Heroku
vs
Lightning AI
What's good about each
- Add-on marketplace for databases, logging, monitoring and email
- Postgres with forks, followers and rollback
- Network-isolated Private Spaces across the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific
- Salesforce integration through Heroku Connect and AppLink
- Billed by the second, interruptible machines 50-80% off
- Studios move between its own cloud, AWS, GCP, Lambda and Nebius
- Owned H100, B200 and GB300 fleet in US datacenters
- Bring your own AWS or GCP account and spend cloud credits
Price comparison
Closest matching configuration on each side, monthly list price in USD.
| Service | Heroku | Lightning AI | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small VM | $50.00 /mo 1 GB RAM (Standard-2X) | -- Not listed | |
| Medium VM | $250.00 /mo 2.5 GB RAM (Performance-M) | -- Not listed | |
| Large VM | $500.00 /mo 14 GB RAM (Performance-L) | -- Not listed | |
| Block storage | -- Not listed | $10.00 /mo 100 GB (Drive) · First 10 GB free | |
| PostgreSQL | $50.00 /mo 4 GB RAM, 64 GB storage (Standard-0) | -- Not listed | |
| Redis | $200.00 /mo 1 GB RAM (Premium-5) | -- Not listed | |
| Load balancer | Included in plan | -- Not listed | |
| Egress allowance | 2 TB / mo per app | -- Not listed | |
| Egress | Not publicly listed Soft limit of 2 TB / mo per app | Not publicly listed |
Heads up: Figures take each provider's closest plan to a common setup, and vary by region and usage. Hover a service for the reference configuration. Verify before provisioning. More on how we price.
GPUs
Lightning AI offers 8 GPU models. We don't currently list GPU prices for Heroku.
Services
Managed services each provider offers.
| Service | Heroku | Lightning AI |
|---|---|---|
| Block Storage | ||
| GPU-powered Servers | ||
| Managed Containers | ||
| Managed PostgreSQL | ||
| Managed Redis®* | ||
| Performance Monitoring | ||
| Python Notebooks |
Compliance
Frameworks each provider states on its own site, each linked to its source.
| Framework | Heroku | Lightning AI |
|---|---|---|
| SOC 2 | Type II | Type II, AWS and GCP clouds only |
| ISO 27001 | Yes | -- |
| HIPAA | Yes | AWS and GCP clouds only |
| GDPR | Yes | Yes |
| PCI DSS | Level 1, Heroku Shield only | -- |
Heads up: Each entry links to the provider's own statement. An attestation can cover one tier, one region or the platform alone rather than every service. Verify the scope before you rely on it. A dash means we found nothing to link to, not that the provider lacks it.
Company details
| Fact | Heroku | Lightning AI |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2007 | 2019 |
| Headquarters | USA | USA |
| Locations | 10 | -- |
| Example customers | World Economic Forum, PixieBrix, TAO Drive, Fastcall | Nvidia, Cursor, Cisco, Runway, Supercell, Stability AI, Black Forest Labs |
| Website | heroku.com | lightning.ai |
Alternatives to consider
Compare Heroku and Lightning AI against other cloud providers.
Our data for Heroku was last updated on Sept. 18, 2026, and for Lightning AI on Oct. 28, 2026.