$10 /mo
saves $40 (80%)
PS-10 single node plan
Covers all 3 things you need.
Also has: database branches.
Home / Database / Heroku Postgres
Alternatives to Heroku Postgres
5 tools compared. Prices checked 2026-10-21.
GB of data
What you need:
+ Add something you need
Click a tick to drop something you do not need. Prices and the list update to match.
What do these mean?
- Automatic backups
- The vendor takes backups (or keeps a history you can restore from) without you setting anything up.
- Connection pooling
- A built-in pooler (usually PgBouncer) that shares a few database connections between many app connections, which matters for serverless apps.
- Postgres extensions (such as pgvector)
- Add-ons to Postgres such as pgvector for AI embeddings or PostGIS for maps.
- Point-in-time restore
- Roll the database back to any moment in a recent window, not only to the last nightly backup.
- High availability (automatic failover)
- A standby copy takes over automatically if the main machine fails, so the database stays up.
- Database branches
- Make an isolated copy of the database in seconds to test a change, then merge or throw it away.
- Read replicas
- Read-only copies that take read traffic off the main database.
- Sign-in and file storage from the same vendor
- The vendor also offers user sign-in and file storage, so one account covers the backend. Their price is not in the cost shown.
You pay now
$50 /mo
Heroku Postgres Standard-0, the cheapest plan with everything you need
4 of 5 alternatives cover what you need. The cheapest of those saves $40 (80%) a month.
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Visitors who say they use Heroku Postgres: none yet. Self-reported and never used for order.
Cover everything you need
$15.15 /mo
saves $34.85 (70%)
Standard 1 GiB plan
Covers all 3 things you need.
$21.70 /mo
saves $28.30 (57%)
1 GB instance plan
Covers all 3 things you need.
$40.80 /mo
saves $9.20 (18%)
Basic plan
Covers all 3 things you need.
Cheaper, but missing things you need
$20 /mo
saves $30 (60%)
Pro plan
Covers 2 of 3 things you need.
Missing postgres extensions (such as pgvector) (not stated by the vendor).
A managed Postgres database that is on all month, with about 1 GB of memory, holding this much data. Each vendor is priced at its smallest paid plan that holds the data (about 1 GB of memory where the vendor publishes a size; Heroku Essential publishes none) and keeps it available all month, with backups. Monthly billing in USD, list prices, one region (US East or the vendor's default), the cheapest plan that covers the size and everything you need. Where a vendor bills compute by the hour or second (Neon, Railway) it is priced for the database running all month (30 days). Storage is counted in GB as each vendor counts it (some count GiB). Where a vendor publishes no price for storage beyond what a plan includes (PlanetScale), the larger sizes are left blank rather than guessed. Egress, extra backups and restore history, replicas, high availability and extra connections are not included unless you tick them. Free plans that pause or limit the database are not priced. Prices are worked out from each vendor's published rates, not read off a calculator. Heroku Postgres's Essential-0 plan costs $5 at 1 GB of data but lacks: connection pooling.
Compare in detail
Heroku Postgres and the 4 cheapest alternatives. ✓ included +$ paid add-on ~ partly ? not stated – not offered
| Feature | Heroku Postgres your tool | PlanetScale | DigitalOcean Managed PostgreSQL | Render Postgres | Fly.io Managed Postgres |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | |||||
| 1 GB of data | $50 | $10 | $15.15 | $19 | $38.28 |
| 10 GB of data | $50 | $10 | $15.15 | $21.70 | $40.80 |
| 50 GB of data | $50 | - | $34.75 | $33.70 | $52 |
| 200 GB of data | $200 | - | - | $78.70 | $94 |
| What you need | |||||
| Automatic backups | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Connection pooling | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Postgres extensions (such as pgvector) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Also useful | |||||
| Point-in-time restore | ✓ | ? | ✓ | ✓ | ? |
| High availability (automatic failover) | ✓ | ✓ | +$30.45 | ? | ✓ |
| Database branches | ~ | ✓ | ? | ? | ? |
| Read replicas | ✓ | ✓ | +$15 | ? | ? |
Know a cheaper option we're missing, or see something wrong? Tell me and I'll check the vendor's page. suggest a tool →report a wrong price →
Switches are reported by visitors, shown as raw counts, and never affect the order. "None yet" means nobody has reported that switch yet.
"Not stated" means we found no statement either way on the vendor's own pages, not that the feature is missing. Cost is the cheapest plan that covers the size and everything you need. Each tool page lists its sources and the date each price was checked.