Heroku
by Heroku · Managed platform for deploying and scaling apps in containers called dynos
63.5 — BenchRank score out of 100
Screenshots of Heroku
Homepage Pricing page
Overview
Heroku is a managed application platform that runs code in containers called dynos, deployed with a git push. It offers managed Postgres, Key-Value Store and Apache Kafka, plus add-ons and buildpacks to extend the stack. Managed Inference and Agents provides access to text, embedding and image models, and MCP servers can be hosted on one-off dynos.
- Best for
- Development teams wanting managed hosting for apps and data services without running infrastructure
- Pricing
- The pricing page groups plans for dynos, data services, AI and add-ons but the captured text shows no figures; Basic Support and the Heroku Connect Demo Edition are free, and for Enterprise customers one add-on credit equals $1 of service.
- Runs on
- WebSelf-hosted
Strengths and trade-offs
Strengths
- Deploys from git push, with Review Apps for GitHub pull requests
- Managed Postgres, Key-Value Store and Kafka as services
- 150+ third-party add-ons and 380+ open source buildpacks
- Maintains PCI, HIPAA, ISO and SOC compliance
Trade-offs
- Nine languages officially supported; others need third-party buildpacks
- Heroku Connect Enterprise and Shield editions require Heroku Enterprise
- Private Spaces, SSO and Shield are Enterprise-only features
- Free support is self-service; faster responses need paid Success Plans
How this score is made up
Each dimension is scored out of 100 and combined into the headline score using fixed weights.
- MCP support
- 92 out of 100
- API quality
- 30 out of 100
- Documentation
- 60 out of 100
- Agent friendliness
- 98 out of 100
- Pricing transparency
- 85 out of 100
- Changelog
- 0 out of 100
- Marketing site structure
- 60 out of 100
- Operational trust
- 75 out of 100
Measured, but not part of the score
Useful to know, but not a mark for or against the product — so these do not affect the ranking.
- Openness
- 60 out of 100
- Maintenance
- 100 out of 100
This doesn’t look right — report a problem with Heroku’s score
Alternatives in Hosting & Compute
Ranked 1
79.2 — BenchRank score out of 100Cloudflare
Cloudflare · Global network for CDN, security, serverless compute and Zero Trust access
Best for: Teams wanting CDN, DDoS protection, serverless compute and Zero Trust access on one network
Ranked 2
78.1 — BenchRank score out of 100Docker
Docker · Container platform for building, sharing and running applications
Best for: Developer teams that build, share and run container applications and need admin and security controls
Ranked 3
69.8 — BenchRank score out of 100Pulumi
Pulumi · Infrastructure as code in general-purpose programming languages
Best for: Platform teams defining multi-cloud infrastructure in general-purpose programming languages
