Top 7 Heroku alternatives to use in 2024.

Heroku, without any doubt, is leading the pack when it comes to PaaS. With the introduction of ‘free dynos’ in 2013, it became the first choice for the startup entrepreneur, students, and the app developers enthusiasts who wanted to develop MVP to test the waters.

Being a Platform as a Service, heroku allows the developers and web development company to focus on the actual logic implementation making it easy for developers to build, run, and manage applications entirely in the cloud. Heroku is a preferred choice even today due to the languages it supports viz. Ruby, JavaScript, PHP, Python, Java, and many more.

Some of the exception services provided by Heroku includes:

-?Dynos that scale both horizontally and vertically to handle increasing web traffic and performance demands.

-?Node.js, Ruby, Python, Java, PHP, Go, Scala, and support for many other languages.

-?Multiple types of dynos to address the web requests, run background tasks and asynchronous processes.

-?Add-ons which can be integrated into applications to enhance functionality.

-?The Auto-scaling feature automatically adjusts the number of dynos to match the app’s needs.

-?Heroku Pipelines allow for effective management of different stages of app development.

Heroku offers much more than the aforementioned. Want to migrate to Heroku?

Connect with Nimblechapps today.

Heroku stopped its free offering in 2022 in an attempt to curb the abuse of its free offerings in the form of mining bitcoins, crypto frauds, and other aspects. This made the genuine users shift to the paid plan. The cost constraint users started looking for alternatives to Heroku.

Now, let’s address the main topic of the blog: What are the Heroku alternatives?

1)?Fly.io : Run full-stack apps closer to users for reduced latency ensuring global deployment. Offers Firecracker microVMs that are lightweight and fast virtual machines for better performance.

2)?Render: Uses containerized deployment model. It is simplified with automated tasks like SSL certificates, domain management, and zero-downtime deployments. Custom domains are offered without any cost unlike Heroku. Includes SSL, custom domains, managed databases, background workers, and DDoS protection without needing third-party add-ons.

3)?Linode: Not a PaaS but, IaaS which offers raw virtual machines (VMs) or virtual private servers (VPS) for custom software deployments. Ideal for users who want full control over their server configuration and environment. Unlike Heroku, it requires technical know-how for handling servers. Cheaper than Heroku but requires manual handling.

4)?Vercel: Focuses on frontend and JAMstack applications. Specializes in hosting static websites and serverless functions. Initially built for Next.js, Vercel also supports frameworks like React, Vue.js, and Svelte. Vercel offers a free plan with essential features, making it ideal for small-scale web projects, unlike Heroku’s paid scaling options.

5)?Netlify: Focuses on frontend-heavy or static applications. Ideal for Jamstack, where the frontend is decoupled from the backend. Unlike Heroku, Netlify provides automatic SSL certificates and global CDN as standard features. Offers free plans with a solid set of features, making it easy to start projects compared to Heroku’s paid plans. Netlify is recommended by us as an alternative for Heroku and easily the first choice.

6)?Digital Ocean: Similar to Linode, it’s an IaaS. Offers virtual private servers, known as Droplets, alongside databases and object storage. Suitable for deploying virtual servers, databases, Docker containers, and Kubernetes clusters. Allows scaling through upgrading Droplets or adding resources manually.

7) Railway.app : Railway.app focuses on infrastructure-as-code, simplifying infrastructure management for developers. Provides auto-scaling, logs, and metrics without requiring manual setup. Unlike Heroku, Railway automatically adjusts resources based on traffic and workload, eliminating the need for manual scaling.

Heroku ‘was’ the first choice but, the new alternatives as listed above are gaining popularity as well in recent years. Learn more about alternatives to Heroku with Nimblechapps.

Looking to migrate from Heroku ?