Heroku Postgres
Database as a service (DBaaS) providers
Database software
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- Ease of management
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What is Heroku Postgres
Heroku Postgres is a managed PostgreSQL database service offered as an add-on within the Heroku platform. It provides provisioning, backups, monitoring, and operational management for application teams running workloads on Heroku. The service targets developers who want a hosted relational database with tight integration into Heroku apps and deployment workflows. It differentiates through Heroku-native operational tooling (e.g., add-on provisioning, attachments, and CLI-based management) rather than infrastructure-level control.
Tight Heroku platform integration
Heroku Postgres provisions and attaches databases directly to Heroku apps, simplifying configuration through environment variables and add-on management. It integrates with common Heroku workflows such as pipelines and the Heroku CLI for routine operations. This reduces setup and operational overhead for teams standardizing on Heroku for application hosting.
Managed PostgreSQL operations
The service handles core database operations such as automated backups, patching, and monitoring as part of a managed offering. It provides built-in tools for inspecting performance and managing connections without requiring customers to run their own database servers. This is useful for small teams that need PostgreSQL capabilities without dedicated database administration.
Standard PostgreSQL compatibility
Because it is based on PostgreSQL, it supports common SQL features and works with standard PostgreSQL drivers and tooling. This improves portability of application code and developer skills compared with proprietary database engines. It also supports typical relational use cases such as transactional workloads and structured data modeling.
Heroku-centric deployment model
Heroku Postgres is designed primarily for applications hosted on Heroku, and its operational model aligns with Heroku add-ons and attachments. Organizations that need multi-cloud portability or deep infrastructure customization may find the service less flexible. Using it outside a Heroku-centric architecture can introduce additional integration and governance work.
Limited infrastructure-level control
As a managed service, it abstracts away host-level configuration and many database server tuning options. Teams with strict requirements for custom extensions, OS-level settings, or bespoke replication topologies may encounter constraints. This can be a limitation for advanced performance engineering or specialized compliance configurations.
Cost scaling and plan constraints
Costs can increase as storage, performance, and high-availability requirements grow, particularly for production workloads with higher throughput. Plan-based limits (e.g., resources and features varying by tier) can require upgrades as usage expands. This may be less predictable for rapidly scaling applications compared with self-managed deployments.
Plan & Pricing
| Plan | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| Essential-0 | ~$0.007/hour (max $5/month) | Entry plan (1 GB storage, ~20 connections). Pay-as-you-go per-second billing with $5/month cap. |
| Essential-1 | ~$0.013/hour (max $9/month) | Small projects (10 GB storage, ~20 connections). |
| Essential-2 | ~$0.028/hour (max $20/month) | Growth projects (32 GB storage, ~40 connections). |
| Standard-0 | ~$0.069/hour (max $50/month) | Production-ready; higher RAM/storage; HA expectations differ by tier. |
| Standard-2 | ~$0.278/hour (max $200/month) | Larger capacity for production workloads. |
| Standard-3 | ~$0.556/hour (max $400/month) | Larger vCPU/RAM and storage. |
| Standard-4 | ~$1.042/hour (max $750/month) | ... |
| Standard-5 | ~$1.944/hour (max $1400/month) | ... |
| Standard-6 | ~$2.778/hour (max $2000/month) | ... |
| Standard-7 | ~$4.861/hour (max $3500/month) | ... |
| Standard-8 | ~$6.25/hour (max $4500/month) | ... |
| Standard-9 | ~$8.056/hour (max $5800/month) | ... |
| Standard-10 | ~$16.667/hour (max $12000/month) | Very large dedicated instance. |
| Premium-0 | ~$0.278/hour (max $200/month) | High-availability production plan; improved performance and shorter downtime SLA than Standard. |
| Premium-2 | ~$0.486/hour (max $350/month) | Increased resources and HA. |
| Premium-3 | ~$1.042/hour (max $750/month) | ... |
| Premium-4 | ~$1.667/hour (max $1200/month) | ... |
| Premium-5 | ~$3.472/hour (max $2500/month) | ... |
| Premium-6 | ~$4.861/hour (max $3500/month) | ... |
| Premium-7 | ~$8.333/hour (max $6000/month) | ... |
| Premium-8 | ~$11.806/hour (max $8500/month) | ... |
| Premium-9 | ~$15.278/hour (max $11000/month) | ... |
| Premium-L-6 / Premium-XL-6 | ~$6.597 - $8.333/hour (max $4750 - $6000/month) | Very large Premium instances. |
| Private-0 | ~$0.417/hour (max $300/month) | Private Space plan (4 GB RAM, 68 GB storage, ~200 connections). |
| Private-2 | ~$0.833/hour (max $600/month) | 8 GB RAM, 256 GB storage, ~500 connections. |
| Private-3 | ~$1.389/hour (max $1000/month) | 15 GB RAM, 512 GB storage. |
| Private-4 | ~$2.083/hour (max $1500/month) | ... |
| Private-5 | ~$3.889/hour (max $2800/month) | ... |
| Private-6 | ~$5.000/hour (max $3600/month) | ... |
| Private-7 to Private-10 | ~$9.722/hour - $38.889/hour (max $7000 - $28000/month) | Very large Private instances (see vendor site for exact specs). |
| Shield-0 | ~$0.486/hour (max $350/month) | Shield plan (HIPAA/PCI-focused compliance), higher costs for compliance and isolation. |
| Shield-2 | ~$1.042/hour (max $750/month) | ... |
| Shield-3 | ~$1.667/hour (max $1200/month) | ... |
| Shield-4 | ~$2.50/hour (max $1800/month) | ... |
| Shield-5 | ~$4.722/hour (max $3400/month) | ... |
| Shield-6 | ~$6.111/hour (max $4400/month) | ... |
| Shield-7 to Shield-10 / Shield-L/XL | ~$11.667/hour - $47.222/hour (max $8400 - $34000/month) | Very large Shield instances. |
Notes: Prices and per-hour-to-month caps and plan names are taken from Heroku's official Heroku Postgres add-on / pricing pages; many additional intermediate and very-large plans exist — consult the vendor's Heroku Postgres add-on page and Dev Center for full, up-to-date specs and region availability.
Seller details
Salesforce, Inc.
San Francisco, CA, USA
1999
Public
https://www.salesforce.com/
https://x.com/salesforce
https://www.linkedin.com/company/salesforce/
