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Heroku vs Microsoft Azure: What are the differences?
Introduction
Heroku and Microsoft Azure are both cloud computing platforms that offer a wide range of services for developers and businesses. However, they have some key differences that set them apart from each other. In this article, we will discuss the main differences between Heroku and Microsoft Azure.
Pricing Model: One of the key differences between Heroku and Microsoft Azure is their pricing model. Heroku follows a more simplified pricing structure, where you pay for the resources you need without having to worry about infrastructure management. On the other hand, Microsoft Azure offers a more flexible pricing model with a variety of options based on usage, including pay-as-you-go, reserved instances, and enterprise agreements. This allows businesses to choose the most cost-effective option based on their specific needs.
Supported Languages and Frameworks: Heroku is primarily focused on supporting popular programming languages and frameworks like Ruby, Python, Node.js, and Java. It provides a simple and streamlined platform for developers working with these technologies. On the other hand, Microsoft Azure offers support for a much wider range of programming languages, including C#, Java, Python, Ruby, Node.js, PHP, and more. It also provides extensive tools and frameworks for developers working with Microsoft technologies.
Scalability and Performance: Heroku provides an easy-to-use scaling mechanism that allows developers to scale their applications vertically by adding more resources such as dynos or horizontally by adding more instances. However, it has some limitations in terms of scalability and performance, especially for resource-intensive applications. On the other hand, Microsoft Azure offers a highly scalable and performant infrastructure with features like auto-scaling, load balancing, and virtual machine scale sets. This makes it an ideal choice for applications that require high scalability and performance.
Integration with Developer Tools: Heroku provides seamless integration with popular developer tools like Git, GitHub, and Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) tools. It simplifies the deployment process and makes it easy for developers to manage their applications from within their preferred development environment. Microsoft Azure, on the other hand, offers its own set of developer tools and services like Azure DevOps, Visual Studio, and GitHub Actions. These tools provide an integrated development and deployment experience for developers working with Microsoft technologies.
Databases and Data Management: Heroku offers support for a limited set of databases including PostgreSQL, MySQL, and Redis. While it provides a simple and easy-to-use database-as-a-service (DBaaS) solution, the choices are limited compared to Microsoft Azure. Microsoft Azure offers a wide range of database options including Azure SQL Database, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, Azure Database for MySQL, and more. It also provides tools and services for managing data at scale, such as Azure Data Factory, Azure Data Lake, and Azure SQL Data Warehouse.
Service Offerings: Heroku primarily focuses on providing a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solution, where developers can deploy and manage their applications without having to worry about infrastructure management. It abstracts away much of the underlying infrastructure and provides a streamlined experience for developers. On the other hand, Microsoft Azure offers a comprehensive range of service offerings including Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and Function-as-a-Service (FaaS). This allows businesses to choose the most suitable service model based on their requirements.
In summary, Heroku and Microsoft Azure differ in terms of pricing model, supported languages and frameworks, scalability and performance, integration with developer tools, databases and data management options, and service offerings. Businesses and developers should evaluate their specific needs and requirements before choosing between these two cloud computing platforms.
We are preparing to deploy a MERN-stack application (PWA) for a client. The app will be a public-facing real estate platform for listing, buying, and selling homes. While presenting a user experience much like a website, it retains the scalability and functionality of a web application.
I am weighing the pros and cons of using Microsoft Azure over Heroku, especially now that Heroku no longer supports mLAB for connecting Mongo databases. See more Suggestions and feedback always welcome.
Meanwhile I migrated away from Azure and Heroku to DigitalOcean. Reasons are high cost of both compared to DigitalOcean, cumbersome usability on Azure and limited stack flexibilty on Heroku. 4 month after the move we are still happy with the decision.
Even if the integration is no longer available on Heroku, you can still startup a MongoDB hosted database and deploy it on one of the regions that Heroku uses for good latency (e.g. AWS Oregon for North America) https://www.dropbox.com/s/k2y2xbpoy95b09l/Pasted_Image_9_14_20__11_55_PM.png?dl=0
I really like how simple the Heroku interface is, how reliant their services are, and in general how great their CLI tools work.
