Heroku vs Railway: Complete Comparison Guide
Compare Heroku and Railway on developer experience, pricing model, deploy speed, and add-ons. Discover which PaaS platform best fits your modern application.
Heroku
Heroku is the pioneer of the Platform-as-a-Service model and has been part of Salesforce since 2010. With dynos (containers), an extensive add-ons marketplace, and support for multiple languages (Node.js, Python, Ruby, Java, Go), Heroku has been the standard for simple application deploys for years. After removing the free tier in 2022, Heroku focuses on professional and enterprise customers.
Railway
Railway is a modern PaaS launched in 2020 as a fresh approach to application hosting. With instant deploys, usage-based pricing, monorepo support, and integrated databases, Railway offers a superior developer experience compared to legacy platforms. Railway is known for its speed, transparency, and active community of modern developers.
Comparison table
| Feature | Heroku | Railway |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy speed | Git push deploys — reliable but slower due to buildpack system | Instant deploys with Nixpacks — significantly faster than Heroku |
| Pricing model | Fixed dyno plans from $7/month per dyno | Usage-based from $5/month with pay-per-use billing |
| Free tier | No free tier since November 2022 | Trial credits of $5 — no permanent free tier |
| Add-ons & plugins | Extensive marketplace with 200+ third-party add-ons | Integrated services (databases, Redis) — no external marketplace |
| Monorepo support | Limited — requires workarounds with Procfile and buildpacks | Native monorepo support with service linking and shared variables |
| Enterprise features | Heroku Enterprise with private spaces, SSO, and compliance | Teams plan with basic collaboration — no enterprise tier |
Verdict
Heroku was the gold standard for PaaS for years, but Railway represents the next generation. Railway offers faster deploys, more flexible pricing, and a more modern developer experience. Heroku retains its value for enterprise customers who need private spaces, compliance certifications, and the extensive add-ons marketplace. For new projects, Railway is almost always the better choice; for migrating existing Heroku applications, the transition is typically straightforward and worthwhile.
Our recommendation
At MG Software, we always recommend Railway over Heroku for new clients. The developer experience is superior, pricing is more transparent, and deploys are faster. For clients with existing Heroku applications, we guide the migration to Railway or — depending on the use case — to Vercel with Supabase as the backend. We only recommend Heroku when specific enterprise features or Salesforce integration are necessary.
Frequently asked questions
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