Forte vs. Heroku
Keep push-to-deploy and add the services your app needs.
Heroku makes web apps easy to deploy. Forte keeps that workflow and adds autoscaling, authentication, payments, and request debugging.
Or go straight to the cost comparison.
Feature by feature
A straightforward look at how Forte compares to Heroku.
| Heroku | Forte | |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment pipeline | Push to a branch or git push heroku. Buildpack detection. | ✓ Push to a branch or publish a release. No Procfile, no buildpacks. |
| Payments | ✗ Not included | ✓ Built in. Create subscriptions with one API call. |
| User authentication | ✗ Not included | ✓ Built-in user auth and management |
| Debugging | Log drains, manual setup | ✓ Trace any request by ID |
| Auto-scaling | Performance-tier dynos only | ✓ Automatic, included by default |
| Cold starts | Dynos sleep when idle | ✓ Always-on instances |
| Billing | Per-dyno, plus add-ons | ✓ Predictable, flat-rate instances |
| Seat & platform fees | Per-dyno monthly fees; support behind paid tiers | ✓ No seat or platform fees. Pay only for usage. |
| What's included | Compute + add-on marketplace | ✓ Plus built-in user auth, payments, and request-level debugging |
| Support | Paid tiers only | ✓ Direct team access |
Total cost of ownership
Choose a workload to compare monthly costs. The full breakdown stays visible below.
A small team with paying customers
1,200,000 req/mo · 2 × 1 vCPU / 2 GB · 10 GB database
Includes Heroku and $51 in priced services.
Estimated at the selected workload
Estimated at the selected workload
Hover a bar for its complete breakdown. Every scale starts at zero.
Monthly cost
USD / monthDebugging & operating
Hours / month$150/mo less on Forte. That's about 58% cheaper for the same workload.
Estimated hours per month spent debugging and operating the platform — keeping it running, not building features. Not included in dollar totals.
Priced services are included in the headline total. Items without a public price still need a quote.
How each total is calculated
Credits and included usage are applied before the total. Published list rates; taxes are excluded.
- Dynos are billed for the whole month whether or not they serve traffic.
- Assumes a stateless workload that can scale horizontally: whichever is cheaper between matching memory per dyno and scaling Standard dynos to the same aggregate memory.
- Heroku doesn't meter egress, so bandwidth is free on both sides here.
Rates as of July 2026, from Forte's and Heroku's published prices. Build charges are excluded on both sides. Actual usage changes your bill. Treat this as an estimate, not a quote.
Want a quote instead? Share your bill.
One product usually needs several services
Heroku covers part of the product. Other services provide the rest. Each one adds an account, a bill, and another system to maintain.
Multiple services
With Heroku
Dynos & PostgresHeroku
User authenticationClerk Pro
Subscriptions & paymentsBuild it yourself on Stripe
Request-level debuggingSentry Team
Integration code, credentials, dashboards, and failure handling stay with your team.
Forte puts these parts in one platform
With Forte
- Dynos & PostgresIncluded
- User authenticationIncluded
- Subscriptions & paymentsBuilt in, Stripe-backed
- Request-level debuggingIncluded
One operational view for deployments, users, payments, databases, and request-level debugging.
Migrate from Heroku in 15 minutes
No special tooling. No migration scripts. Just point Forte at your existing repository.
Connect your GitHub repo
Forte connects directly to GitHub. No Procfiles, no buildpacks. If you have a Dockerfile, Forte uses it; if not, it generates one automatically.
Move your config vars
Copy your Heroku config vars into Forte. Use the same keys and values. No code changes are required.
Deploy and let it scale
Push to your branch, or set the service to deploy only when you publish a GitHub release. Forte builds, deploys, and scales automatically. Instances stay running.
Debug a request
Search by request ID. You do not need to configure a log drain.
Turn on authentication and payments
Turn on authentication and Stripe-backed payments in Forte.