Heroku is a cloud platform as a service (PaaS) that simplifies the process of deploying, managing, and scaling applications, making it an easy-to-use alternative to several AWS and GCP services.

Pricing

Salesforce Heroku offers four different pricing tiers, with a free trial also available for users to explore its features.

Things To Consider

AWS/GCP Alternatives

Replaces AWS EC2 and GCP Compute Engine for hosting applications with a simple, fully managed environment.
Replaces AWS Elastic Beanstalk and Google App Engine for automatic scaling and application management.
Offers a similar experience to AWS RDS and Google Cloud SQL for managed databases.

Comparison with AWS/GCP:

Compute (EC2/Compute Engine): With AWS EC2 or GCP Compute Engine, developers need to set up virtual machines, configure networking, and manage server security. In contrast, Heroku abstracts these tasks, allowing developers to deploy applications without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.
App Management (Elastic Beanstalk/App Engine): Elastic Beanstalk and Google App Engine both offer managed environments for application hosting, but Heroku simplifies the deployment process even further by automating infrastructure management, scaling, and deployment with less configuration.
Databases (RDS/Cloud SQL): While AWS RDS and Google Cloud SQL offer robust database services, Heroku’s managed PostgreSQL databases make database administration easier by automating backups and scaling, providing developers with a hassle-free experience.

G2 Ratings: 4

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Benefits

Ease of Use for Application Deployment: Heroku offers a fully managed platform that abstracts away the complexities of infrastructure management, providing an alternative to AWS EC2 or GCP Compute Engine. Developers can deploy apps by pushing code from Git without needing to configure servers, networking, or scaling options. Heroku automatically manages these details, making it ideal for developers who want to focus solely on building applications.
Auto Scaling: Similar to AWS Elastic Beanstalk and Google App Engine, Heroku automatically handles scaling based on traffic and resource demands. This feature allows applications to scale up or down seamlessly without the developer needing to configure auto-scaling policies or infrastructure.
Managed Databases: Heroku offers managed PostgreSQL databases, similar to AWS RDS and Google Cloud SQL, with built-in support for automatic backups, high availability, and scaling. This makes Heroku a strong alternative for developers who need database solutions without the complexity of managing servers.
Integrated Add-Ons: Heroku provides a marketplace of add-ons, much like AWS Marketplace, offering a variety of tools such as monitoring, analytics, and security services. These add-ons can be integrated into an application with just a few clicks, further simplifying infrastructure management.