Heroku vs IBM Public Cloud comparison

Heroku and IBM are both solutions in the PaaS Clouds category. Heroku is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.0, while IBM is ranked #15 with an average rating of 6.7. Heroku holds a 3.3% mindshare in PSP, compared to IBM’s 3.2% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of Heroku users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 83% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Heroku

Read 29 Heroku reviews

2,195 Views
1,997 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

IBM Public Cloud

Read 18 IBM Public Cloud reviews

2,759 Views
2,593 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

Heroku

IBM Public Cloud

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 15, 2024

Heroku and IBM Public Cloud are competing in the cloud service platform market. Heroku is known for simplicity and ease of use, while IBM Public Cloud stands out for its robust infrastructure and enterprise-level features.

Features: Heroku's valuable features include a seamless deployment process with multilingual support, easy scaling, and third-party integration focusing on developer experience. IBM Public Cloud offers a diverse range of services such as AI, IoT, data analytics, and strong security measures, highlighting its enterprise-grade capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Heroku can improve by enhancing its support for larger enterprise needs, offering more scalability options, and expanding its feature set to include better analytics tools. IBM Public Cloud could benefit by simplifying its deployment procedures, reducing the learning curve for new users, and addressing feedback regarding its pricing structure.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Heroku facilitates an easy deployment model allowing rapid application launches, suited for small to medium projects, with user-friendly service and support. IBM Public Cloud, while powerful and suited for complex enterprises, requires more learning and offers dedicated enterprise-level support services.

Pricing and ROI: Heroku offers a straightforward, affordable pricing model, ideal for startups with a focus on ROI through fast deployment. IBM Public Cloud has a reputation for higher costs but delivers significant ROI for businesses needing advanced features and scalability.

To learn more, read our detailed Heroku vs. IBM Public Cloud Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Heroku vs. IBM Public Cloud

July 2025

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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

Heroku

Ranking in PaaS Clouds

14th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

IBM Public Cloud

Ranking in PaaS Clouds

15th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IoT Platforms (6th)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the PaaS Clouds category, the mindshare of Heroku is 3.3%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Public Cloud is 3.2%, down from 4.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

PaaS Clouds Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Heroku	3.3%
IBM Public Cloud	3.2%
Other	93.5%

PaaS Clouds

Featured Reviews

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

Premnath Jaganathan

Product Manager at Uop Ipl

Affordability and security improve our cloud experience while learning new systems

I'm not working with any AI features in IBM Public Cloud, but they are in the process of building it.I am very satisfied with the security that IBM Public Cloud provides. I would rate IBM Public Cloud eight out of ten, where one is worst and ten is the best.

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

"The solution's most valuable feature is the auto maintenance of databases."

"The most valuable feature of Heroku is the continuous integration and applications it provides."

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

"Thanks to Heroku, we don't need to do as much direct management in AWS."

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

"I like the tool's scalability, CLI, and dashboards."

"We use Heroku to run generic data. We also use it for our customer development environment. It helps us to build and test websites."

"It is easy to deploy applications, and we don't need to bother about software updates on the server. We don't need to bother about machines, servers, and hardware. We only need to care about the system and functionality that we need or want to develop. They take care of everything else. It provides high availability. It is a pretty good solution that provides everything that we need. It has everything that we need to run our applications. We have many different applications, and we generate three million bills for a company in Brazil. We see more than a billion requests per day in another application. Everything works just fine, and it is very good."

More Heroku pros

"The most valuable feature of IBM Public Cloud is the AI integrations."

"This is a predictable and dependable service."

"One of the features that I really like about IBM Cloud is the flexibility where you can order your own hardware."

"The initial setup was very easy. It's quite straightforward. Deployment took about fifteen minutes. Everything is well organized."

"I've found the stability to be excellent. The performance is good."

"This product is very good because it is accessible in remote locations, and anyone can deploy from any place."

"The price of IBM Cloud is most valuable for us. The service is personable and gives us a good rapport. I can't say it's the best, but it was enough for our needs."

"The availability is second to none. Customer support is very good."

