Heroku’s Next Chapter Is Maintenance. Yours Shouldn’t Be

Heroku's recent shift to a "sustaining engineering" model signals the platform's move into maintenance mode, with no plans for future feature investments, prompting customers to reassess their reliance on it as the industry advances. While Heroku's current stability reassures users, the lack of innovation poses long-term risks, emphasizing the need for platforms that offer updated runtimes, security patches, and support for new frameworks. DigitalOcean positions itself as a viable successor, having already assisted customers with migrations since Heroku's 2022 changes, due to its architectural compatibility with Heroku's Cloud Native Buildpack model. DigitalOcean offers a comprehensive cloud platform with integrated infrastructure and an active roadmap, supporting a structured migration process that includes architectural inventory, managed database migration, and performance validation, with minimal code changes required. To facilitate transitions, DigitalOcean provides incentives such as three months free for new workloads and direct assistance for migrations with significant projected spending, aiming for a safe and deliberate migration process that prepares teams for long-term growth.