Who each one suits
Choose Codara Cloud if
- You run several projects. Each Heroku app pays for its own dynos and database; on Codara Cloud they share one plan while its capacity holds.
- You need exact cron schedules. Heroku Scheduler runs every 10 minutes, hourly or daily and describes execution as expected but not guaranteed; Codara Cloud jobs accept any cron expression.
- You want to know where the data is. Heroku notes that choosing a region does not guarantee data residency; Codara Cloud stores apps, databases and backups in the EU.
- You want MySQL, MariaDB, Redis or MongoDB managed inside the same plan.
Choose Heroku if
- You need a generally available platform with a long track record today. Codara Cloud is a new product in invitation-only beta.
- You need isolated networking in a specific region: Heroku Private Spaces run in 10 locations, including Dublin, Frankfurt and London.
- You rely on add-ons from Heroku’s marketplace or on its buildpack and git push workflow.
- Your app can sleep: an Eco dyno at $5 for 1,000 shared hours a month is cheap for hobby projects.
Side by side
| Feature | Codara Cloud | Heroku |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Fixed monthly price per organization: Starter €5, Standard €20, Pro €50, Scale €100, before tax. Several projects share one plan’s capacity. | Per-resource list prices, prorated per second and capped at the monthly price: Eco dynos $5 for 1,000 shared hours, Basic $7, Standard-1X $25 a month. Postgres from Essential-0 at $5 a month. |
| Small app: web service + Postgres + daily cron | €5/month on Starter if the web service and job fit in its shared 0.5 vCPU / 512 MiB and one shared Postgres database is enough (it reserves 10 GiB, all of Starter’s storage). €20/month on Standard for 1 vCPU / 2 GiB and 20 GiB. | About $12/month: Basic dyno $7 (0.5 GB, always on) + Essential-0 Postgres $5 (1 GB) + Heroku Scheduler, a free add-on whose one-off dyno time is billed. |
| Usage above the plan | No automatic usage overage. An action past a plan limit is refused, not billed. Outgoing transfer is included under fair use. | No usage credit to run out: each dyno and add-on accrues cost while it runs, up to its monthly price. Bandwidth is soft-limited at 2 TB per app per month. |
| Free tier or trial | No free tier. Beta by invitation: the first month is free on any plan, or the first 3 months if you join our Discord (card required); Starter adds a 7-day trial first. | No free plan. Eco dynos cost $5 for 1,000 hours shared across the account and sleep after 30 minutes without traffic. |
| Databases | Managed PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Redis and MongoDB inside the plan. Supported backups are kept for up to 7 days. | Heroku Postgres as a managed add-on: Essential-0 $5 (1 GB), Essential-1 $9 (10 GB), Essential-2 $20 (32 GB). Other data stores through add-ons. |
| Cron and background work | Scheduled (any cron expression) and one-off jobs, plus always-on workers. They use the plan’s capacity. | Heroku Scheduler runs tasks every 10 minutes, hourly or daily in one-off dynos, which count towards usage; execution is expected but not guaranteed. Worker dynos run continuously. |
| Regions and data location | One region: Helsinki, Finland (Hetzner Cloud). Apps, databases and backups are stored in the EU. | Common Runtime in the US or Europe (“eu”); Private Spaces in 10 locations, including Dublin, Frankfurt and London. Heroku says a region does not guarantee data residency. |
| Deploy from | GitHub repository, container image, or a folder, ZIP or HTML file through the MCP tools. Dockerfile, Railpack, Nixpacks or static builds. | git push, GitHub integration (the only first-party version-control integration), Container Registry and heroku.yml Docker builds, buildpacks. |
| CLI, MCP and AI agents | codaracloud CLI, HTTP API and a local MCP server for Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and other MCP clients. Agent tokens are development-only by default. | Heroku CLI and an official MCP server, which Heroku describes as in early development. |
| Availability | Beta, by invitation. A new product from Codara Solutions SL (Madrid). | Generally available, open sign-up. |
What a small app costs
Take a small app: one web process with 0.5 GB of memory running all month, a small Postgres database and a task that runs a few minutes a day.
