock-in
- Community-driven
Pros
- + Ownership of your data
- + Flexible and customisable
- + Cost-effective
Cons
- - Requires server setup
- - Smaller commercial support
Space Cloud
Serverless cloud deployment platform
Key Features
- 100% data control
- Self-hostable
- No vendor lock-in
- Community-driven
Pros
- + Ownership of your data
- + Flexible and customisable
- + Cost-effective
Cons
- - Requires server setup
- - Smaller commercial support
dyrector.io
Simplify container delivery without vendor lock
Key Features
- 100% data control
- Self-hostable
- No vendor lock-in
- Community-driven
Pros
- + Ownership of your data
- + Flexible and customisable
- + Cost-effective
Cons
- - Requires server setup
- - Smaller commercial support