All the deploy-and-forget. Without the Heroku tax.
Heroku invented the modern push-to-deploy workflow. Then they removed the free tier, marched the bill up year after year, and added a sales motion. Velixir keeps the deploy ergonomics, ships a real .NET buildpack, and prices like it's 2024 - not 2014.
Why teams switch from Heroku to velixir
The specific reasons, not generic ones.
- Heroku's Standard 1X dyno is $25/mo for 512 MB. Velixir's equivalent (Brew, €12.95/mo) gets you 512 MB + smarter autoscaling.
- .NET-native build pipeline - Heroku's .NET support relies on community buildpacks and breaks on every major release.
- First-party managed Postgres + Valkey. Heroku Postgres is solid but adds $50–600+/mo on top of dynos; Velixir bundles in the same hourly bill.
- No 'sleeping dyno' tier theatre. Velixir's smallest plan stays warm 24/7 for under €7.
Side-by-side
Pricing checked May 2026. Specs reflect the closest equivalent plan in each direction.
| Dimension | velixir | Heroku |
|---|---|---|
|
Smallest production tier
Heroku Basic sleeps; Velixir doesn't have a sleeping tier.
|
€6.95/mo (Spark - always-on) | $7/mo Basic + sleeps after 30 min idle |
|
512 MB always-on workload
Apples-to-apples 50%+ savings.
|
€12.95/mo (Brew) | $25/mo (Standard 1X) |
|
.NET support
Microsoft ships .NET; we follow weekly. Community buildpacks lag majors by weeks.
|
First-party buildpack | Community .NET buildpack |
|
Managed Postgres
Heroku's smallest paid Postgres is $50/mo Mini.
|
Built-in (€4.95+/mo) | Heroku Postgres ($50–600+/mo) |
|
Managed Redis / Valkey
Valkey is BSD-licensed, Redis-wire-compatible.
|
Valkey, built-in (€2.45+/mo) | Heroku Key-Value Store ($15+/mo) |
|
Sign-up trial
Heroku's free tier sunset; Velixir gives you real budget to try.
|
First month on us, up to €14.99 | No free trial since November 2022 |
|
Pricing model
Both billed by usage; ours is in €.
|
Hourly EUR, no commitments | Per-second metered, monthly cap |
|
Roll back a bad release
Both fast; ours is in the UI by default.
|
One click, instant | `heroku releases:rollback` |
|
Add-on marketplace
Heroku's strength; also part of the bill creep story.
|
Velixir-managed services (Postgres, Valkey) | Hundreds of partners (extra bills) |
Same workload, both sides
A typical Heroku setup: Standard 2X dyno + Heroku Postgres Basic + Heroku Data Key-Value.
Heroku: 1× Standard 2X ($50/mo) + Postgres Basic ($9/mo) + Key-Value Mini ($15/mo) = $74/mo.
Velixir: Elixir app (€24.95) + Postgres Hobby (€4.95) + Valkey Hobby (€2.45) = €32.35/mo.
About 55% lower, plus you keep a single bill across compute + data.
Migrate off Heroku in under 30 minutes. Same git workflow, half the bill.
Push your code via Git or CLI. velixir builds, publishes, and deploys it to the region you pick - EU, US, or Asia-Pacific - in under two minutes. No Docker, no YAML soup - and your first month's on us, up to €14.99.
No credit card to sign up. Add a payment method only when you're ready to deploy.