Heroku is removing the free tier
Tags: webdev, devops, news
Published: 2022-08-26 07:28:00

If you are anything like me, you have a few small projects that you are hosting on Heroku. Read on to learn more about some of the changes that will likely affect you.

## What is Heroku?
Heroku is a Platform As A Service (PAAS) "based on a managed container system, with integrated data services and a powerful ecosystem, for deploying and running modern apps" [heroku.com](https://www.heroku.com/platform).

This means that, with a small amount of config, you can get your web app live and available to the world without setting up servers. Heroku offers, what they call, Dynos. These are used to run your code and a small servers to run your Web apps on.

## What currently is available?
Currently Heroku offers a _generous_ free tier so that developers can get their web apps up and running quickly and for free. 

The only real downsides are not enabling a custom domain and slower cold starts.

A cold start is when the dyno, if it is not used for 30 mins, is spun down until a HTTP request fire's it back up again.

![Changed](https://media3.giphy.com/media/XubBxPcizx7PVPBSP9/giphy.gif?cid=82a1493baxa034rfdtnsrxs5csgr23mizjfmt2h3xglh5dyi&rid=giphy.gif)

## So what has changed?
The main change is that from **November 28, 2022** this FREE tier will no longer be available. As part of this, the free Heroku Postgres, and free Heroku Data for Redis® will also be **NO LONGER FREE**. 

So, if you are currently using a free tier of these, then you will need to upgrade to a paid plan before that date.


![Confused](https://media1.giphy.com/media/h5Kj3oDLtuh6NoRy5x/giphy.gif?cid=82a1493bz6olhu67vurao26v7g7cqcdzy9f8n9d4bhtnudxd&rid=giphy.gif)

## What do you need to do?
Heroku suggests that you upgrade to a paid plan before that date.

So that means that you'll need to join these plans: 
Heroku Dynos starts at $7/month, Heroku Data for Redis® starts at $15/month, Heroku Postgres starts at $9/month.

## What else has changed?
Starting **October 26, 2022**, they will also begin deleting inactive accounts and associated storage for accounts that have been inactive for over a year. So make sure you check you account and either remove any unused dynos/ projects or update your dynos to a hobby account for $7 a month. 

![but wait](https://media2.giphy.com/media/YrU0MqWSs5T3jYiAmH/giphy.gif?cid=82a1493bxcnzwcwzsnawqam1n63ll59if07frmg6v759dk46&rid=giphy.gif)

## What alternatives are there? 

You could migrate your app to [Digital ocean](https://m.do.co/c/b6731a07428c) for $5 a month. And you can  sign up [here](https://m.do.co/c/b6731a07428c) to get $200 free credit to get you started. (**For full disclosure this is a referral link**). And use this article to dockerise and deploy an API to digital ocean:
{% embed https://dev.to/lukeecart/how-to-deploy-a-nodejs-app-to-digital-ocean-using-docker-al6 %}

Or here is a very helpful github repo that lists other sites with free tiers. 

[https://github.com/ripienaar/free-for-dev](https://github.com/ripienaar/free-for-dev)

To get alternative to Heroku checkout the Web hosting section.

Thank you so much for reading. If you found this helpful, would you consider buying me a coffee to say thank you?

[![Buy Me A Coffee](https://cdn.buymeacoffee.com/buttons/default-black.png)](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lukeecart)

### References
- [https://blog.heroku.com/next-chapter](https://blog.heroku.com/next-chapter)