What's good about...

Alibaba Cloud logo Alibaba Cloud

  • Strong presence in Asia and over 3,000 points of presence (POPs) around the world
  • Extensive range of managed services and server configurations
  • Offers a solid range of GPU servers

Heroku logo Heroku

  • Fully-managed infra, minimal ops overhead
  • Heroku Postgres is a one-click, battle-tested database
  • Extensive add-on marketplace

Price comparison

How do Alibaba Cloud's prices compare against Heroku?

VM Small

Closest config to 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM.
Alibaba Cloud Alibaba Cloud
$15.21 / mo 1 vCPU, 1 GiB RAM (ecs.xn4.small)
Heroku Heroku
$50.00 / mo Dyno 1 GB RAM (Standard 2X)

VM Medium

Closest config to 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM.
Alibaba Cloud Alibaba Cloud
$89.79 / mo 4 vCPU, 8 GiB RAM (ecs.c7.xlarge)
Heroku Heroku
$250.00 / mo Dyno 2.5 GB RAM (Performance M)

VM Large

Closest config to 8 vCPU, 16 GB RAM (dedicated preferred).
Alibaba Cloud Alibaba Cloud
$170.49 / mo 8 vCPU, 16 GiB RAM (ecs.c7.2xlarge)
Heroku Heroku
$500.00 / mo Dyno 14 GB RAM (Performance L)

Block Storage

Closest config to 100+ GB SSD, 3,000+ IOPS, 100+ MB/s throughput, no snapshots.
Alibaba Cloud Alibaba Cloud
$11.20 / mo 100 GB (Enhanced SSD PL0)
Heroku Heroku
--

Object Storage

Closest config to 1 TB stored, 100 GB in / 250 GB out, 1M GET, 100k PUT/POST.
Alibaba Cloud Alibaba Cloud
$43.84 / mo 1 TB, 250 GB reads, 100 GB writes
Heroku Heroku
--

Load Balancer

Closest config to TCP, 1 node (1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM), 200+ Mbps, 1,000 conn/sec, 1 TB processed/mo.
Alibaba Cloud Alibaba Cloud
$16.56 / mo Small I (slb.s1.small)
Heroku Heroku
Included in plan

Managed PostgreSQL

Closest config to 1 node, 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 50+ GB storage, 10 GB read / 5 GB write per month.
Alibaba Cloud Alibaba Cloud
$114.92 / mo 2 vCPU, 8 GB RAM (general-purpose)
Heroku Heroku
$50.00 / mo 4 GB RAM, 64 GB storage

Managed Redis®*

Closest config to 1 node, 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 10 req/s, 1 KB avg request size.
Alibaba Cloud Alibaba Cloud
$43.09 / mo 1 GB Performance-enhanced (HA)
Heroku Heroku
$200.00 / mo 1 GB RAM

Free egress allowance

Alibaba Cloud Alibaba Cloud
10 GB / mo
Heroku Heroku
2 TB / mo per app

1 TB of egress beyond allowance

Alibaba Cloud Alibaba Cloud
$74.00 $0.074 / GB
Heroku Heroku
Not publicly listed Bandwidth is soft limited per app (2 TB / mo)

GPU Fleet Overview

Starting Price

Alibaba Cloud Alibaba Cloud
$0.62/hr
Heroku Heroku
--

Billing Options

Alibaba Cloud Alibaba Cloud
On-DemandReserved (12mo)
Heroku Heroku
--

Available Models

Alibaba Cloud offers 4 GPU models.

Heroku Heroku
--

Heads up: We do our best to keep these specs & prices accurate. However, cloud costs may fluctuate based on region, usage, and other factors not listed here. These are estimates based on common setups and are for informational purposes only. Always verify current rates & exact specs with the provider before provisioning.

Which services do they offer

Company details

Website
Alibaba Cloud Alibaba Cloud
www.alibabacloud.com
Heroku Heroku
heroku.com
Headquarters
Alibaba Cloud Alibaba Cloud
Singapore
Heroku Heroku
United States of America
Founded
Alibaba Cloud Alibaba Cloud
2009
Heroku Heroku
2007
Data Center Locations
Alibaba Cloud Alibaba Cloud
30
Heroku Heroku
10
Example Customers
Alibaba Cloud Alibaba Cloud
Taobao, Henkel, Hang Seng Bank, Tiger Brokers
Heroku Heroku
Airbase, Dovetail, Hotel Engine, ClickMechanic, Ambassify

Alternatives to consider

Compare Alibaba Cloud and Heroku against other cloud providers.

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Our data for Alibaba Cloud was last updated on June 22, 2026, and for Heroku on Feb. 12, 2026.