The Cost Effective Heroku Alternative
Deploy apps to servers that you own and control. We'll take care of the configuration while you focus on building great apps.
Includes a 7-day free trial. $10 per server per month after that — unlimited apps.
Deploy anywhere, including these popular hosting providers:
Simplify Everyday Deployments
We simplify your deployments while still giving you full access to your servers.
Hosting
Runs servers anywhere in the world.
Whether you want to use AWS, DigitalOcean, or a server in your home basement, Hatchbox just needs a fresh copy of Ubuntu LTS to deploy apps.
Apps
Don't pay more for multiple apps.
We charge by the servers we manage. Not per-app. You can save money by running 2+ apps on the same cluster without spending an extra dime.
Teams
Collaborate with your team.
Easily add your team and give them access to your cluster to manage deployments, view logs, and scale servers.
Real-world Pricing Comparisons
See for yourself how Hatchbox compares to Heroku, or check our full pricing details.
Production Setup
2 web services, a worker, Postgres, and Redis. Hatchbox costs $298/month here vs. Heroku's $1,010/month — a 70% reduction.
| Component | Heroku Plan | Heroku Cost | Hatchbox Plan | Hatchbox Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform Fee | None | $0.00 | $10/server | $40.00 |
| Load Balancer | Included | $0.00 | DigitalOcean 1vCPU / 1GB x1 | $6.00 |
| Web Servers | Performance-M x2 | $500.00 | DigitalOcean 2vCPU / 4GB x2 | $48.00 |
| Worker | Performance-M | $250.00 | DigitalOcean 2vCPU / 4GB x2 | $24.00 |
| PostgreSQL Database | Premium-0 | $200.00 | DigitalOcean Postgres | $120.00 |
| Redis Cache | Premium-2 | $60.00 | DigitalOcean Redis | $60.00 |
| Monthly Total | $1,010.00 | $298.00 |
Platform Fee
Load Balancer
Web Servers
Worker
PostgreSQL Database
Redis Cache
TOTAL / MONTH
Staging Setup
Optimized resources for testing your application before production. Hatchbox costs $34/month here vs. Heroku's $135/month — a 75% reduction.
| Component | Heroku Plan | Heroku Cost | Hatchbox Plan | Hatchbox Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform Fee | None | $0.00 | $10/server | $10.00 |
| Web Servers | Standard-2X | $50.00 | DigitalOcean 2vCPU / 4GB | $24.00 |
| Worker | Standard-2X | $50.00 | Runs on web server | $0.00 |
| PostgreSQL Database | Essential-2 | $20.00 | Self-managed | $0.00 |
| Redis Cache | Premium-0 | $15.00 | Self-managed | $0.00 |
| Monthly Total | $135.00 | $34.00 |
Platform Fee
Web Servers
Worker
PostgreSQL Database
Redis Cache
TOTAL / MONTH
Side-Project / Agency Setup
Deploying 5 applications and optimizing for cost savings. Hatchbox costs $106/month here vs. Heroku's $675/month — an 84% reduction.
| Component | Heroku Plan | Heroku Cost | Hatchbox Plan | Hatchbox Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform Fee | None | $0.00 | $10/server | $10.00 |
| Web Servers | Standard-2X x5 | $250.00 | DigitalOcean 8vCPU / 16GB | $96.00 |
| Worker | Standard-2X x5 | $250.00 | Runs on web server | $0.00 |
| PostgreSQL Database | Essential-2 x5 | $100.00 | Self-managed | $0.00 |
| Redis Cache | Premium-0 x5 | $75.00 | Self-managed | $0.00 |
| Monthly Total | $675.00 | $106.00 |
Platform Fee
Web Servers
Worker
PostgreSQL Database
Redis Cache
TOTAL / MONTH
Heroku vs. Hatchbox: common questions
Is Hatchbox actually cheaper than Heroku?
Yes. In the production example above, Hatchbox costs $298/month versus Heroku's $1,010/month — a 70% reduction. Savings scale with usage: a side-project or agency setup sees an 84% reduction.
Does switching require code changes?
No. Hatchbox detects your framework automatically and deploys from your existing git repository — the same codebase you already have.
Do I still get zero-downtime deploys and add-ons like Postgres and Redis?
Yes. Hatchbox includes zero-downtime deploys, managed PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, and SQLite, background workers, and cron jobs — the same building blocks Heroku add-ons provide, run on servers you control.
What if I need help migrating?
Our team offers free migration help: share your current Heroku setup and we'll provide a cost estimate and a step-by-step migration plan tailored to your app.
Ready to take control?
If you're a Rails developer who wants to own your servers without the headache, Hatchbox is for you. Save money, keep control, and talk to real people when you need help.
Get StartedReal humans. Real help.
When something goes wrong, you shouldn't have to wait days for a helpful response. And you definitely don't want to argue with an AI chatbot.
Slow Support & AI Chatbots
- Tickets that go days without a response
- AI chatbots that loop you back to docs you already read
- Not experts on the whole product
- Takes 10+ messages to understand your issue
Human Support
- Talk to engineers who know Rails and Linux
- Personalized help for your specific setup
- Context carried across conversations
- We'll hop on a call if that's what it takes
Loved by businesses worldwide.
Hatchbox makes deploying to servers that you control easier than ever. No need to jump through hoops to configure servers or make your app compatible with containers.
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For our genome analysis pipelines, we need to be able to quickly setup and deploy servers in data centres across the world. Traditionally this involves fiddling with obscure config files, daemons and database setups. Not anymore: thanks to HatchBox, we can now confidently deploy our apps with a few clicks while still retaining full control.
Peter ScholsCEO at Diploid Genomics
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My first production website was a free community gaming site hosted on Heroku. It quickly grew into a $200+ plan which I could not sustain. I remember having to miss a party bc I had to upgrade my Postgres plan. Then I moved to Hatchbox.
Matias Eduardo
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Hatchbox is a dream! We just migrated our $2k per month Heroku app to a $300 per month equivalent. Thanks, @excid3 for these great tools
Kieran Klassen
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Two years with @hatchboxio and will never go back to Heroku again. No change in my day to day #rails development to production workflow. Amazing customer service to boot. And the best part? Hosting costs went from ~$400 a month down to $49.
Nick Haskins
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Did a quick cost analysis for a project on Heroku for a client. Too high! What else can I use? @hatchboxio! Spun up a quick server. Pushed deploy and boom. Things are working! Sidekiq is processing jobs. No fuss. Great work @excid3! ✨
Jeffrey Guenther
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Just finished migrating @ScreamRecs to Digital Ocean in like 2 hrs, can't believe how smooth it was and that's including domain and SSL. @hatchboxio made it super easy to get servers up. Encrypted rails creds also made things really easy.
Cody Norman
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Simple pricing, for everyone.
Whether you're running a side project or production traffic, teams moving from Heroku cut their hosting bill by 70–85%.
$10/server/mo
That's it
Perfect for small / medium sized businesses. Includes a 7-day free trial.
- Unlimited apps
- Unlimited databases
- Unlimited team members
- Deploy anywhere
Concierge Migration Services
Not sure where to start? Share your Heroku setup with us and we'll provide a cost estimate and a clear migration path tailored to your app.
- Free cost savings estimate
- Step-by-step migration plan
- Hands-on help from real humans