Heroku vs Railway(2026)
Heroku is better for teams that need large add-ons ecosystem. Railway is the stronger choice if supports backend apps and databases. Heroku is paid (from $5/month) and Railway is freemium (from $5/month).
Full feature breakdown, pricing details, and pros & cons below.
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Heroku
Heroku is a platform as a service (PaaS) that enables developers to build, run, and operate applications entirely in the cloud.
Starting at $5/month
Visit HerokuRailway
Railway is a deployment platform where you can provision infrastructure with one click and deploy from GitHub.
Starting at $5/month
Visit RailwayHow Do Heroku and Railway Compare on Features?
| Feature | Heroku | Railway |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | paid | freemium |
| Starting price | $5/month | $5/month |
| Git push deploy | ✓ | — |
| Add-ons marketplace | ✓ | — |
| Managed PostgreSQL | ✓ | — |
| Review apps | ✓ | — |
| CI/CD pipeline | ✓ | — |
| One-click deploys | — | ✓ |
| Built-in databases | — | ✓ |
| Environment variables | — | ✓ |
| Custom domains | — | ✓ |
| Usage-based pricing | — | ✓ |
Heroku Pros and Cons vs Railway
Heroku
Railway
Should You Use Heroku or Railway?
Choose Heroku if…
- •Large add-ons ecosystem
- •Mature platform
- •Good documentation
Choose Railway if…
- •Supports backend apps and databases
- •Simple pricing model
- •Full-stack in one place