Google Cloud vs Heroku comparison

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Google Cloud

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 15, 2024

Heroku and Google Cloud are competing products in the platform-as-a-service and cloud computing markets. Google Cloud has the advantage in scalability and features, aligning it with enterprises needing advanced solutions, whereas Heroku is favored by startups for its simplicity and affordability.

Features: Heroku's features include seamless integration with multiple programming languages, an app-centric approach, and continuous integration capabilities. In contrast, Google Cloud provides robust infrastructure capabilities, advanced machine learning tools, and a comprehensive global network.

Room for Improvement: Heroku could enhance its scalability and offer more detailed customization options to attract more extensive user bases. Additionally, expanding its enterprise-level features would better cater to larger organizations. Google Cloud could improve its user complexity by simplifying deployment processes. Lowering pricing complexity and offering more beginner-friendly resources would be beneficial. Further enhancements in customer support could also help.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Heroku simplifies deployment with its automated model and responsive customer support ideal for rapid launches. Google Cloud offers a complex deployment model with multiple custom options, supported by detailed documentation and extensive advanced support plans.

Pricing and ROI: Heroku offers competitive and predictable pricing, advantageous for budget-conscious teams which results in satisfactory ROI for smaller projects. Google Cloud features a complex pricing structure with scalable options that deliver high ROI for larger organizations, thanks to its comprehensive service offerings. The key difference lies in Heroku's predictable, lower-cost model versus Google Cloud's flexible pricing tailored for extensive use.

To learn more, read our detailed Google Cloud vs. Heroku Report (Updated: February 2026).

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Google Cloud vs. Heroku

February 2026

Helped 881,707 peers since 2012

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 Cloud

Ranking in PaaS Clouds

4th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) (4th)

Heroku

Ranking in PaaS Clouds

13th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the PaaS Clouds category, the mindshare of Google Cloud is 4.5%, down from 7.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Heroku is 3.5%, up from 2.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

PaaS Clouds Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Google Cloud	4.5%
Heroku	3.5%
Other	92.0%

PaaS Clouds

Featured Reviews

Saurav Singh

Technology Manager at Publicis Sapient

Integration with Kubernetes and flexibility improve our application deployment process

The logging could be improved; there's currently no intuitive way to filter logs on the Google console, especially for individuals who are not familiar with query languages. Our non-technical users find it difficult to access logs. Additionally, the user interface could be more user-friendly and intuitive compared to our previous experience with AWS.

Read full review

Faizan Haider

Senior Software Engineer at Aldaim Solutions

Used for server deployment and provides auto maintenance of databases

Heroku is deployed on the cloud. We can deploy our private and public projects over at Heroku. Most of the time, when we are starting any new project from scratch, we have to implement our MVP for that project or the core idea. We are unsure how our traffic flow will go or the actual production environment requirements. We don't want to spend the most on the server sites, so then we can use it with our go-to plan for Heroku, and all the resources are available in the basic plan with the minimum expenses. So, it helps us to deploy and make our features available online at the minimum cost. Once we know our needs, we can add the professional add-ons and shift it to another platform. Heroku supports any resource listed in the marketplace. We just have to deploy our AI solutions, and Heroku can also support AI projects. I would recommend the solution to other users. I advise users not to purchase extra add-ons but to make scalable resources so that they can use all the resources efficiently. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's easy to deploy next-generation applications on Google Cloud. Customers can also use various cloud tools to optimize their operations and generate more insights to do business much smarter."

"There is no downtime. It is very reliable."

"The availability of content on the solution is very valuable."

"I find Google Cloud to be more manageable and cost-effective compared to other solutions, offering good availability and scalability."

"The stability is good with Google Cloud."

"Google Cloud is a good alternative solution. I think it's a better fit for Mac operating systems than Windows. If you're utilizing Google Cloud for something like big data, then their big query is decent."

"Most recently, we implemented a data science agent for querying data using natural language, beyond that, it primarily relates to the cost effectiveness of data warehouse running costs versus competitors such as Snowflake."

"The stability of Google Cloud is currently good."

More Google Cloud pros

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

"The product is stable."

"What I found most valuable about this solution is that it's easy to use and integrate with GitHub actions."

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

"It's easy to push a change and to deploy new things."

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

"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."

More Heroku pros

Cons

"As a new product, the product's initial setup phase is a little bit difficult."

"The performance after long-term use shows the storage is too full, and I cannot add more storage without paying for it."

"It would be nice if they could offer more free storage."

"Google Cloud could improve by having better integration with other platforms."

"The solution could be a bit cheaper."

"An area of improvement could be the release of products prior to general availability not being performant, as releasing to private preview occurs too soon before products are ready."

"Monitoring and usage reporting could be improved."

"I would like to see more code generation features that enable you to take user input in simple English and automatically convert it to code."

More Google Cloud cons

"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."

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

"We have to do daily restarts of some processes, which is annoying, and the support for custom CI could be better."

"Heroku should increase its slug size limits."

"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."

More Heroku cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We approached Google Cloud with certain cost assumptions but were surprised to find that our actual expenses were higher than expected. Initially, we had anticipated spending a set amount on the solution, but in reality, we ended up spending more than that. It would be helpful to have greater transparency and educational documentation on the cost-related aspects of Google Cloud."

"Google Cloud could be cheaper."

"The licensing cost is based on the capacity we use."

"Google Cloud is quite expensive, and I rate it at seven out of ten."

"We use the NGO version so the cloud reasonably priced at $2 to $3 per month."

