Heroku Dilemma: The Growing Startups' Journey

Heroku has long been favored by startups for its simplicity and ease of use, enabling quick application deployment without the need for extensive server management. However, as startups grow, they often encounter challenges with Heroku's limited flexibility, high costs, and scalability issues, prompting consideration of alternatives like AWS. Despite these downsides, many startups continue using Heroku due to its strong developer experience and the ability to swiftly deliver customer value without deeply investing in DevOps resources. The main reasons for migrating away from Heroku include its lack of control, rising expenses as businesses scale, limited scalability and resource options, and frequent outages, such as the notable incident on June 10, 2025. When choosing a new platform, startups prioritize security, developer experience, and support, among other factors, as they seek a more flexible and cost-effective solution that can sustain their growth.