How can I use my free allowance on Heroku?

Question

I have been playing around creating 'Hubot' a bot for HipChat. I deployed it to Heroku, and have been using the free dyno.

I don't have much experience with Heroku, but on the pricing page it says 'Must sleep 6 hours in a 24 hour period'. Is that forced, or can I go over the limit? It also says 'Sleeps after 30 mins of inactivity'.

Is that why Hubot comes with a 'keep alive url', to prevent inactivity, therefore causing me to be charged?

I am only experimenting, and don't want to accidentally start getting billed for using the service.

Answer 1

If you're using the free Heroku dynos, then yes -- the 6 hours of sleep will be 'forced' every day. You don't need to worry about getting charged for keeping your dyno awake, Heroku will just put it to sleep for you.