Explore what’s free on Heroku
Many developers are looking for a free cloud web hosting services to run their apps, blogs, or bots without the hassle of managing servers. Others are curious about trying the platform-as-a-service model, but not quite ready to invest. Here’s an overview of free cloud services for developers available through the Heroku platform and ecosystem.
Provision resources to run your app
Heroku’s free cloud services begins with the apps - apps which can be deployed to dynos - our lightweight Linux containers that are at the heart of the Heroku platform. When you sign up with Heroku, you automatically get a pool of free dyno hours to use for your apps. When your app runs, it consumes dyno hours. When it idles (automatically, after 30 minutes of inactivity), or when you scale it down, your app will stop consuming dyno hours.
You can deploy your free app as many times as you need to, (we love continuous deployment practices), and as long as you have dyno hours, your app will be live and publicly accessible.
Maximize your free platform services
Get 1000 free dyno hours by verifying your Heroku account with a credit card; unverified accounts receive 550 free hours. You will not be charged, unless you decide to use a paid service. Account verification provides other benefits too, including running more than 5 free apps, as well as free custom domain names.
Add any number of data stores
As most apps require some form of data storage, Heroku users can choose from a wide range of free cloud databases. Many of these offer a free plan, and all provide an easy path to upgrade when the time comes.
Use developer-friendly platform tools
Whether you are using free or paid services, you have access to the same free platform tools and open source elements that can make your life a lot easier.
Extend your app with Heroku Add-ons
Over 200 fully-managed add-on services can be provisioned and scaled with a single command. Many of our add-on partners offer a free plan. This means you can mix and match to determine what’s best for your app.
Some of our most popular add-ons offer a free plan:
For more free cloud web services, see the full list of Heroku Add-ons in the Heroku Elements Marketplace.
Get support when needed
Sometimes you need a little help from the experts. All Heroku users can access online documentation and resources 24/7, and if you’re still stuck, then there is free support to help get you unstuck.
Dev Center
Learn everything you need to know about building, deploying, and managing your apps on Heroku.
Help Center
Connect to Heroku and the community resources to help solve common problems. Post your own questions on Stack Overflow.
Standard Support Plan
All Heroku users can access limited free support during regular business hours. Open a ticket to get a response within 1-2 business days.
Upgrade to scale your app
When you're ready to move an app into production, then it’s time to upgrade that app to a paid plan. From the Heroku Dashboard or the CLI, select a Hobby or Professional plan for your app—and you're good to go. Heroku’s slider interface provides simple horizontal scalability as well as visibility into costs.
The next level up is the Hobby dyno, perfect for small apps and projects. It offers all the capabilities of the Free dyno, except:
- The app will no longer sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity—it's always up
- The app will no longer consume your free dyno hours, leaving you to spend those on new experiments.
See the pricing page for more information.