Heroku is Shutting Down: Top Alternatives for Your Apps in 2026

On February 6, 2026, Heroku announced it's transitioning to a "sustaining engineering model" — essentially maintenance mode. While existing customers can continue using the platform, there will be no new features, and enterprise contracts are no longer available to new customers.

If you've been relying on Heroku for its simplicity and developer experience, now is the time to evaluate alternatives. Here are the best options for 2026.

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1. DigitalOcean App Platform (Recommended)

DigitalOcean App Platform is probably the closest experience to Heroku you'll find. It offers the same git-push-to-deploy workflow that made Heroku famous, with competitive pricing and excellent documentation.

Why it's great:

• Heroku-like simplicity — Connect your GitHub repo and deploy
• Automatic scaling — Scale based on traffic without manual intervention
• Managed databases — PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, and MongoDB available
• Transparent pricing — Starts at $5/month for basic apps, no surprise bills
• Built-in CI/CD — Automatic deployments on every push

Best for: Teams migrating from Heroku who want minimal workflow changes.

# Sample app spec for DigitalOcean App Platform
name: my-app
services:
  - name: web
    github:
      repo: your-org/your-repo
      branch: main
    run_command: npm start
    environment_slug: node-js
    instance_count: 1
    instance_size_slug: basic-xxs

Get started with DigitalOcean App Platform →

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2. Railway

Railway has gained massive popularity as a Heroku alternative, especially among indie developers and startups. It offers an incredibly polished developer experience with instant deployments.

Why it's great:

• Instant deploys — Push and your app is live in seconds
• Database provisioning — PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis with one click
• Environment management — Easy staging/production workflows
• Usage-based pricing — Pay only for what you use
• Nixpacks — Automatic build detection (no Dockerfile needed)

Best for: Indie hackers, startups, and developers who want the fastest path to production.

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3. Render

Render positions itself as "the easiest cloud for developers" and delivers on that promise. It's been a popular Heroku alternative since 2019 and has matured significantly.

Why it's great:

• Native Docker support — Bring your Dockerfile or use auto-detection
• Free tier available — Great for side projects and experiments
• Background workers — First-class support for job queues
• Static sites — Free hosting for static content
• Private networking — Services can communicate securely

Best for: Teams with diverse workloads (web apps, APIs, workers, static sites).

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4. Fly.io

Fly.io takes a different approach — it runs your apps at the edge, closer to your users. If latency matters for your application, Fly is worth considering.

Why it's great:

• Edge deployment — Run apps in 30+ regions worldwide
• Machines API — Fine-grained control over instances
• Built-in Postgres — Distributed database with automatic failover
• Docker-native — Ship containers directly
• Generous free tier — 3 shared VMs, 160GB bandwidth

Best for: Global applications where latency is critical.

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5. AWS App Runner

If you're already in the AWS ecosystem, App Runner provides a Heroku-like experience without leaving AWS. It abstracts away ECS/Fargate complexity.

Why it's great:

• AWS integration — IAM, VPC, CloudWatch, etc.
• Auto-scaling — Scale to zero or thousands
• Container or source — Deploy from ECR or directly from code
• Pay per use — No charges when scaled to zero

Best for: Teams already invested in AWS who want simplified deployments.

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6. Google Cloud Run

Cloud Run is Google's serverless container platform. It's incredibly cost-effective for variable workloads since you only pay when requests are being processed.

Why it's great:

• True serverless — Scale to zero, pay nothing when idle
• Any language — If it runs in a container, it runs on Cloud Run
• Generous free tier — 2 million requests/month free
• Easy HTTPS — Automatic TLS certificates

Best for: APIs and microservices with variable traffic patterns.

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Migration Checklist

Before you migrate, here's what to prepare:

1. Export your data — Dump databases, download files from Heroku's file storage
2. Document environment variables — heroku config will list them all
3. Review add-ons — Find equivalent services on your new platform
4. Update DNS — Plan for the cutover with minimal downtime
5. Test thoroughly — Run your test suite on the new platform before switching

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The Bottom Line

Heroku's move to maintenance mode marks the end of an era. The platform that pioneered "git push to deploy" is stepping back, but its legacy lives on in the alternatives that followed.

Our recommendation: Start with DigitalOcean App Platform if you want the smoothest transition. It's the closest to the Heroku experience with transparent pricing and solid documentation.

Whatever you choose, the good news is that in 2026, there are more options than ever for deploying applications without managing infrastructure.

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