Heroku is dying — the best free alternative for 2026
Heroku entered sustain mode in February 2026. Salesforce halted enterprise sales, froze feature development, and emptied the roadmap. The free tier has been gone since 2022, and even paid plans are overpriced for what you get. DeployWise gives you Heroku-style deploys on your own VPS — free, open-source, no Docker required.
Salesforce confirmed that Heroku has been placed into sustain mode — enterprise sales have been halted and no new features will be developed. The platform will continue operating, but there is no roadmap, no investment, and no long-term commitment. If you're starting a new project in 2026, building on Heroku means building on a platform with no future.
Combined with the free tier removal in November 2022, Heroku is no longer the obvious choice it once was. Thousands of developers have already migrated — and the options today are better and cheaper.
Why developers are leaving Heroku
In February 2026, Salesforce officially moved Heroku into "sustain mode." Enterprise sales were halted, feature development frozen, and the platform roadmap emptied. Heroku will keep running, but it's no longer evolving. Building on a platform with no future is a risk you don't need to take.
Heroku removed its free tier entirely in November 2022 — free dynos, free Postgres, free Redis, all gone. The cheapest entry point is now a $7/mo Basic dyno that still sleeps after 30 minutes of inactivity. DeployWise is free because it doesn't host anything — your VPS, your cost, your control.
Basic dynos ($7/mo) sleep. To get always-on, you need Standard-1X at $25/mo per dyno. Add Heroku Postgres ($9+/mo), Redis ($15+/mo), and SSL — a single production app easily costs $50+/mo. A $6/mo Hetzner VPS with DeployWise runs multiple apps with 2 vCPU and 4GB RAM.
Heroku gives you no SSH access, no root, and no way to install system packages outside the buildpack system. Need a custom Nginx config? Not possible. Need FFmpeg or a specific binary? Hope there's a buildpack. On your own VPS with DeployWise, you have full control over everything.
DeployWise vs Heroku — full comparison
Real cost comparison
Running 2 always-on Node.js apps in production:
* VPS pricing from Hetzner as of 2026. Heroku pricing based on published Standard-1X rates.
Why developers choose DeployWise over Heroku
DeployWise automates the same workflow Heroku made famous — git push, build, deploy — but on infrastructure you own and control.
Heroku is in sustain mode with no roadmap. DeployWise is open-source — your deploys work even if DeployWise disappears, because everything runs on your VPS.
PM2 keeps your app process running 24/7. No dyno sleeping, no cold starts, no wake-up delays. Your app is always ready.
SSH access, root permissions, custom Nginx configs, system packages — everything Heroku locks away. Install FFmpeg, run cron jobs, tune your stack.
DeployWise configures Let's Encrypt SSL, Nginx reverse proxy, and PM2 process management automatically. No manual server setup required.
When Heroku is still the right choice
Heroku has real strengths, and we want to be honest about them:
For developers who want predictable costs, full control, and a platform that's actively maintained — DeployWise on your own VPS is the better path forward.
Migrate from Heroku in 5 minutes
DeployWise gives you Heroku-style deploys on your own VPS. PM2, Nginx, SSL — all automated. Free forever, open-source.
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