Heroku Status: How to Check If Heroku Is Down Right Now (2026)
Updated June 2026 · 5 min read · By API Status Check
Quick Answer: Check Heroku Status Now
Heroku pioneered the Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) model and remains a widely-used deployment platform for web apps, APIs, and background workers — especially teams migrating legacy Node.js, Ruby, Python, and Java applications. When Heroku goes down, production apps, scheduled jobs, and add-on databases all go with it. This guide explains how to check Heroku status and separate platform-level incidents from application-specific issues.
Understanding Heroku's Status Page (status.heroku.com)
Heroku operates status.heroku.com — its official status page. Heroku tracks infrastructure components separately by function and region, so a routing issue doesn't necessarily mean dynos are affected.
Runtime
Heroku's dyno formation — the containers that run your app processes. Runtime incidents cause dynos to crash, fail to start, or restart unexpectedly. This is the most critical component for running apps.
Router
Heroku's HTTP router that routes incoming requests to the correct dynos. Router incidents cause slow response times, increased 503 errors, or failed request routing for all Heroku-hosted apps.
API
Heroku's management API used by the CLI, Dashboard, and integrations. API issues prevent deploys, config var updates, and dyno scaling — but running dynos typically continue serving traffic.
CI
Heroku CI, the continuous integration service. CI failures stop automated test runs from executing but don't affect running production dynos or deployed apps.
Add-ons
Third-party add-on services (Heroku Postgres, Redis, Scheduler, etc.). Add-on status is often tracked separately — check the specific add-on's own status page for database-level outages.
Dashboard
Heroku's web dashboard at dashboard.heroku.com. Dashboard issues prevent config changes and log viewing — but dynos and routers continue operating independently.
What Heroku Status Colors Mean
⚠️ Heroku Platform Status vs. Your App Status
Heroku's status page shows platform health, not your individual app health. If your app is down while status.heroku.com shows green, the issue is almost certainly in your app: a crash loop, OOM kill, bad deploy, or missing environment variable. Run heroku logs --tail --app your-app-name immediately — this is the single fastest way to diagnose Heroku app downtime.
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status.heroku.com (Official)
Heroku's official status page, maintained by Salesforce/Heroku's engineering team. Shows per-component status with incident history and post-mortems. Can lag 10–20 minutes behind real incidents during fast-moving outages.
Check status.heroku.com →API Status Check (Independent)
Independent third-party monitoring that checks Heroku's infrastructure endpoints separately from Heroku's own reporting. Useful for confirming platform-wide issues.
Check independent Heroku status →heroku logs --tail (App Logs)
For app-specific issues, the Heroku CLI gives direct access to your dyno logs in real time. Run `heroku logs --tail --app your-app-name` to see crashes, errors, and restart reasons immediately.
Heroku logging docs →X / Twitter (Search)
Search 'Heroku down' or '#heroku' on X. Developer communities report PaaS outages quickly — often before official acknowledgment, especially for regional issues.
Search X for 'heroku down' →@HerokuStatus on X
Heroku maintains a dedicated @HerokuStatus account on X for incident announcements and updates. Following this account gives you push notifications for Heroku outages directly in your timeline.
Follow @HerokuStatus →Common Heroku Issues and What They Mean
"H10 - App Crashed"Your dyno crashed on startup. The most common Heroku error. Check logs for the startup error — usually a missing environment variable, a failed database migration, or a syntax error in your code preventing the process from starting."H12 - Request Timeout"Your app didn't respond within 30 seconds. Not a Heroku platform issue — your dyno is receiving requests but too slow to respond. Common causes: slow database queries, unoptimized endpoints, or sleeping free dynos waking up (free dynos sleep after 30 min of inactivity)."R14 - Memory Quota Exceeded"Your dyno is using more RAM than its quota allows (512MB for Standard-1X, 1GB for Standard-2X). Heroku will log this warning and may swap to disk. Fix by optimizing memory usage or upgrading to a larger dyno tier."H13 - Connection Closed Without Response"Your dyno accepted a connection but didn't send a complete HTTP response. Typically caused by a crash mid-request or a web process that doesn't properly close responses. Check your app's request handling logic."Deploy fails: "No default language could be detected""Heroku's buildpack can't identify your app's language. Add a Procfile, specify a buildpack with `heroku buildpacks:set`, or ensure your language-specific files exist (package.json for Node.js, Gemfile for Ruby, requirements.txt for Python)."Slug size too large (over 500MB)"Heroku has a 500MB slug size limit. Large node_modules, compiled assets, or test fixtures bloat slugs. Add unnecessary directories to .slugignore (similar to .gitignore). Use CDNs for large static assets."Add-on (Postgres/Redis) connection errors"Heroku Postgres and Redis have their own status independent of the main platform. Check addons.heroku.com for add-on-specific status. Also verify your DATABASE_URL or REDIS_URL config vars are still set — they can change after certain maintenance operations.Heroku Outage History: What the Data Shows
Heroku runs on AWS infrastructure (primarily us-east-1 and eu-west-1), which means AWS incidents in those regions can affect Heroku. Heroku is a Salesforce product, and infrastructure investment has been mixed since the 2022 acquisition. The router and runtime components have historically been the most frequent incident sources. Notable incidents include a multi-hour US routing outage in late 2023 that affected thousands of apps. Heroku maintains detailed post-mortems at status.heroku.com/history for major incidents.
What to Do When Heroku Is Down
If Your Dyno Is Crashing
- Run
heroku logs --tail --app your-app - Look for H10, R14, or application-level errors
- Check all required config vars are set:
heroku config - Try rolling back:
heroku releases:rollback - Restart dynos:
heroku dyno:restart
If Deployment Is Failing
- Check build logs in Heroku Dashboard → Activity
- Verify Procfile exists with correct process types
- Check .slugignore to reduce slug size if over limit
- Test locally with
heroku local - Check API status at status.heroku.com for platform issues
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the official Heroku status page?
Heroku's official status page is status.heroku.com. It shows real-time status for the Runtime, Router, API, CI, Add-ons, and Dashboard. You can subscribe to email or RSS updates to receive notifications when incidents are posted and resolved.
My Heroku app is down but status.heroku.com shows operational — why?
The status page shows platform health, not your individual app health. If your app is down while Heroku shows green, run `heroku logs --tail --app your-app-name` immediately. The most common causes are H10 app crashes (startup error), R14 memory quota exceeded, or H12 request timeouts — none of which appear on Heroku's platform status page.
Why do Heroku free dynos sleep?
Heroku free dynos (deprecated in 2022 — now Eco dynos at $5/month) sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity to conserve resources. When a new request comes in, the dyno wakes up which causes a 10–30 second delay. This is not a platform outage — it's expected behavior. Upgrade to Basic or Standard dynos to avoid sleep.
How long do Heroku outages usually last?
Heroku incidents vary significantly by component. Router incidents can resolve in 30–60 minutes. Runtime incidents affecting dyno formation may take 1–3 hours. Major infrastructure incidents tied to AWS us-east-1 can last several hours in worst cases. Heroku's @HerokuStatus X account is the fastest way to get real-time updates.
How do I monitor my Heroku app uptime?
Use external uptime monitoring like Better Stack or API Status Check Alert Pro. Heroku's status page tracks platform health — it won't alert you if your specific dyno crashes. Add a health check endpoint (GET /health returning HTTP 200) and point your monitoring tool at it. This catches application-level issues that the platform status page never shows.
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