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Google App Engine vs Heroku comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 15, 2024

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

Google App Engine
Ranking in PaaS Clouds
9th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Heroku
Ranking in PaaS Clouds
14th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the PaaS Clouds category, the mindshare of Google App Engine is 2.2%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Heroku is 3.2%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
PaaS Clouds
 

Featured Reviews

OmkarPatil - PeerSpot reviewer
Simplifies app development process for businesses
The product simplifies app development processes since once the local development is completed, my company has a common configuration in place where we can specify the requirements to run an application, after which we need to do a one-click GCP deployment for the entire application. In general, the two offer managed deployment options, so we don't have to worry about deployment. In my company, we just configure the servers and check if anything needs to be containerized, after which GCP handles everything for us. A project where Google App Engine scalability was essential was when, recently, my company was involved with Golang to build a web application, after which deploying that application on Google App Engine was really easy. In my company, we also had a Django application in Python, and it was easy to deploy. As my company deals with small-scale projects, the automated scaling feature of Google App Engine is not something we thought about. I wouldn't recommend the product to others unless the potential end users use GCP and have a word with their vendors about their plans. One specific recommendation from me would be that the product's potential uses should stick with a particular vendor. If someone wants a product that is easy to deploy and scalable, then multiple options are available in the market. The product integrates very well with other Google solutions. I rate the overall solution a ten out of ten.
Cristian-Molina - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is simple to use. It is much simpler than AWS. It is also very powerful."
"The product's setup and deployment phases are easy."
"Seurity features - unauthorized individuals are unable to access certain applications."
"The zero infrastructure management is valuable, allowing me to focus on the code rather than the service."
"The most valuable features of Google App Engine include the ease of rolling back deployments when failures occur, the ability to track deployment times, and the feature to split traffic between different instances."
"The auto-scaling feature helped us significantly in our fast-paced environment where the number of users was increasing rapidly."
"I've found that all of the features are valuable, especially the shared drive and the ability for multiple people to use their documents at the same time."
"The initial setup is okay. It's not too complex. Deployment took about one day."
"Valuable for us was the fast deployment. This means the time to market is improved without pain for developers."
"The most valuable feature of Heroku is the continuous integration and applications it provides."
"I like the tool's scalability, CLI, and dashboards."
"What I found most valuable about this solution is that it's easy to use and integrate with GitHub actions."
"The platform is very Node.js-friendly, which is something that is important to us."
"The solution's most valuable feature is the auto maintenance of databases."
"Thanks to Heroku, we don't need to do as much direct management in AWS."
"One of the best things about Heroku is that it is very easy and straightforward to deploy an application."
 

Cons

"Google Cloud support for Google App Engine is very poor, with unresponsive and unaware agents. It took them almost a month to inform me that SSH is not possible with private instances."
"The areas of Google App Engine I would to see improved or enhanced in the future include expanding inbuilt support for more programming languages than the current limited options such as Python, Go, and Node, ideally adding support for languages such as Java."
"There are two versions of Google App Engine: flexible and standard versions. I think they can improve by having only one version."
"The support for the Indian region is not as good as compared to the support that is offered to the regions in Europe."
"There is limited customization because the sandbox environment restricts it."
"I am limited to sending a photo to five people. I want to be able to send a photo to many people, not just five."
"Some features of runtime don't work well in App Engine."
"The main drawback with Google App Engine's standard environment was its restrictions. We could not work with file systems, run shell scripts from the environment, or use WebSockets."
"Heroku doesn't support Docker images on the CI infrastructure."
"We have to do daily restarts of some processes, which is annoying, and the support for custom CI could be better."
"Heroku had an authentication problem a few months ago, but they solved it."
"They could flesh out some of their analytics a little more."
"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."
"I think this solution would be improved if free demos were available indefinitely."
"The pricing could be improved because scaling the database becomes costly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay the license yearly. It's about $6 a month, which is $72 a year per person, so it's about $500."
"If we don't know how to work with the tool, we might have some spikes in price."
"I would like to have more free application with it. Some of the applications, I am paying more for them. I think that they must be free."
"The price of Heroku could be less expensive."
"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."
"I rate the tool's pricing a three out of ten."
"The tool is free."
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Comparison Review

it_user8586 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 14, 2013
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Educational Organization
12%
University
7%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Educational Organization
9%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Google App Engine?
The product's setup and deployment phases are easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google App Engine?
Google App Engine's pricing seemed reasonable to my employer. However, I cannot make comparisons as I don't have experience with other managed services.
What needs improvement with Google App Engine?
While integrating Google App Engine with other services, I don't recall any specific challenges. The main drawback with Google App Engine's standard environment was its restrictions. We could not w...
What do you like most about Heroku?
I like the tool's scalability, CLI, and dashboards.
What needs improvement with Heroku?
I don't like that the web server crashes every day, every 24 hours. The pricing could be improved because scaling the database becomes costly. The Docker features are not great. You cannot use any ...
What is your primary use case for Heroku?
We use the solution for web applications and web APIs.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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Find out what your peers are saying about Google App Engine vs. Heroku and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.