The Azure control panel has grown to a point where it's very convoluted, and in general it's a bit more expensive than the rest. They also stopped their entrepreneur incentive program (Spark?) so there's little incentive to start something new on it.
Depending on what I'm building I usually go for: a) Vercel + Serverless functions if it's a React SPA b) Heroku, for NodeJS/Express + Postgress + Any FE framework you like c) DigitalOcean if I need full control of the server
That said... if latency is REALLY important then go with Azure. If you have tradeoffs, go for the ones that make your customer's experience better, even if you're annoyed at Azure's interface, or have to pay a few extra bucks
Hope that helps
This decision is a follow-up to my previous request for advice
We ultimately decided to use Heroku for the production build of the full-stack web application we built for Ormica LLC. React.js, Node.js, Express.js
The deployment had its share of issues; all of these I experienced firsthand. It would seem that Heroku takes a stricter view than even most development environments to the slightest syntax issue or the tiniest bug. Not to mention their engineers are unavailable on weekends, even if you are using a paid subscription, which I found quite surprising.
But, as I have before, I will again give credit to their documentation for being extremely detailed and intuitive. Additional credit goes to Mars Hall for the use of his trusty heroku-cra-node template as the baseline for the application.
At the end of the day, I still recommend Heroku for their thorough documentation, infallible uptime, and extensive plugin options.
Just be aware that if you missed anything in your code, the Heroku build engine is going to find it for you. Every. single. time. Which, from an objective point of view, is actually a good thing. Thanks for reading!
I'm transitioning to Render from heroku. The pricing scale matches my usage scale, yet it's just as easy to deploy. It's removed a lot of the devops that I don't like to deal with on setting up my own raw *nix box and makes deployment simple and easy!
Clustering I don't use clustering features at the moment but when i need to set up clustering of nodes and discoverability, render will enable that where Heroku would require that I use an external service like redis.
Restarts The restarts are annoying. I understand the reasoning, but I'd rather watch my service if its got a memory leak and work to fix it than to just assume that it has memory leaks and needs to restart.
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
Pros of Microsoft Azure
- Scales well and quite easy114
- Can use .Net or open source tools96
- Startup friendly81
- Startup plans via BizSpark73
- High performance62
- Wide choice of services38
- Low cost32
- Lots of integrations32
- Reliability31
- Twillio & Github are directly accessible19
- RESTful API13
- PaaS10
- Enterprise Grade10
- Startup support10
- DocumentDB8
- In person support7
- Free for students6
- Service Bus6
- Virtual Machines6
- Redis Cache5
- It rocks5
- Storage, Backup, and Recovery4
- Infrastructure Services4
- SQL Databases4
- CDN4
- Integration3
- Scheduler3
- Preview Portal3
- HDInsight3
- Built on Node.js3
- Big Data3
- BizSpark 60k Azure Benefit3
- IaaS3
- Backup2
- Open cloud2
- Web2
- SaaS2
- Big Compute2
- Mobile2
- Media2
- Dev-Test2
- Storage2
- StorSimple2
- Machine Learning2
- Stream Analytics2
- Data Factory2
- Event Hubs2
- Virtual Network2
- ExpressRoute2
- Traffic Manager2
- Media Services2
- BizTalk Services2
- Site Recovery2
- Active Directory2
- Multi-Factor Authentication2
- Visual Studio Online2
- Application Insights2
- Automation2
- Operational Insights2
- Key Vault2
- Infrastructure near your customers2
- Easy Deployment2
- Enterprise customer preferences1
- Documentation1
- Security1
- Best cloud platfrom1
- Easy and fast to start with1
- Remote Debugging1
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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
Cons of Microsoft Azure
- Confusing UI7
- Expensive plesk on Azure2
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