Heroku vs Scalingo: What are the differences?

Introduction: In this article, we will compare the key differences between Heroku and Scalingo, two popular cloud platform-as-a-service (PaaS) providers that enable developers to deploy, manage, and scale their applications easily.

1. Pricing Models: One significant difference between Heroku and Scalingo lies in their pricing models. Heroku charges based on the number of dynos (containers) running your application, add-ons, and other resources utilized. On the other hand, Scalingo offers a simpler pricing model, where users pay only for the resources (CPU, RAM, storage) they consume. Scalingo's pricing structure allows for more flexibility and cost control, especially for applications with varying resource needs.

2. Deployment Process: Heroku provides a streamlined deployment process that is heavily focused on Git integration. Developers can deploy their applications by simply pushing code changes to a Git repository linked to Heroku. In contrast, Scalingo supports more deployment options, including Git deployment, Docker-based deployment, and Continuous Deployment with integrations to popular CI/CD tools. This flexibility in deployment methods is advantageous for teams using different workflows or requiring more control over their deployment process.

3. Platform Flexibility: While both platforms are designed to support a variety of programming languages and frameworks, Heroku has a broader ecosystem with official support for more languages, including Ruby, Node.js, Python, and Java. Scalingo, although it supports several popular languages like Ruby, Python, and Go, does not have as extensive a language support as Heroku. Therefore, the choice between the two platforms may depend on the specific programming language requirements of the application.

4. Scaling Capabilities: When it comes to scaling applications, Heroku provides flexible vertical scaling options, allowing users to easily increase or decrease the resources dedicated to an application dyno. They also offer Horizontal Scaling through load balancing for better performance. On the other hand, Scalingo provides both vertical and horizontal scaling capabilities but with a more automated approach. Scalingo automatically scales the resources allocated to an application based on its needs, ensuring optimal performance and resource efficiency.

5. Ease of Use: Heroku is known for its simplicity and ease of use. It provides an intuitive web-based interface and a command-line interface (CLI) that make it effortless to manage applications, scale resources, and monitor performance. Scalingo also offers a user-friendly interface, but it goes a step further by providing a full-featured API and a powerful CLI tool that allows for advanced automation and integration possibilities. The additional automation capabilities of Scalingo make it a preferred choice for teams that rely heavily on infrastructure-as-code and want to streamline their workflows.

6. Third-Party Integrations: Heroku has a rich ecosystem of add-ons, which are pre-built services that can easily be integrated into an application, such as databases, log management tools, and monitoring services. Scalingo also offers third-party integrations, but its add-on marketplace is not as extensive as Heroku's. This can be a consideration for teams that heavily rely on specific add-ons or prefer a wider range of options for integrating additional services into their applications.

In Summary, Heroku and Scalingo have their unique strengths and differences. Heroku offers a wider language support, Git-focused deployment, and a rich add-on ecosystem, while Scalingo provides a more flexible and cost-effective pricing model, multiple deployment options, automatic scaling, advanced automation capabilities, and a powerful CLI tool. The choice between the two platforms would depend on specific requirements, preferences, and priorities of the development team.