Aria vs Heroku. One server, one price.
Heroku taught a generation to ship with git push. Aria keeps that simplicity (builds, HTTPS, logs, rollbacks) and puts the whole app, its workers and its databases on one server that is yours alone, at one flat price.
In one line: Heroku suits teams that want its add-on marketplace and enterprise features. Aria suits a product whose web, worker, Postgres and Redis bill has become five separate lines.
Aria and Heroku, side by side
Heroku’s pricing model as described on its pricing page, checked 22 October 2026. Prices change: check there for current figures. Aria: from £9 a month ex VAT (draft prices), in GBP.
| Aria | Heroku | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | One dedicated server per plan, set up and run by Aria | Dynos (containers) on Heroku’s platform |
| How you pay | One flat monthly price per server | Per dyno, plus add-ons for Postgres, Redis and more |
| Web + worker + Postgres + Redis | All on one server, one price | Several dynos and add-ons, each billed |
| Sleeping | Never: every plan runs all the time | Depends on dyno type |
| Deploys | From your repository: builds, automatic HTTPS, two-second rollback | git push or GitHub, buildpacks, rollbacks |
| AI coding agents | aria.yaml plus MCP with approval gates | CLI and API |
| Where it runs | A server you choose, yours alone | Heroku’s shared regions |
What Heroku does best
Heroku is mature and dependable, with a large add-on marketplace, pipelines and enterprise options. For teams already invested in its ecosystem, it remains a solid choice.
Choose Aria when
- Your app needs a web process, workers, Postgres and Redis, and you want them at one price.
- You want nothing to sleep, on every plan.
- You want to own the server and choose where it is.
- You want your coding agent to deploy with server-enforced approval gates.
Stay on Heroku when
- You depend on Heroku add-ons, pipelines or enterprise compliance offerings.
- Your team is standardised on Heroku’s workflow and the bill is fine.
Moving from Heroku to Aria
- Ask your coding agent to turn your Procfile and add-ons into aria.yaml.
- Aria recommends the smallest server for the stack.
- Move Postgres with a dump and restore, and add your config vars once.
- Launch and point your domain.
Questions
Is Aria a Heroku alternative?
Yes. Aria keeps Heroku-style deploys (builds, HTTPS, logs, rollbacks) and runs your web app, workers and databases on one dedicated server at one flat monthly price.
Does Aria support Procfiles?
Aria uses one aria.yaml for the whole stack. Your coding agent writes it from your Procfile and add-ons.
Do apps sleep on Aria?
No. Every plan is a dedicated server that runs all the time.
How do I move my Heroku Postgres?
Take a dump from Heroku Postgres and restore it into the Postgres Aria sets up on your server.
How much does Aria cost compared with Heroku?
Aria charges one flat monthly price per server, from £9 a month ex VAT (draft prices), in GBP, with no charges per seat, per app, per database or per request. Heroku’s pricing is on its own pricing page (https://www.heroku.com/pricing); its model is summarised in the table above, checked 22 October 2026.
Read more
How the price works
No charges per seat, app, database or request
- No charge per seat
- No charge per app
- No charge per database
- No charge per request
One server. One price.
An Aria plan is one monthly price for one server. Run as many apps, workers and databases on it as it can hold, and invite your agents too: nothing is metered per seat, per app or per request.
Own the cloud. Your AI runs it.
Let your coding agent write aria.yaml and see which server fits your stack.