# Heroku implementation cost: dynos, Postgres and Salesforce sync Heroku publishes its dyno and Postgres prices, and they are the easy part. Since February 2026 Heroku runs on a sustaining engineering model, and new customers cannot sign Enterprise Account contracts, which changes how you budget for Heroku Connect. **Published:** 2026-04-03 **Canonical:** https://synconai.com/heroku-salesforce-implementation-cost **Author:** SynconAI Architecture Team ## In short As at October 2026, Heroku lists dynos from $5 a month for Eco, $7 for Basic and $25 for Standard-1X, and Heroku Postgres from $5 a month. Heroku Connect has a free demo plan; its Shield and Enterprise plans are contract items. The build cost depends on the app itself, the Salesforce sync design and the environments you run. ## Sources - **About Salesforce Data 360** (retrieved 2025-10-14) https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_data_cloud.htm&type=5 > As of October 14, 2025, Data Cloud has been rebranded to Data 360. - **Heroku Pricing** (retrieved 2026-10-11) https://www.heroku.com/pricing > From dynos to data to AI, Heroku’s cloud application platform helps developers ship faster with less ops friction so you can focus on your apps. - **An Update on Heroku** (retrieved 2026-02-06) https://www.heroku.com/blog/an-update-on-heroku/ > Enterprise Account contracts will no longer be offered to new customers. - **Heroku Connect** (retrieved 2026-10-11) https://elements.heroku.com/addons/herokuconnect > Using bi-directional synchronization between Salesforce and Heroku Postgres, Heroku Connect unifies the data in your Postgres database with the contacts, accounts and other custom objects in the Salesforce database. ## What to take away - Heroku publishes per-month prices for every dyno and Postgres plan, from $5 for Eco dynos and Essential-0 Postgres upwards. - Since 6 February 2026 Heroku runs a sustaining engineering model, and Enterprise Account contracts are no longer offered to new customers. - Heroku Connect is free up to 10,000 synchronised rows on the demo plan; its Shield and Enterprise plans are listed as contract plans. - The services cost is the application build plus the Salesforce sync, environments, monitoring and the run model after go-live. ## The guide Heroku is the Salesforce product most likely to be priced like infrastructure and built like software. Its pricing page reads like a cloud provider's: a dyno for this much a month, a database for that much. The implementation, though, is an application project, and the part that ties it to Salesforce has its own commercial rules. In 2026 Heroku's position has also changed, and any budget for a new Heroku build should start with that. ## Heroku's status in 2026 On 6 February 2026, Heroku published [an update on its direction](https://www.heroku.com/blog/an-update-on-heroku/). It said Heroku is moving to a sustaining engineering model focused on stability, security, reliability and support, with an emphasis on maintaining quality rather than introducing new features. Customers who pay by credit card in the Heroku dashboard, existing and new, continue with no change to pricing, billing or service. The sentence that matters most for a new Salesforce project is this one: "Enterprise Account contracts will no longer be offered to new customers." Existing Enterprise subscriptions and support contracts continue to be honoured and may renew as usual. That has two practical consequences. First, if you are an existing Heroku Enterprise customer, your contract and its entitlements remain available, and a new project inside it is a normal decision. Second, if you are new to Heroku, the products that have traditionally been sold through an Enterprise contract need a direct conversation with Salesforce before they go into a budget, and an alternative platform belongs on the comparison. ## What you pay for Heroku The [Heroku pricing page](https://www.heroku.com/pricing) publishes prices per month for every dyno and data plan, as at October 2026. It describes the offer simply: "From dynos to data to AI, Heroku’s cloud application platform helps developers ship faster with less ops friction so you can focus on your apps." There are two dyno generations. Cedar is the established runtime. Fir is the Kubernetes-based generation, and every Fir dyno requires a Private Space. | Cedar dyno or Postgres plan | Price per month | What the page says about it | | --- | --- | --- | | Eco dyno | $5 | Personal accounts only; sleeps after 30 minutes of inactivity | | Basic dyno | $7 | Always on, 0.5 GB RAM | | Standard-1X dyno | $25 | 0.5 GB RAM | | Standard-2X dyno | $50 | 1 GB RAM, zero-downtime deploys | | Performance-M dyno | $250 | 2.5 GB RAM, dedicated compute, autoscaling | | Private-S dyno | $125 | Runs in a Private Space | | Shield-S dyno | $150 | Runs in a Shield Private Space | | Postgres Essential-0 | $5 | 1 GB disk, 20 connections | | Postgres Standard-0 | $50 | Production tier, 1 hour maximum monthly downtime | | Postgres Premium-0 | $200 | High availability, 15 minutes maximum monthly downtime | Larger Postgres tiers run into thousands of dollars a month, and the Private and Shield database tiers start at $300 and $350 a month. Every figure is per month for one dyno or one database, so a production app with two web dynos, a worker and a database is the sum of four lines, not one. ### Heroku Connect [Heroku Connect](https://elements.heroku.com/addons/herokuconnect) is the add-on that keeps Heroku Postgres and Salesforce in step. Its listing explains: "Using bi-directional synchronization