Amazon AWS vs Heroku comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Heroku are both solutions in the PaaS Clouds category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.3, while Heroku is ranked #16. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 13.6% mindshare in PSP, compared to Heroku’s 2.8% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 87% of Heroku users who would recommend it.

Amazon AWS

Read 260 Amazon AWS reviews

44,835 Views
17,934 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Heroku

Read 29 Heroku reviews

3,798 Views
3,494 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

Amazon AWS

Heroku

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 15, 2024

Amazon AWS and Heroku are competing in the cloud services category. Amazon AWS has the upper hand due to its extensive deployment capabilities, high performance, and wide range of features.

Features: Amazon AWS includes comprehensive deployment features, exceptional load balancing, and robust security integrations, offering an extensive range of connectors. It supports numerous operating systems and programming models, providing flexibility and scalability for various applications. Heroku is recognized for its ease of use, fast deployment, and scalable solutions, supporting quick application development without needing infrastructure management.

Room for Improvement: Amazon AWS could improve its integration with other platforms, streamline its sorting model for simplicity, and reduce licensing costs. Enhancements in security features and cost transparency are also needed. Heroku users express concerns about pricing, limited free service options, and the requirement for more scalability. The platform lacks Docker CI integration, and daily restarts can be an issue for some users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Amazon AWS is known for its powerful deployment options and wide support across hybrid and public cloud models. Customer service is generally positive, though response times can be slower than some competitors. Heroku excels in deployment ease, offering rapid application implementation with minimal maintenance, focusing on public cloud functionality. Its support is good but could benefit from faster response times.

Pricing and ROI: Amazon AWS features a competitive pay-as-you-go model, noted for scalability, though transparency in cost predictions requires attention. Some users consider it expensive yet beneficial due to the lack of initial investments. Heroku's pricing is perceived as high at scale, although the free tier appeals to small-scale projects. AWS targets large-scale global infrastructure, while Heroku provides cost-effective options for swift deployments with minimal infrastructure management.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon AWS vs. Heroku Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon AWS vs. Heroku

September 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Amazon AWS

Ranking in PaaS Clouds

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

260

Ranking in other categories

Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) (2nd)

Heroku

Ranking in PaaS Clouds

16th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the PaaS Clouds category, the mindshare of Amazon AWS is 13.6%, up from 13.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Heroku is 2.8%, down from 3.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

PaaS Clouds Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Amazon AWS	13.6%
Heroku	2.8%
Other	83.6%

PaaS Clouds

Featured Reviews

Manojchekkilla Manojchekkilla

Data Analyst at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Cloud training has boosted my data analytics skills and simplifies building small projects

One area that could be improved in Amazon AWS is its learning curve. The large number of services and configuration options can be overwhelming, especially for new users. Understanding its pricing can also be challenging, as costs can add up unexpectedly if resources are not monitored carefully. For data analytics, setting up and integrating services such as S3, Glue, and Athena sometimes requires a good understanding of permissions, data formats, and service configurations. More guided, simplified onboarding for analytics use cases would make the platform more accessible. One additional area for improvement is documentation and service selection. Amazon AWS offers many services with overlapping capabilities, and it can sometimes be difficult for users to determine which service is the best fit for a particular use case. More decision support tools and guided recommendations would help reduce this complexity. From a data analytics perspective, cost visibility could also be improved since analytics workloads can scale quickly. Having more proactive cost forecasting and optimization recommendations would help teams manage budgets more effectively. Another challenging area is IAM and permission management. While Amazon AWS provides strong security controls, configuring permissions correctly can be complex, especially when multiple analytics services need to interact with one another. Simplifying permissions while maintaining security would enhance the overall user experience. The other area I would mention for improvement is the overall user experience. Given the huge number of services, which are truly excellent, it can sometimes feel overwhelming to navigate, especially for a new user that requires much training. A more streamlined interface and clearer recommendations between similar services would make it easier to get started. I would also like to see more built-in cost optimization guidance and cost management tools. Other than that, Amazon AWS is a very good and mature platform. Most of my feedback is about making it easier to learn, manage, and optimize rather than adding new capabilities.

