Heroku logo Runpod logo

Heroku vs Runpod

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What's good about...

Heroku logo Heroku

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

Runpod logo Runpod

  • Deploy affordable GPUs in under a minute
  • Scale across 30+ regions worldwide
  • Flexible billing: pay by the second, no commitments
  • Built-in deployments, autoscaling & monitoring

Price comparison

How do Heroku's prices compare against Runpod?

VM Small

Closest config to 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM.
Heroku Heroku
$50.00 / mo Dyno 1 GB RAM (Standard 2X)
Runpod Runpod
$43.20 / mo 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM (Compute-Optimized)

VM Medium

Closest config to 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM.
Heroku Heroku
$250.00 / mo Dyno 2.5 GB RAM (Performance M)
Runpod Runpod
$86.40 / mo 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM (Compute-Optimized)

VM Large

Closest config to 8 vCPU, 16 GB RAM (dedicated preferred).
Heroku Heroku
$500.00 / mo Dyno 14 GB RAM (Performance L)
Runpod Runpod
$172.80 / mo 8 vCPU, 16 GB RAM (Compute-Optimized)

Block Storage

Closest config to 100+ GB SSD, 3,000+ IOPS, 100+ MB/s throughput, no snapshots.
Heroku Heroku
--
Runpod Runpod
$10.00 / mo 100 GB

Load Balancer

Closest config to TCP, 1 node (1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM), 200+ Mbps, 1,000 conn/sec, 1 TB processed/mo.
Heroku Heroku
Included in plan
Runpod Runpod
--

Managed PostgreSQL

Closest config to 1 node, 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 50+ GB storage, 10 GB read / 5 GB write per month.
Heroku Heroku
$50.00 / mo 4 GB RAM, 64 GB storage
Runpod Runpod
--

Managed Redis®*

Closest config to 1 node, 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 10 req/s, 1 KB avg request size.
Heroku Heroku
$200.00 / mo 1 GB RAM
Runpod Runpod
--

Free egress allowance

Heroku Heroku
2 TB / mo per app
Runpod Runpod
Free and unlimited

1 TB of egress beyond allowance

Heroku Heroku
Not publicly listed Bandwidth is soft limited per app (2 TB / mo)
Runpod Runpod
Free and unlimited

GPU Fleet Overview

Starting Price

Heroku Heroku
--
Runpod Runpod
$0.13/hr

Billing Options

Heroku Heroku
--
Runpod Runpod
On-DemandSpotReserved (6mo)Reserved (3mo)Reserved (12mo)

Available Models

Runpod offers 22 GPU models.

Heroku Heroku
--
Runpod Runpod
H100(54) A100(13) H200(24) L40S(18) B200(18) RTX Pro 6000(24) RTX A6000(15) RTX 4090(1) RTX 6000 Ada(2) RTX 5090(15)
View all 22 GPUs

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

Here are some managed services that Heroku and Runpod offer:

Service Heroku Runpod
Block Storage
GPU-powered Servers
Managed Containers
Managed PostgreSQL
Managed Redis®*
Performance Monitoring
Python Notebooks
Virtual Private Server (VPS)

Company details

Website
Heroku Heroku
heroku.com
Runpod Runpod
www.runpod.io
Headquarters
Heroku Heroku
United States of America
Runpod Runpod
United States of America
Founded
Heroku Heroku
2007
Runpod Runpod
2022
Data Center Locations
Heroku Heroku
10
Runpod Runpod
24
Example Customers
Heroku Heroku
Airbase, Dovetail, Hotel Engine, ClickMechanic, Ambassify
Runpod Runpod
Zillow, CivitAI, Wix, OpenAI, Perplexity, Cursor

Alternatives to consider

Compare Heroku and Runpod against other cloud providers.

View all comparisons

Our data for Heroku was last updated on Feb. 12, 2026, and for Runpod on June 23, 2026.