On Codara Cloud it costs €5 a month on Starter if the web service and job fit within Starter’s shared 0.5 vCPU and 512 MiB and one shared Postgres database (which reserves all 10 GiB of Starter’s storage) is enough, or €20 on Standard for more headroom.
On Heroku, a Basic dyno is $7 a month (0.5 GB, always on), the Essential-0 Postgres plan is $5 (1 GB of storage), and Heroku Scheduler is a free add-on whose one-off dynos are billed per second, a few cents a month for a few minutes a day. That is about $12 a month. An Eco dyno instead of Basic lowers it to about $10, but Eco dynos sleep after 30 minutes idle and share 1,000 hours a month across the account.
A second app on Heroku repeats the dyno and database cost. On Codara Cloud it goes into the same plan while the shared capacity holds. Codara Cloud prices are in euros before tax; Heroku publishes US dollars, which we have not converted.
How to move a project over
Heroku apps keep configuration in config vars, and Heroku Postgres sets DATABASE_URL, the same variable name Codara Cloud injects when you connect a Postgres database. Use the web process from your Procfile as the start command, each worker process as a second service, a release-phase task as Codara’s pre-deploy command and Scheduler tasks as Codara jobs with a cron expression.
- Write down what runs today: each service with its start command and port, the database, cron schedules, volumes and environment variables. The deployment inventory in our guide is a good template. Full steps in the docs
- Get access. Codara Cloud is in beta: request an invitation, then create a project; it comes with a production environment. Full steps in the docs
- Create the app from the same GitHub repository or container image. A root Dockerfile is used as written; otherwise Codara detects Railpack, Nixpacks or a static build. Full steps in the docs
- Copy runtime environment variables and secrets. Build arguments are never for secrets. Full steps in the docs
- Create the database, export your data with pg_dump (or your engine’s dump tool) and import the dump from an HTTPS URL through the API or MCP tools. Postgres and MariaDB imports are supported. Full steps in the docs
- Recreate scheduled tasks as Codara jobs with the same cron expression, usually running the same image as the app. Full steps in the docs
- Test on a staging environment with test data, then point your custom domain at Codara. Keep the old service running until the new one is verified. Full steps in the docs
Questions
- Is Codara Cloud a Heroku alternative?
- Yes, for apps that run as containers with a database and scheduled tasks. Codara Cloud does not offer Heroku’s add-on marketplace or Private Spaces, and it is still a beta with one region.
- Which costs less for a small app?
- At list prices, about $12 a month on Heroku (Basic dyno and Essential-0 Postgres) and €5 on Codara Cloud’s Starter if the app fits its shared 0.5 vCPU and 512 MiB, or €20 on Standard. Several apps favour Codara Cloud’s shared plan.
- Does Heroku host in the EU?
- Heroku offers a Europe region in its Common Runtime and Private Spaces in Dublin, Frankfurt and London, and notes that a region does not guarantee data residency. Codara Cloud runs in Helsinki, Finland.
Sources
Prices checked on 26 September 2026.
Heroku
- Heroku pricingwww.heroku.com/pricing
- Heroku dyno typesdevcenter.heroku.com/articles/dyno-types
- Heroku usage and billingdevcenter.heroku.com/articles/usage-and-billing
- Heroku Eco dyno hoursdevcenter.heroku.com/articles/eco-dyno-hours
- Heroku Postgres plansdevcenter.heroku.com/articles/heroku-postgres-plans
- Heroku Postgres add-on priceselements.heroku.com/addons/heroku-postgresql
- Provisioning Heroku Postgresdevcenter.heroku.com/articles/provisioning-heroku-postgres
- Heroku Procfiledevcenter.heroku.com/articles/procfile
- Heroku Schedulerdevcenter.heroku.com/articles/scheduler
- Heroku regionsdevcenter.heroku.com/articles/regions
- Heroku limitsdevcenter.heroku.com/articles/limits
- Heroku GitHub integrationdevcenter.heroku.com/articles/github-integration
- Heroku MCP serverdevcenter.heroku.com/articles/heroku-mcp-server