between Salesforce and Heroku Postgres, Heroku Connect unifies the data in your Postgres database with the contacts, accounts and other custom objects in the Salesforce database." The add-on page lists three plans. Demo Edition is free and covers 10,000 synchronised rows. Shield and Enterprise both cover unlimited rows and unlimited objects and are marked as contract plans, with no price shown. Put that together with the February update and the conclusion is plain: if your design depends on Heroku Connect beyond 10,000 rows and you are not already an Enterprise customer, confirm with Salesforce in writing that a contract plan is available to you before you design around it. ## A worked run-cost example Take a hypothetical customer portal on the Common Runtime. Two Standard-2X web dynos at $50 each, one Standard-1X worker at $25, and a Standard-0 Postgres database at $50 come to $175 a month in production at list price. A staging copy with one Standard-1X web dyno, one Standard-1X worker and an Essential-1 database at $9 adds $59. That is $234 a month before add-ons for logging, monitoring or caching, and before Heroku Connect. Move the same portal into a Private Space because the data is sensitive and the picture changes. Private-S dynos are $125 each, and the Private database tier starts at $300 a month for Private-0. The same shape of app now costs several times as much to run, before anyone has written a line of extra code. The lesson for a budget is that the hosting bill is small compared with the build, until the isolation level or the database tier goes up. Decide the compliance requirement first, because it sets the price per dyno and per database for the life of the app. The second lesson is that a database upgrade is usually the step change. Dynos scale in small increments; Postgres tiers jump, and the Premium tier for high availability starts at $200 a month for the smallest plan. ## Heroku or something already in your Salesforce contract Before you commit to a Heroku build, check whether the job needs Heroku at all. A customer-facing portal over Salesforce data may be better served by Experience Cloud, with no separate hosting and no sync, at the cost of Salesforce licences for the external users. Heavy computation that Salesforce calls into may fit AppLink on Heroku, or a service on the cloud provider you already use. Data that needs to live outside Salesforce for analytics may belong in Data 360 or a warehouse rather than Postgres. Heroku earns its place when you need a full custom application with its own users and its own data model, when your developers want ordinary languages and frameworks, and when the app must share Salesforce data without living inside the org. If that describes the project, the published prices make the run cost easy to forecast. If it does not, the cheapest Heroku implementation is the one you do not start. ## Choosing the Salesforce integration pattern Heroku apps reach Salesforce in three main ways, and the choice sets both the services effort and the running cost. **Heroku Connect.** Bidirectional sync between Salesforce objects and Postgres tables. Developers work in SQL against Postgres, and Connect handles the Salesforce API calls. It is the fastest way to build a customer-facing app over Salesforce data, provided the commercial question above is settled. **Heroku AppLink.** Heroku describes AppLink as a secure way to connect Heroku apps to Salesforce, so that code on Heroku can be called from Salesforce, for example from Flow, Apex or Agentforce. It suits compute-heavy logic that you would rather not run inside Apex limits. **Direct API calls.** The app calls the Salesforce REST, Bulk or Pub/Sub APIs itself. This avoids the Connect add-on but moves sync logic, error handling and API limit management into your code. It is the most work to build and the most flexible. For many teams, the right answer is a mix: Connect or the APIs for data, AppLink for logic that Salesforce calls into. ## What a Heroku implementation is made of **Discovery and architecture.** What the app does, who uses it, which Salesforce objects it reads and writes, peak traffic and data volumes, and the compliance regime. A Shield Private Space is for regulated workloads and is priced accordingly. **Application build.** The app itself: front end, APIs, background workers, authentication for its users. This is typically the largest work package and depends entirely on what you are building. **Data design.** Postgres schema, which tables are synced from Salesforce, how conflicts are handled when both sides change a record, and which data never leaves Postgres. **Salesforce side.** Integration user, permission sets, external IDs, field-level security for synced fields, and any Flow or Apex that calls Heroku through AppLink. **Environments and pipelines.** Heroku Pipelines with review apps, staging and production. Each environment has its own dynos and database, so each has a monthly cost, and each staging app needs pointing at the right Salesforce sandbox. **Testing.** Functional tests, load tests sized to real peaks, and sync tests that change the same record on both sides at once. **Go-live and run.