Heroku Vs Netlify : Which is Better ? (2024)

Akhilesh Sharma

Platform as a service or PaaS is a widely used cloud computing service model relied upon by thousands of businesses on a global level. Using an agile and feature-rich platform to build one’s custom applications is a preferred approach for countless business owners.

Over the years, there has been a sharp increase in the variety of PaaS services available for consumers. Netlify and Heroku are two popular service providers with users across a diverse range of industry verticals

The competition in cloud computing sector is tremendous. One of the most important aspect of any cloud service is the abstraction that it presents to the users.

Heroku is a cloud platform as a service supporting several programming languages. One of the first cloud platforms, Heroku has been in development since June 2007, when it supported only the Ruby programming language, but now supports Java, Node.js, Scala, Clojure, Python, PHP, Go and many other languages.

Developers use Heroku to deploy, manage, and scale modern apps. Heroku’s platform is elegant, flexible, and easy to use, offering developers the simplest path to getting their apps to market.

Heroku runs applications in virtual systems that can be customized based on the requirement of clients. The virtual computer systems of Heroku are known as dynos. These can be modified anytime based on the changing needs of users. Heroku users can add more resources through horizontal or vertical scaling

Free and Hobby - Heroku offers a Free and Hobby plan that starts at $0. It is suitable for developers who are interested to deploy non-commercial applications, including MVPs, proof of concepts, and personal-type projects.
Production - The Production plan starts from $25 per month and the cost can go up based on additional requirements. This plan is suitable for organizations that are focused on creating business applications including APIs and web apps.
Advanced - Heroku offers an Advanced plan that starts at $250 for businesses with more sophisticated development and usability needs. It is well-suited for mission-specific applications with sophisticated feature sets and offers peak performance.
Enterprise - Heroku also offers an Enterprise package for users who are looking for customized pricing for their flexible requirements. This plan is best suited for large organizations that have greater demands for compliance, collaboration, and security.

Scalable
Simple
Secure

Netlify is a San Francisco-based cloud computing company that offers hosting and serverless backend services for web applications and static websites.

Netlify is an all-in-one platform for automating modern web projects. Replace your hosting infrastructure, continuous integration, and deployment pipeline with a single workflow. Integrate dynamic functionality like serverless functions, user authentication, and form handling as your projects grow.

Netlify specializes in cutting-edge web hosting and automation solutions for businesses. It enables users to set up websites instantly. Companies that have a Netlify account can begin hosting their website on the platform. Netlify lets users host websites by dragging and dropping components from their computers onto its web application, or by directly importing their Git repositories.

Netlify Pricing

Starter - The Starter Netlify package is free for individual use. It offers 100GB bandwidth/month, continuous deployment, and add-on access features.

Pro - The Pro package is priced at $19/month. It is a team-oriented package allowing 3 team members access to 400GB bandwidth/month, 1000 monthly build minutes, and several other features.

Business - The Business package is offered by Netlify for prices starting at $99 per month. It can be used by more than 5 team members, offers SLA-driven performance benefits, and upwards of 600GB bandwidth/month.

Ease of use and Simple pricing
Fast deployment .
Optimized assets
Continuous development

Netlify is focused towards frontend development
Heroku is focused towards backend developers
Netfliy is ideal for web projects
Heroku works with web and mobile apps
Netlify provides continuous integration out of the box
Heroku has the option to turn CI on

Both Netlify and Heroku are offered as a Platform where you can deploy your web apps, written in the language of your choice at affordable pricing. However, a closer look at their documentation and features shows that Netlify is geared more towards frontend developers and is ideal for static websites, where as Heroku has a more robust and functional backend support. You can launch apps written in Go, Scala, Ruby, PHP, Closure, Python and a few other popular languages directly on Heroku.

If you have a Backend heavy project you must go for Heroku otherwise go for Netlify .