DigitalOcean vs Heroku: what each really costs

Team size

Billing

DigitalOcean

No plan for this billing option

No paid plan to compare for this billing option.

Heroku

No plan for this billing option

No paid plan to compare for this billing option.

10 peopleDigitalOceanHeroku
Entry paid planNo plan for this billing optionNo plan for this billing option
Vendor price
Monthly cost
Annual cost
Per user / year
Billing commitmentNot recordedNot recorded
Minimum seatsNone statedNone stated
Free planNo free plan listedNo free plan listed
Free trialNot statedNot stated

Calculated by SpecEntry from official vendor prices. Taxes and optional add-ons are not included. Open each product page for every plan and the official source.

DigitalOcean vs Heroku: features

Key features as each vendor lists them. A feature missing from a list does not mean the product lacks it.

DigitalOcean

  • Managed agentsProduction agents run on the same stack as your data, inference and infrastructure.
  • Managed databasesDatabases for agentic, vector, relational, analytic and RAG use cases.
  • Inference RouterInference Router picks the right model per call automatically.
  • Serverless and batch inferenceRun serverless, dedicated or batch inference.
  • OpenAI-compatible endpointAccess DeepSeek, Llama, Qwen and your own fine-tunes on one OpenAI-compatible endpoint.
  • Agent evaluation toolsInsights records agent actions, Signals flags shortfalls and Evaluations tests changes.
  • Single CLI and APIOne CLI, one API and one bill.

Source:digitalocean.com ·

Heroku

  • DynosApps run in managed containers called dynos.
  • Heroku PostgresFully managed PostgreSQL database as a service.
  • Instant rollbackRoll back code or Postgres data to an earlier state.
  • Heroku MetricsShows runtime metrics for your applications.
  • Heroku FlowVisual continuous delivery for app releases.
  • BuildpacksCustomize your stack with buildpacks.
  • ComplianceMaintains PCI, HIPAA, ISO and SOC compliance.
  • Managed AI models and MCPAccess AI models and extend agents via Model Context Protocol.

Source:heroku.com ·

DigitalOcean vs Heroku pricing questions

  1. How much do DigitalOcean and Heroku cost?

    DigitalOcean paid plans start at $4 per month, starting price (Droplets). Heroku paid plans start at $5 per month for 1,000 eco dyno hours, personal accounts only (Eco Dynos).