Frontend and app hosting · Comparison
Heroku vs Vercel
2 products compared side by side: what you pay for with each one first, then the five access facts, entry prices, recorded plan limits and the bottom line of each review. The evidence note under the table says how each product was checked.
Side by side
| Metric | Heroku | Vercel |
|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Saves engineering timePush code and run it on managed dynos with no bandwidth or seat charges, from $7 a month for an always-on Basic dyno. | Saves engineering timeZero-configuration hosting for Next.js from the team that maintains it, with SOC 2, ISO 27001 and a HIPAA BAA on the self-serve Pro plan. |
| Overall score | 6.2 | 6.3Best |
| Free option | Paid only | Free plan |
| Card to start | –Not measured | –Not measured |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $5/mo | $20/mo |
| Pricing model | Usage-based | Seat + usage |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing units | Dynos and add-ons, prorated to the second | Developer seats, then metered usage after a $20 credit |
| Free plan | None; Eco dynos $5/mo for personal apps | Hobby: personal, non-commercial use only |
| 3 developers, 10M requests, 1 TB/mo | $7 on one Basic dyno, computed | $80 on Pro, computed |
| Data transfer | Not billed; 2 TB per app soft limit | 1 TB in the included Flat Rate CDN tier; $20/mo tier to 50 TB |
| Seats for people who deploy | Heroku Teams: no seat charge, up to 25 members | $20/mo each after the first |
| SAML SSO | Heroku Teams, no extra charge | $300/mo add-on on Pro |
| Spend cap | None stated | Can pause production deployments at a budget |
| SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 | Both (reports by request) | Both |
| HIPAA BAA | Shield Private Space (up to $3,000/mo), by ticket | $350/mo add-on on Pro |
| Runtime logs, entry paid plan | Last 1,500 lines, up to 1 week; drains to export | 1 day (30 with Observability Plus) |
| Audit logs | Enterprise accounts only, not sold to new customers | Enterprise |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Heroku covers our scenario for $7 and charges neither seats nor bandwidth. It scores lower on this rubric for having no free plan, no stored logs and no audit trail for new customers, and it is now in a sustaining engineering model. | From its public pages, Vercel is the compliance and Next.js choice here: SOC 2, ISO 27001 and a BAA on Pro, and zero-configuration Next.js. It scores lower on this rubric because every developer is a seat, Hobby is non-commercial and Pro keeps runtime logs for 1 day. |
Evidence: Heroku: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Vercel: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
When to pick each
In the words of each review, with the date its facts were checked.
From our Heroku review
Checked Oct 15, 2026- Pick Heroku when
- You run a long-lived server app and want no bandwidth or seat charges.
- Pick Vercel when
- You build with Next.js, want a hard spending stop, or want a free plan for personal projects.
Entry price
Baseline: each product's cheapest paid plan, per month. Included usage differs, so read the line under each price.
- HerokuLowest priceEco$5/mo1,000 dyno hours a month shared across Eco dynos; personal apps only
- Sleeps after 30 minutes of inactivity
- Not available to Heroku Teams
- VercelPro$20/mo1 developer seat and a $20 monthly usage credit; extra developer seats $20/mo each
- Unlimited free viewer seats
- Flat Rate CDN: 1M requests and 1 TB a month included
- Spend management with an option to pause projects
- Add-ons: SAML SSO $300/mo, HIPAA BAA $350/mo
- 14-day trial with $20 in credits
Prices as listed on each pricing page, in USD per month, excluding tax. Observed: Heroku 2026-10-15, Vercel 2026-10-15.
Which one fits
- If you need to start today without a sales call
- VercelSelf-serve sign-up; the highest score of the 2 self-serve products here (6.3/10).
- Lowest starter price
- Heroku$5/mo for the Eco dynos plan.
- Highest overall score
- Vercel6.3/10 (Good). The review shows the score breakdown and the run behind it.
Picked by fixed rules from the table above, not by hand. How we score
Full reviews
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