Zenifra vs Heroku
Heroku is a mature PaaS, but it has no free plan, bills in US dollars by card, and has no region in South America. Zenifra runs in Brazil, bills in Brazilian reais with PIX or boleto, and you start with free projects.
The criteria that matter most for teams serving users in Brazil.
| Criterion | Zenifra | Heroku |
|---|---|---|
| Where your app runs | Infrastructure in Brazil | US and Europe; Private Spaces in other countries, none in South America |
| Billing currency | Brazilian real (BRL) | US dollar (USD) |
| Payment methods | PIX, boleto, and card | Credit or debit card; no PayPal, ACH, or wire transfer |
| IOF and exchange rate | None: billing is domestic | 3.5% IOF on Brazilian cards, plus the daily exchange rate |
| Pricing model | Hourly, monthly, or yearly, in Brazilian reais | Dynos with monthly prices prorated to the second: Eco US$5, Basic US$7, Standard-1X US$25 |
| Getting started for free | 2 free HTTP projects, no card required | No free plan; Eco (US$5) sleeps after 30 minutes of inactivity |
| Managed databases | PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Valkey, and ClickHouse | Heroku Postgres from US$5 per month, plus add-ons |
| Deployment options | GitHub or a public or private Docker/OCI image, from the console or the CLI | Git push, GitHub, Docker image, and CLI |
| AI by API | OpenAI-compatible API with per-project keys and budgets | Heroku AI, billed in US dollars |
| Test environments | Previews billed hourly in Brazilian reais | Review Apps per pull request |
| Support | In Portuguese | In English |
On Heroku, dynos and databases have known monthly prices, but in US dollars. On Zenifra, the price is already in Brazilian reais.
Example: an always-on app with the smallest paid Heroku Postgres database.
The Eco dyno costs US$5, but it sleeps after 30 minutes of inactivity and is for personal accounts only.
App + PostgreSQL from R$17.80/month
Lowest paid application plan plus the lowest paid PostgreSQL plan, in Brazilian reais, without IOF.
Estimate my costThe scenarios are not a 1-to-1 match: resources differ by plan. Use the calculator to compare with your app’s usage.
An honest comparison leads to a better decision. These are Heroku’s strengths.
A large marketplace of add-ons for logging, queues, email, and monitoring.
More than a decade running production apps, with extensive documentation.
Network isolation and regions in several countries for companies with compliance needs.
Staging-to-production promotion integrated with GitHub.
Apps that run on Heroku from GitHub or a Docker image run on Zenifra with the same code.
Sign up for free and create an HTTP project from the console or the CLI.
Use the same GitHub repository. Check the Procfile start command and that the port comes from the PORT variable.
List the variables with heroku config and add them to the Zenifra project.
Create the database on Zenifra, capture and download a Heroku backup, and restore it into the new one.
Test on the Zenifra URL or in a Preview, then point your domain’s DNS when everything checks out.
# 1. Capture and download a Heroku Postgres backup
heroku pg:backups:capture --app <app>
heroku pg:backups:download --app <app>
# 2. Restore it into Zenifra PostgreSQL
pg_restore --no-owner --dbname="$ZENIFRA_DATABASE_URL" latest.dumpShort answers to the most common questions when comparing both platforms.
No. As of September 29, 2026, Heroku offered regions in the US and Europe and, with Private Spaces, in other countries, none in South America.
No. The cheapest plan is Eco, at US$5 per month, which sleeps after 30 minutes of inactivity. On Zenifra you start with 2 free HTTP projects, with no card required.
No. Heroku charges your credit or debit card automatically, in US dollars. On Zenifra you pay in Brazilian reais with PIX, boleto, or card.
Usually not. Zenifra deploys the same GitHub repository or Docker image. Check the Procfile start command and the port your app listens on.
Capture a backup with heroku pg:backups:capture, download it with heroku pg:backups:download, and restore it with pg_restore into Zenifra PostgreSQL.
Information checked on 9/29/2026 on the official pages: Heroku pricing, Heroku regions, Heroku billing, Heroku payment methods.