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Hosting & Infra

Cloudinary vs Heroku: Pricing Comparison 2026

Side-by-side pricing comparison of Cloudinary and Heroku. See all plans, features, and costs at a glance.

Bottom line: Heroku starts at $5/mo, making it $94/mo cheaper than Cloudinary ($99/mo). Cloudinary offers a free plan.

Last updated: July 20, 2026

Data compiled by Arthur Jacquemin
Updated July 20, 2026
Try Cloudinary freeTry Heroku freePrice updated 3d agoUpdated this month
Best Value

Cloudinary - Cloudinary offers a free plan, offers 5 tiers vs 4.

Cloudinary vs Heroku: Quick Pricing Facts

FeatureCloudinaryHeroku
Starting Price$99/mo$5/mo
Number of Plans54
Free TierYesNo
Pricing Modelfreemiumusage-based
Annual DiscountN/AN/A

Heroku is the more affordable option, starting at $5/mo compared to Cloudinary's $99/mo. Both are Hosting & Infra tools with 9 combined pricing plans and 64 features compared. At comparable tiers, the monthly price difference is $25.

Cloudinary stands out with a free plan for getting started. Cloudinary uses freemium pricing while Heroku uses usage-based pricing, which may affect your total cost at scale.

Review the detailed tier-by-tier comparison above to see exactly which features are included at each price point and find the best fit for your Hosting & Infra needs.

Pricing Plans
Cloudinary
Cloudinary
Try free
Heroku
Heroku
Try free
Tier 1
FreePopular
$0/monthCheapest
Includes
  • Upload widget, API, and search
  • Remote fetch, auto-backup, and revision tracking
  • Image and video transformations
  • Video transcoding and adaptive streaming
  • High performance delivery through a CDN
  • Support — forums, tickets, and email
  • Access to free add-ons
  • Upload widget, API, and search
  • Remote fetch, auto-backup, and revision tracking
  • Image and video transformations
  • Video transcoding and adaptive streaming
  • High performance delivery through a CDN
  • Support — forums, tickets, and email
  • Access to free add-ons
  • Access to MCP servers
Start with Free
Eco
$5/month
Includes
  • 1000 dyno hours/mo
  • Sleep after 30min
  • Custom domains
Start with Eco
Tier 2
PlusPopular
$99/month
Includes
  • Backup to your own S3 bucket
  • Auto-tagging based search
  • Access to free and paid add-ons
  • Expedited support
  • Allowlist/Blocklist asset access
  • Role-based multi-user administration
  • Backup to your own S3 bucket
  • Auto-tagging based search
  • Access to free and paid add-ons
  • Expedited support
  • Allowlist/Blocklist asset access
  • Role-based multi-user administration
Start with Plus
Basic
$7/monthCheapest
Includes
  • Always on
  • 512 MB RAM
  • Custom domains
  • Free SSL
Start with Basic
Tier 3
AdvancedPopular
$249/month
Includes
  • Custom domain (CNAME) support
  • Optional HTTPS SSL Certificate
  • Authentication Options
  • Custom domain (CNAME) support
  • Optional HTTPS SSL Certificate
  • Authentication Options
Start with Advanced
Standard 1xPopular
$25/monthCheapest
Includes
  • 512 MB RAM
  • Horizontal scaling
  • Preboot
  • Metrics
Start with Standard 1x
Tier 4
EnterprisePopular
Custom pricing
Includes
  • Backup to your own S3 bucket
  • Auto-tagging based search
  • Access to free and paid add-ons
  • Expedited support
  • Allowlist/Blocklist asset access
  • Video Bandwidth Boost 2:1
  • Role-based multi-user administration
  • Security and compliance review
  • Multi-CDN and enterprise grade infrastructure
  • Enterprise SLAs and support
  • Designated customer success manager
  • Custom contracts and invoicing
  • User management (SSO, provisioning API)
Start with Enterprise
Performance M
$250/monthCheapest
Includes
  • 2.5 GB RAM
  • Dedicated resources
  • Autoscaling
Start with Performance M
Tier 5
TrialPopular
$0/monthCheapest
Includes
  • Easy Setup. Setup, tune, and populate your catalog quickly using step-by-step video tutorials
  • Auto Tagging. AI-powered automatic keywording adds value to every asset
  • Video Support. Not just for imagery, out-of-the-box support for all video files
  • Asset Variations. Access a large library of presets to transform, size, crop, and color your files for any project need
Start with Trial
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Cloudinary

Cloud-based image and video management platform

View all Cloudinary plans

Heroku

Cloud platform for building, running, and scaling apps

View all Heroku plans

Frequently Asked Questions: Cloudinary vs Heroku

Which is cheaper, Cloudinary or Heroku?
As of July 2026, Heroku starts at a lower price point. Cloudinary starts at $99/mo while Heroku starts at $5/mo. However, the best value depends on the features you need at each tier.
How many pricing plans does Cloudinary have vs Heroku?
Cloudinary offers 5 pricing plans, while Heroku offers 4 plans. More plans typically means more flexibility to match your exact needs and budget.
Does Cloudinary or Heroku offer a free plan?
Cloudinary offers a free plan, while Heroku does not. If budget is a concern, Cloudinary lets you get started at no cost.
What is the most popular Cloudinary plan?
The Free plan is Cloudinary's most popular tier, priced at Free. Key features include Upload widget, API, and search, Remote fetch, auto-backup, and revision tracking, Image and video transformations.
What is the most popular Heroku plan?
The Standard 1x plan is Heroku's most popular tier, priced at $25/mo. Key features include 512 MB RAM, Horizontal scaling, Preboot.
Does Cloudinary or Heroku offer custom enterprise pricing?
Cloudinary offers a custom-priced enterprise tier for larger teams. Heroku lists all its pricing publicly.
What pricing models do Cloudinary and Heroku use?
Cloudinary uses a freemium pricing model, while Heroku uses usage-based pricing. The right model depends on your team size and usage patterns.
AI Recommendations

Sources

  1. Cloudinary Official Pricing- Vendor pricing page
  2. Heroku Official Pricing- Vendor pricing page

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