Heroku
Pulumi
| Feature | Heroku | Pulumi |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | From $5/mo | Free / from $50/mo |
| Free Plan | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4 / 5 | 4.4 / 5 |
| Best For | startups, prototyping, small-teams, ruby-python-node-developers | developers, platform-engineers, polyglot-teams, cloud-architects |
| Founded | 2007 | 2017 |
| Git Deploy | ✓ | ✗ |
| Managed Postgres | ✓ | ✗ |
| Managed Redis | ✓ | ✗ |
| Add Ons | ✓ | ✗ |
| Review Apps | ✓ | ✗ |
| Pipelines | ✓ | ✗ |
| Auto Scaling | ✓ | ✗ |
| Programming Languages | ✗ | ✓ |
| Multi Cloud | ✗ | ✓ |
| State Management | ✗ | ✓ |
| Policy As Code | ✗ | ✓ |
| Secrets Management | ✗ | ✓ |
| Pulumi Ai | ✗ | ✓ |
| Drift Detection | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Heroku Pros
- Simplest deployment experience (git push to deploy)
- Extensive add-on marketplace for databases and services
- Great for prototyping and MVPs
- Managed Postgres and Redis included
✗ Heroku Cons
- Removed free tier in 2022
- Expensive for production workloads at scale
- Limited infrastructure customization
✓ Pulumi Pros
- Use real programming languages instead of DSLs
- Strong typing and IDE support for infrastructure code
- Multi-cloud support with consistent API
- Pulumi AI generates infrastructure code from prompts
✗ Pulumi Cons
- Smaller community than Terraform
- State management requires Pulumi Cloud or self-hosting
- Less third-party provider coverage than Terraform
The Verdict
Heroku is built for startups and prototyping, with a focus on git-deploy and managed-postgres. Pulumi targets developers and platform engineers and leads with programming-languages and multi-cloud.
On pricing, Heroku is the clear winner for budget-conscious users — starting at $5/mo compared to $50/mo for Pulumi. That $45/mo difference adds up quickly for growing teams.
Pulumi has a free plan, which gives it a meaningful edge for individuals and small teams exploring their options. Heroku requires a paid subscription from day one.
Pulumi edges out on user ratings (4.4 vs 4). While both are well-regarded, that gap reflects real differences in user satisfaction worth considering.
Bottom line: Pulumi has a slight overall edge — but if simplest deployment experience (git push to deploy) matters most to you, Heroku may still be the right call.