More IBM Public Cloud pros

Cons

"Heroku should increase its slug size limits."

"Heroku doesn't support Docker images on the CI infrastructure."

"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 would like to be notified when something goes wrong in the process. When something is not working, we should get an alert."

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

"The tool's configuration is complex."

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

More Heroku cons

"They do not have a very good virtual network implemented, and the VPC is the most important feature that needs to be improved."

"While they have about 99% of what we need, the only exception, perhaps, was the push notification feature that was discontinued. They delayed the replacement product."

"Normally, for any cloud, we get a lot of information on the web, but that is missing in the case of IBM Public Cloud. We need some technical support documents. That is the only thing missing in IBM Public Cloud."

"It could be more secure."

"The deployment can be a bit of a pain. There are a lot of packages and a lot of options and it can require complex configuration to get it right."

"They could improve on customizing reporting capabilities."

"The connectivity and speed of IBM Public Cloud are much lower compared to the competition."

"The solution’s pricing could be improved."

More IBM Public Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"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."

"The tool is free."

"IBM has a lesser price compared to other cloud service providers like Azure and AWS."

"In order to be competitive, you have to commit to a contract for at least one year, but you pay a fixed monthly fee."

"It pretty much has a standard price. There is no hidden price with IBM Public Cloud."

"IBM Public Cloud is pretty cheap. They have an ongoing free tier that basically won't expire, so as long as your solution is small enough, you can have a test set that you can use for demos, which will cost you almost nothing."

"Pricing is not as fair as Amazon or Azure."

"The price of IBM Cloud is very cheap compared to competitors AWS and Azure."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a nine out of ten."

"We are using the trial version of this solution, so we have not paid anything."

More IBM Public Cloud pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Educational Organization

University

16%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	12
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	4

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Heroku?

I like the tool's scalability, CLI, and dashboards.

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Heroku?

We use the solution for web applications and web APIs.

See all answers

Which is preferable - IBM Public Cloud or Microsoft Azure?

IBM Public Cloud is IBM’s Platform-as-a-Service. It aims to provide organizations with a secure cloud environment to manage data and applications. One of the features we like is the cloud activity ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Cloud?

The front end is not pervasive, so it is very difficult get the status of your current services or account from a mobile device.

See all answers

What do you like most about IBM Public Cloud?

The most valuable feature of IBM Public Cloud is the AI integrations.

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Azure vs Heroku

Compared 20% of the time

Pivotal Cloud Foundry vs Heroku

Compared 11% of the time

AWS Fargate vs Heroku

Compared 10% of the time

Amazon AWS vs Heroku

Compared 8% of the time

More Heroku Competitors

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) vs IBM Public Cloud

Compared 33% of the time

Microsoft Azure vs IBM Public Cloud

Compared 29% of the time

Amazon AWS vs IBM Public Cloud

Compared 17% of the time

Dell ObjectScale vs IBM Public Cloud

Compared 5% of the time

Amazon Lightsail vs IBM Public Cloud

Compared 2% of the time

More IBM Public Cloud Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Heroku

August 2025

Download Heroku product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM Public Cloud

August 2025

Download IBM Public Cloud product report

Also Known As

No data available

IBM Bluemix

Overview

Established in 2007, Heroku is a cloud application platform providing a streamlined, efficient place for web app developers to create and deploy their applications. Heroku is designed to maximize developer productivity. With the entire web application development process available on the Herokucloud, creating and rolling out web apps has been made more efficient, convenient, and cost-effective than ever before.

Heroku

IBM Cloud is a full-stack cloud platform that spans public, private and hybrid environments. Build with a robust suite of advanced data and AI tools, and draw on deep industry expertise to help you on your journey to the cloud.

IBM

Sample Customers

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

Uvionics Tech, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Alpha Modus, Inventive, Web Business Consulting, FindBrok, SilverHook Powerboats, United Way of Allegheny County

Buyer's Guide

Heroku vs. IBM Public Cloud

July 2025

Free Report: Heroku vs. IBM Public Cloud

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