# Free alternatives to Heroku

> Heroku (Basic dyno) costs $84 a year. Free alternatives: Dokku and Coolify. Data checked 2026-10-17.

- Page: https://stoprenting.dev/apps/heroku/
- Category: Hosting & DevOps (https://stoprenting.dev/categories/hosting-and-devops/)
- Vendor: Salesforce
- Plan: Basic dyno
- Price: $7/month, $84/year
- Billing: per dyno/month
- Price quote from the vendor's page: "Basic $7 0.5 GB"
- Price source: https://www.heroku.com/pricing (checked 2026-10-17)

## Alternatives

### Dokku

- Website: https://dokku.com
- Repository: https://github.com/dokku/dokku (32,177 stars, last push 2026-10-11)
- License: MIT
- Open source: yes, OSI-approved license
- Type: server app
- Linux: self-hosted server; web UI
- Self-hostable: yes
- More: https://stoprenting.dev/alternatives/dokku/
- Checked: 2026-10-17

### Coolify

- Website: https://coolify.io
- Repository: https://github.com/coollabsio/coolify (62,880 stars, last push 2026-10-12)
- License: Apache-2.0
- Open source: yes, OSI-approved license
- Type: server app
- Linux: self-hosted server; web UI
- Self-hostable: yes
- More: https://stoprenting.dev/alternatives/coolify/
- Checked: 2026-10-17

## FAQ

### Is there a free alternative to Heroku?

Yes. The 2 free alternatives are Dokku (open source, MIT) and Coolify (open source, Apache-2.0).

### How much does Heroku cost?

Heroku's Basic dyno plan costs $7 a month, which is $84 a year (per dyno/month). Source: the official pricing page at heroku.com, checked Oct 17, 2026.

### Which Heroku alternatives run on Linux?

Dokku (self-hosted server; web UI) and Coolify (self-hosted server; web UI).

### Can you self-host a Heroku alternative?

Yes. Dokku and Coolify run on your own server.

### Are these Heroku alternatives open source?

Yes. All 2 use OSI-approved open-source licenses: Dokku (MIT) and Coolify (Apache-2.0).

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Source: Stop Renting (https://stoprenting.dev). Methodology: https://stoprenting.dev/methodology/