PocketBase Cloud vs Heroku
Heroku is the original platform-as-a-service: push a repo, get a running dyno, bolt on a Postgres add-on. PocketBase Cloud is a specialized app platform — database, auth, realtime, file storage, frontends, and backends for a flat monthly price. This page compares Heroku’s per-dyno, per-add-on model against one predictable bill.
Prices below are as of September 2026 — check the Heroku pricing page and the PocketBase Cloud pricing page for current numbers.
Summary
| PocketBase Cloud | Heroku | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | App platform (DB + auth + frontend + backend) | Dyno host + paid add-ons |
| Entry price | $0 Free / $5 Starter / $20 Pro flat | $5 Eco dynos (shared 1,000 hrs) / $7 Basic per dyno |
| Production baseline | $20/mo flat (dedicated 2 vCPU compute) | ~$25 Standard-1X dyno + ~$5–9 Postgres Essential = $30–50/mo |
| Database | Built in — included | Separate add-on, billed per plan |
| Auth / realtime / file storage | Built in | Compose yourself or add vendors |
| Frontend hosting | Included (5 on Free/Starter, unlimited on Pro) | Not a static host — run another dyno or use a CDN |
| Sleep / cold starts | None | Eco dynos sleep after 30 min idle |
| 10 small apps | $20/mo flat (one Pro compute) | 10 dynos + 10 databases — every app adds a line |
Pricing: per-dyno vs flat
Heroku bills per running dyno plus every add-on. Eco ($5/mo) shares a pool of 1,000 dyno-hours and sleeps when idle; Basic ($7/mo per dyno) stays awake; Standard-1X ($25/mo) is the usual production floor. A database is a separate add-on. A single production app therefore starts around $30–50/mo, and each additional app repeats the dyno + database cost.
PocketBase Cloud bills per plan. Starter is $5/mo for one instance with unlimited API requests and frontend hosting. Pro is a flat $20/mo for a dedicated 2 vCPU compute that hosts effectively unlimited PocketBase instances, frontends, and Node/Deno/Bun backends. Ten small apps still cost $20 — the ceiling is the physical box, not a per-app meter.
What you get out of the box
On Heroku you assemble: dyno + Heroku Postgres + Redis (for sessions/queues) + a static host or CDN for the frontend + logging add-on, each its own line item and its own upgrade curve.
On PocketBase Cloud you inherit one PocketBase binary with database, auth,
realtime (SSE), file storage, an admin UI, JavaScript hooks, custom domains, and
logs/metrics — plus static frontend hosting and container backends on the same
compute. pbc deploy auto-detects whether a directory is a database, a
frontend, or a backend and ships it.
When to choose which
Choose Heroku when:
- You need its mature add-on marketplace (managed Kafka, specialized data stores, third-party services wired in by config var)
- Your app is a non-PocketBase stack — Rails, Django, a Go service — that you want deployed straight from a Git push
- You want per-dyno horizontal scaling and Heroku’s release/rollback pipeline
Choose PocketBase Cloud when:
- Your app fits PocketBase — CRUD, auth, files, realtime — which covers most dashboards, mobile backends, and client sites
- You want the database, frontend, and backend on one invoice instead of a dyno plus a database add-on plus a CDN
- You run several small apps and want a fixed monthly cost per compute, not a bill that grows with each project
The honest bottom line
- One app, an unusual stack, heavy add-on needs — Heroku’s model fits.
- Several standard apps on a fixed budget — PocketBase Cloud’s $20 flat is usually 2–4× cheaper once you count the database and a second app.