Compare / Heroku vs Deno Deploy
Heroku vs Deno Deploy
Pre-calculated from hand-checked data — Heroku checked 2026-08-01, Deno Deploy checked 2026-08-01.
The short version
Deno Deploy wins more of our comparison points, but Heroku still fits if teams that already know Heroku and value its mature workflow over price describes you.
Price Deno Deploy
Deno Deploy is cheaper at every stage we model — about $20/mo even for a growing project.
Ease Tie
Both take similar effort to get a first deploy live.
Control Heroku
Heroku gives you more control over the stack — the flip side of the convenience trade.
Free tier Deno Deploy
Deno Deploy has a free tier; Heroku doesn't.
Features Tie
Feature coverage is even: each wins 4 of the 15 rows we track.
What developers say about this matchup
We couldn't find a substantive first-person discussion comparing this exact pair. We leave the section empty instead of filling it with vendor marketing or generic SEO comparisons.
At a glance
| Heroku | Deno Deploy | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Teams that already know Heroku and value its mature workflow over price. | Apps written for the Deno runtime. |
| How deploys work | git push heroku main; buildpacks detect the stack and the platform handles the rest. | Connect a GitHub repo or deploy with the deployctl CLI. |
| The tradeoff | You pay a platform premium — comparable raw compute costs a third as much elsewhere. | A runtime commitment: everything assumes Deno, not Node. |
| Free tier | None | Free: 1M requests, 20 GB egress, 15 CPU hours per month. |
What you'd realistically pay
| Project stage | Heroku | Deno Deploy | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Just starting | ≈$7/mo Basic | Free Free | Deno Deploy |
| Steady traffic | ≈$25/mo Standard-1X | ≈$20/mo Pro | Deno Deploy |
| Growing | ≈$50/mo Standard dynos + add-ons | ≈$20/mo Pro + usage | Deno Deploy |
Our ratings
Ease of use
Pricing clarity
Free tier Deno Deploy
Scaling
Control Heroku
Feature by feature
Heroku wins 4, Deno Deploy wins 4, with 7 even.
Deploy workflow
| Heroku | Deno Deploy | |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy from Git push | Yes git push heroku main is the original deploy story; GitHub integration too. | Yes Connect a GitHub repo; pushes deploy automatically. |
| Preview deploys | Yes Review Apps create a running app per pull request. | Yes Every branch and PR gets a preview deployment URL. |
| Official CLI | Yes The heroku CLI covers deploys, logs, scaling, and add-ons. | Yes deployctl deploys from the terminal or CI. |
| Instant rollbacks | Yes heroku releases:rollback reverts to any previous release instantly. | Yes Promote any previous deployment back to production. |
Platform
| Heroku | Deno Deploy | |
|---|---|---|
| Custom domains + HTTPS | Yes Custom domains with automated certificate management on paid dynos. | Yes Custom domains with automatic TLS on all plans. |
| Built-in CDN / edge network | No No built-in CDN — pair with Cloudflare or Fastly yourself. | Yes Apps run on a global edge network with cached static assets. |
| Serverless functions | No Dynos are long-running processes; there is no function product. | Yes The whole platform is isolate-based serverless. |
| Docker containers | Yes Deploy container images through the Heroku container registry. | No No containers — code runs in Deno isolates. |
| SSH / shell access | Partial heroku run bash gives a one-off shell in a fresh dyno, not the live one. | No No servers to reach. |
| EU hosting region | Yes Common Runtime offers a Europe region at the same prices. | Partial Code runs at global edge locations; you cannot pin it to the EU. |
Runtime & operations
| Heroku | Deno Deploy | |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic scaling | Partial Built-in autoscaling requires Performance-tier dynos; standard dynos scale manually. | Yes Scales per request automatically. |
| Scale to zero | Partial Eco dynos sleep after 30 idle minutes; Basic and Standard run continuously. | Yes Idle apps cost nothing. |
| Scheduled jobs | Yes Heroku Scheduler (free add-on) runs tasks on a schedule. | Yes Deno.cron schedules tasks natively. |
| Managed database | Yes Heroku Postgres and Key-Value Store are fully managed add-ons. | Partial Deno KV is built in; Postgres means an external provider. |
| Logs & metrics built in | Partial Log stream and basic metrics included; serious monitoring means add-ons. | Partial Logs and basic traces in the dashboard; deeper monitoring is external. |
Watch out for
Heroku
- There is no free tier.
- Compute is expensive for what you get: Standard-1X costs $25/month for 512 MB of RAM.
- Databases and other add-ons bill separately and can dominate the total.
Deno Deploy
- Deno runtime only — Node.js apps need porting.
- Free-tier apps pause when the monthly allowance is exhausted; there is no paid overage on Free.
Read the full reviews: Heroku and Deno Deploy. Or answer four questions to see what fits your project.