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Cristian-Molina

Senior Developer at Go Coeupas

Has a quick development cycle and continuous integration

The initial setup is straightforward. Heroku integrates well. You only have to push the code, and it automatically deploys the new version. Whether you have permission depends on the application. Currently, I have one application that I deploy myself. I rate the initial setup a nine out of ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Using AWS is really helpful for saving costs."

"Amazon AWS is easy to use and in the past two years, I've never had any issues with scalability or stability."

"I am impressed with the solution's EC2 EKS."

"There is no downtime. The solution is reliable."

"AWS is stable and has provided a reliable infrastructure for my organization."

"I like AWS for its scalability, reliability, and availability, and it's much more mature and user-friendly compared to some other cloud providers. The learning curve and time for deployment are also shorter."

"The scalability of the product is the solution's most valuable feature."

"The storage on offer is excellent."

More Amazon AWS pros

"They solve most of our problems and we don't experience many issues with them."

"Valuable for us was the fast deployment. This means the time to market is improved without pain for developers."

"I like the operations of the product because it makes it easy to push a change and to deploy new things."

"One of the best things about Heroku is that it is very easy and straightforward to deploy an application."

"The platform is very Node.js-friendly, which is something that is important to us."

"Lots of integrations"

"The product is stable."

"Easy, fast, fun, and extendable."

More Heroku pros

Cons

"The solution could improve by being more secure."

"One thing that's a bit different is that we're still accustomed to speaking to someone directly. AWS doesn't offer that kind of support. It's only through bots."

"Scaling is an area that can be improved. For example, I would like to be able to change the amount of memory that is allocated to a server."

"While feasible, custom configuration will be more time consuming than standard, although we have not encountered many instances which required us to seek support or advice."

"Going through the chats has left me a little disappointed. It's taking far too long, and I have to come back with questions."

"The pricing could be adjusted to provide more advantages versus current on-premise solutions for business applications."

"Monitoring could be better IMHO. We currently hack together an extra monitoring piece into the puzzle for each project."

"You'll probably experience some sticker shock with AWS. You attempt to understand the cost, but you don't realize what you're paying until you get your first bill. I don't know if Amazon does that on purpose, but costs can get out of control quickly if you don't have someone who specializes in AWS cost management."

More Amazon AWS cons

"Plugins aren't cheap (Mailchimp is $1.5/1000 emails)."

"I had an issue recently where my site was down intermittently for unknown reasons. I posted a ticket and 5 days have gone by without any resolution."

"I think this solution would be improved if free demos were available indefinitely."

"Heroku should increase its slug size limits."

"We don't find the pipelines intuitive. The user experience could be better. Having to set up multiple apps, then a pipeline, seems like an overkill on the amount of work to do."

"The tool's configuration is complex."

"Their support is good, but they can improve their response time."

"It's pricing is a little high and could be lowered."

More Heroku cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's expensive."

"The pricing depends on the workload. For example, if your workload involves Windows technologies, AWS may not be the most cost-effective option. In that case, you might be better off with Azure."

"The price is good and licensing fees are paid on a monthly basis."

"The tool is expensive."

"The pricing is reasonable. It's not expensive, nor will it be cheap, but the free credits initially given provide leverage for new companies to start their businesses."

"It is not the cheapest one, but there is a good ratio between the quality of service and the pricing. Its price is good for me."

"The solution's pricing depends on your traffic since they charge you based on the traffic, not the servers. The price can go into many, many thousands depending on the traffic."

"Much faster than other solutions at a super low cost."

More Amazon AWS pricing and cost advice

"Its price is very good."

"There is a standard fee for a processing unit, they call them "dynos," and then you pay for add-ons."

"The price of Heroku could be less expensive."

"I rate the tool's pricing a three out of ten."

"The tool is free."