** Monitoring, log drains, alerting, backup and restore drills, dependency upgrades and an on-call arrangement. ## What drives the cost up or down The app's own complexity dominates. A simple portal showing a customer their cases and orders is a modest build. A transactional platform with payments, high traffic and strict uptime is a software product with all the cost that implies. On the Salesforce side, sync volume and direction matter most. One-way, read-only sync of a few objects is quick. Bidirectional sync of high-volume objects with conflict rules is where projects overrun. API limits in the org also matter if you build direct integration rather than using Connect. The isolation level moves the run cost. Common Runtime dynos are the cheapest; Private Spaces and Shield Private Spaces cost more per dyno and per database, and Fir dynos all require a Private Space. Finally, the 2026 status matters for your timeline. A platform in sustaining engineering will keep running and be patched, but you should not plan a multi-year build around features that are not yet released. ## Moving data in, not just syncing it The keywords people search alongside this page often mention data migration, and Heroku projects do sometimes involve moving data into Salesforce rather than syncing it. That happens when an app built on Heroku years ago held customer records that now belong in Salesforce, or when the Heroku app is being retired. In that case the work looks different: map the Postgres tables to Salesforce objects, clean duplicates, load with the Bulk API or a data loader, reconcile counts and totals, then switch off the old write paths. Heroku Connect can help in the short term by keeping both sides aligned during the transition, but a one-off load rarely needs a permanent sync plan, and paying for one is waste. Ask the bidder which you are buying. ## Getting comparable quotes Give each bidder the same brief: the app's purpose and users, traffic estimates, Salesforce objects and directions, compliance needs, and whether you already hold a Heroku Enterprise contract. Ask for the quote by work package, and ask for a monthly run-cost estimate at list price built from the published dyno and database prices. | Work package | What the quote should state | | --- | --- | | Architecture | Dyno generation, isolation level and integration pattern | | Application build | Features, with acceptance criteria | | Salesforce integration | Objects, direction, conflict rules and the sync tool | | Environments | Each environment with its dynos and database plan | | Testing | Load, sync and failure tests | | Run model | Monitoring, patching, on-call and who pays for it | ## What quotes leave out **Non-production environments.** Staging and review apps cost money every month. A quote that prices only production understates the run cost. **Add-ons.** Logging, monitoring, caching and other marketplace add-ons are billed on top of dynos and databases. **Heroku Connect commercials.** As above, beyond the free demo plan this is a contract question. **Salesforce licences.** If app users log in to Salesforce as well, or if a portal exposes Salesforce data to external users, those users may need Salesforce licences, and that cost can exceed the Heroku bill. **Upgrades and runtime changes.** Language and framework upgrades, stack updates and any future move between Cedar and Fir are recurring work. **An exit plan.** Given the 2026 update, a short note on how the app would move to another platform is cheap insurance, and a good partner will write one without being asked. ## Where to go next For what Heroku is today inside Salesforce, read [Heroku with Salesforce](/heroku-salesforce). The subscription and contract detail is on [the Heroku licence cost page](/heroku-salesforce-licence-cost), and the connection design on [integrating Heroku with Salesforce](/integrating-heroku-with-salesforce). If you are deciding whether to move off Heroku, read [should I migrate from Heroku](/should-i-migrate-from-heroku). The acquisition history is on [what happened to Heroku](/what-happened-to-heroku), and partner selection on [hiring a Heroku partner](/hire-heroku-salesforce-partner). :::warn Before you design around Heroku Connect, confirm in writing that a Shield or Enterprise plan is available to your organisation. Heroku has said Enterprise Account contracts are no longer offered to new customers. ::: ## Questions ### How much does Heroku cost per month? As at October 2026, Heroku lists Eco dynos at $5, Basic at $7, Standard-1X at $25 and Standard-2X at $50 a month, and Heroku Postgres from $5 a month for Essential-0. A production app is the sum of its dynos, databases and add-ons. ### How much does Heroku Connect cost? The Demo Edition is free and covers 10,000 synchronised rows. The Shield and Enterprise plans cover unlimited rows and are listed as contract plans with no public price, so the price comes from Salesforce. ### Can new customers still buy Heroku? Yes, by credit card through the Heroku dashboard, with no change to pricing or billing. Heroku said on 6 February 2026 that Enterprise Account contracts will no longer be offered to new customers, while existing ones may renew. ### What makes a Heroku and Salesforce build expensive? The complexity of the app itself, bidirectional high-volume sync with conflict rules, Private or Shield Spaces for regulated data, and the number of environments. Salesforce licences for external users can also outweigh the Heroku bill. ### Is Heroku still being developed? Heroku says it has moved to a sustaining engineering model focused on stability, security, reliability and support, rather than introducing new features. It remains a supported production platform. --- SynconAI is a Salesforce Select Partner and an OpenAI Select Partner, delivering architect-led Salesforce and AI programmes across the United States and Australia. Related service: Salesforce development (https://synconai.com/salesforce-development).