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Google Cloud Functions vs Heroku: What are the differences?
Google Cloud Functions vs Heroku
Google Cloud Functions and Heroku are two popular platforms for deploying and running applications. While both offer similar functionalities, there are several key differences between them.
Scalability and Infrastructure: One major difference between Google Cloud Functions and Heroku is the scalability and underlying infrastructure. Google Cloud Functions is built on a serverless architecture, which means it automatically scales up or down based on demand, allowing for efficient resource utilization. In contrast, Heroku uses a more traditional infrastructure where you need to manually configure and allocate resources.
Pricing and Billing: Another important difference is the pricing and billing model. Google Cloud Functions has a pay-as-you-go pricing model, where you are billed based on the number of invocations and the resources used during the execution. On the other hand, Heroku offers a variety of pricing plans that are based on the number of dynos (containerized application instances) and additional addons.
Supported Languages and Runtimes: Google Cloud Functions supports a wide range of programming languages including Node.js, Python, and Java. It also provides the flexibility to bring your own runtime and environment. Heroku, on the other hand, supports a broader range of languages, including Ruby, PHP, and Go, and provides a more comprehensive set of language-specific buildpacks and addons.
Deployment Options: Google Cloud Functions offers a variety of deployment options, including direct code deployment, integration with Cloud Source Repositories, and deployment through the command-line interface. Heroku also provides multiple deployment options, but it focuses more on Git-based deployments, allowing you to deploy code directly from your Git repo.
Integration and Ecosystem: Google Cloud Functions is tightly integrated with other Google Cloud services, such as Firebase, BigQuery, and Cloud Pub/Sub, providing a seamless experience for developing and integrating distributed systems. Heroku, on the other hand, has its own ecosystem and marketplace of addons, which can be easily integrated into your application for added functionalities.
Managed Services and DevOps: Google Cloud Functions is a fully managed serverless platform, which means that you don't need to worry about infrastructure setup, patching, or scaling. It abstracts away the underlying infrastructure and provides automatic scaling and fault tolerance. Heroku also offers a managed platform, but it provides more control over the infrastructure and configuration, allowing for more advanced DevOps practices.
In summary, Google Cloud Functions and Heroku differ in terms of scalability, pricing, supported languages, deployment options, integration, and underlying infrastructure. The choice between them depends on your specific requirements, application needs, and familiarity with the respective platforms.
Run cloud service containers instead of cloud-native services
- Running containers means that your microservices are not "cooked" into a cloud provider's architecture.
- Moving from one cloud to the next means that you simply spin up new instances of your containers in the new cloud using that cloud's container service.
- Start redirecting your traffic to the new resources.
- Turn off the containers in the cloud you migrated from.
Pros of Google Cloud Functions
- Serverless Applications7
- Its not AWS5
- Simplicity4
- Free Tiers and Trainging3
- Simple config with GitLab CI/CD2
- Built-in Webhook trigger1
- Typescript Support1
- Blaze, pay as you go1
- Customer Support1
Pros of Heroku
- Easy deployment703
- Free for side projects459
- Huge time-saver374
- Simple scaling348
- Low devops skills required261
- Easy setup190
- Add-ons for almost everything174
- Beginner friendly153
- Better for startups150
- Low learning curve133
- Postgres hosting48
- Easy to add collaborators41
- Faster development30
- Awesome documentation24
- Simple rollback19
- Focus on product, not deployment19
- Natural companion for rails development15
- Easy integration15
- Great customer support12
- GitHub integration8
- Painless & well documented6
- No-ops6
- I love that they make it free to launch a side project4
- Free4
- Great UI3
- Just works3
- PostgreSQL forking and following2
- MySQL extension2
- Security1
- Able to host stuff good like Discord Bot1
- Sec0
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Cons of Google Cloud Functions
- Node.js only1
- Typescript Support0
- Blaze, pay as you go0
Cons of Heroku
- Super expensive27
- Not a whole lot of flexibility9
- No usable MySQL option7
- Storage7
- Low performance on free tier5
- 24/7 support is $1,000 per month2