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Comparison Review

it_user8586

Engineer at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees

Aug 14, 2013

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Outsourcing Company

10%

Construction Company

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	131
Midsize Enterprise	48
Large Enterprise	120

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	23
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

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Comparisons

Akamai Connected Cloud (Linode) vs Amazon AWS

Compared 18% of the time

SAP Business Technology Platform vs Amazon AWS

Compared 7% of the time

Dell ObjectScale vs Amazon AWS

Compared 6% of the time

Microsoft Azure vs Amazon AWS

Compared 4% of the time

Alibaba Cloud vs Amazon AWS

Compared 3% of the time

More Amazon AWS Competitors

Google App Engine vs Heroku

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Azure vs Heroku

Compared 9% of the time

Render vs Heroku

Compared 8% of the time

Engine Yard Cloud vs Heroku

Compared 7% of the time

Konfigure vs Heroku

Compared 5% of the time

More Heroku Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Amazon AWS

October 2026

Download Amazon AWS product report

Buyer's Guide

Heroku

October 2026

Download Heroku product report

Also Known As

Amazon Web Services, AWS

No data available

Overview

Amazon AWS offers cloud services known for ease of use, scalability, and diverse services such as EC2, S3, and Lambda. Its pay-as-you-go pricing and robust security features make it a preferred choice for businesses managing growing demands efficiently.

Amazon AWS provides a comprehensive ecosystem with services like EC2 for computing, S3 for storage, and Lambda for serverless computing. It emphasizes scalability and quick resource provisioning, allowing businesses to handle IT workloads, host websites, and manage analytics seamlessly. AWS integrates a wide range of services, enhancing flexibility and reliability while offering robust security and automated management to streamline operations.

What are the most important features of Amazon AWS?

EC2: Offers scalable computing capacity in the cloud to manage business applications efficiently.
S3: Provides highly secure, durable, and scalable cloud storage solutions for data archiving and backup.
Lambda: Enables running code without provisioning or managing servers, improving application deployment.
Pricing: Employs a pay-as-you-go model, allowing cost-effective resource usage.
Security: Implements comprehensive security protocols to ensure data protection across services.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Scalability: Supports business growth by easily scaling resources according to demand.
Integration: Offers seamless integration capabilities with numerous services, enhancing operational flexibility.
Performance: Provides stable and reliable performance for critical IT workloads and applications.
Management: Features automated management tools that reduce overhead and improve deployment efficiency.

Amazon AWS is widely implemented across industries for cloud computing, infrastructure hosting, and data storage. Businesses in finance, healthcare, and technology sectors leverage AWS for running applications, hosting analytics databases, and deploying scalable solutions. By utilizing tools like EC2, S3, and Lambda, they ensure flexibility and security in infrastructure management and data applications, meeting diverse operational needs effectively.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Heroku offers fast deployment with ease of use and seamless integration capabilities, making it a preferred platform for developers needing reliable continuous integration and scalability.

Heroku is known for handling server-related tasks, allowing developers to concentrate on building application functionality. Its automatic database maintenance and powerful performance are key for projects using Node.js and Ruby on Rails. Users appreciate its simple application deployment and maintenance, supported by a diverse range of plugins. Beyond efficiency, its CLI and dashboards enable a straightforward user experience, essential for developers focused on production, staging, and development environments.

What are Heroku's key features?

Fast Deployment: Offers rapid application deployment with minimal setup.
Continuous Integration: Supports streamlined integration processes for development cycles.
Scalability: Easily scales applications to meet growing demand.
High Availability: Ensures applications remain online and responsive.
Automatic Database Maintenance: Provides hands-off management of database tasks.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Ease of Use: Simplifies complex tasks, allowing developers to focus on coding.
Integration Capabilities: Connects seamlessly with tools like GitHub for updates.
Performance: Delivers consistent, reliable application performance.
Development Flexibility: Supports Node.js, Ruby on Rails, and Docker environments.

Organizations use Heroku to deploy production servers and stage development environments. Educational apps and offsite backends benefit from its Docker support. E-commerce, mobile app development, and web apps leverage Heroku's ability to maintain rapid development cycles and manage server deployment efficiently.

Heroku

Sample Customers

Pinterest, General Electric, Pfizer, Netflix, and Nasdaq.

Facebook, UrbanDictionary, Code for America, Mailchimp, Rapportive, GitHub, TED, and Lyft.

Buyer's Guide

Amazon AWS vs. Heroku

September 2026

Free Report: Amazon AWS vs. Heroku

Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon AWS vs. Heroku and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.

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