"It's not really an expensive solution, but it would be better if there were more flexibility in the pricing model."

"For commercial purposes, users need to pay for the products they use on a workload basis, not a license basis. There are two pricing models: fixed monthly and pay-as-you-go. In the pay-as-you-go model, users pay for the resources they use, while in the fixed monthly model, they have 24/7 access to resources for a set monthly fee."

"Google Cloud is on the expensive side for us. I don't have exact figures on the cost per year or month."

More Google Cloud pricing and cost advice

"The tool is free."

"The price of Heroku could be less expensive."

"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."

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881,707 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Comms Service Provider

University

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

10%

University

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	42
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	32

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

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Google Cloud?

Google Cloud is perceived as a cost-effective and user-friendly option, especially compared to AWS. The current affordability and ease of use make it suitable for medium-sized companies. While the ...

What needs improvement with Google Cloud?

Better discounting and discount offers, especially for long-running servers, would be a very good option. A localized cloud in the MENA region would also be very important for us because we are ope...

What is your primary use case for Google Cloud?

We are using Google Cloud Kubernetes service. We are using Cloud Build. We are using the PostgreSQL managed service. We are hosting our software platform on Google Cloud. We are using Kubernetes to...

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.

Alibaba Cloud vs Google Cloud

Comparisons

Compared 21% of the time

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) vs Google Cloud

Compared 9% of the time

Akamai Connected Cloud (Linode) vs Google Cloud

Compared 7% of the time

Microsoft Azure vs Google Cloud

Compared 6% of the time

Red Hat OpenShift vs Google Cloud

Compared 6% of the time

More Google Cloud Competitors

Amazon AWS vs Heroku

Compared 14% of the time

Microsoft Azure vs Heroku

Compared 12% of the time

Render vs Heroku

Compared 11% of the time

Google App Engine vs Heroku

Compared 9% of the time

Salesforce Platform vs Heroku

Compared 4% of the time

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Product Reports

Download Google Cloud product report

Google Cloud

January 2026

Download Heroku product report

January 2026

Overview

Google Cloud is an Infrastructure as a Service Cloud (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) solution that provides infrastructure tools and services for building applications on top of a public cloud computing platform. As one of the leading global infrastructures, this product allows users to securely manage enterprise data, receive valuable insights, and store documents. Google Cloud provides its various services through tools and services for data warehousing, security key enforcement, application programming interface (API) management, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML).

The use cases of Google Cloud can be divided into four main categories:

Big data
Compute
Services
Storage

The solution is utilized by organizations of all sizes and industries, as it is suitable for the following purposes:

Running and building applications: Google Cloud lets businesses run and build their applications anywhere because of its commitment to open-source, hybrid, and multi-cloud. This can accelerate development time as businesses avoid vendor lock-in.
Data insight: Google Cloud provides companies with advanced ML and analytics for their data. This can facilitate business decisions and improve work processes, as every team member can have access to data reports via this solution.
Security: Utilizing Google's technology, this solution helps users protect and defend their data and applications against threats and harmful activities.
Team collaboration: Google Cloud offers companies advanced collaboration features. They can integrate email, chat, video calling, and document collaboration all in one place when using this platform.

Google Cloud Features

Google Cloud offers multiple features for its clients. Some of these include:

Big data features: The solution offers full big data services through tools such as BigQuery and Google Cloud Dataflow. These tools allow users to process large data queries as well as create, monitor, and receive reports from data processing pipelines.
Containers: The solution offers containers, which allow users to speed up deployment and scale applications.
Cloud debugger: This feature allows users to debug code during the production process. In this way, businesses are able to locate issues early in the code and fix them before deploying the application.
Cloud save: This feature provides the ability to synchronize cloud-stored data across all devices an organization is supporting. Through it, users can save and retrieve information and maintain all data copies up to date.
Cloud trace: This Google Cloud feature allows users to detect the reasons for performance bottlenecks and fix the issues. It also provides users with information on the time their product takes to process certain requests, allowing them to follow performance more closely.
Hosting features: The solution offers two hosting options. App Engine is the PaaS of Google Cloud and Computes Engine is their IaaS.
Load balancing: This feature balances the traffic of multiple compute instances across various geographic regions.
Maintenance: Users receive frequent insight into the performance of their applications and through automations, Google Cloud lets them know of any issues that need to be fixed.

Google Cloud Benefits

Google Cloud brings various benefits to its users. Some of these include the following:

The pricing model of Google Cloud allows users to pay only for the selected features and tools they wish to use, which saves their organizations money.
Users can rely on accelerated content delivery through Google Cloud Content Delivery Network (CDN).
Google Cloud offers a wide variety of tools and libraries, which assist users in the development of cloud applications.
The tool has an advanced admin control that allows users to easily add or remove new users and maintain the security of business platforms.
Google Cloud offers consulting services whereby experts provide assistance with cloud strategy development.
The platform is updated on a frequent basis, which can increase companies' productivity through consistent innovations.
Google Cloud offers remote access from anywhere at all times via Google's web applications.
The solution reduces the risks of data breaches as it offers minimal storage of offline data.
Users can expect support not only from the platform but from the growing online community as well, where their questions can be answered in a timely manner.
The product provides detailed documentation for its clients, allowing them to benefit from tutorials and other samples, in order to learn to work with it in the most efficient way.

Reviews from Real Users

Isuru P., an assistant vice president at a tech services company, likes Google Cloud because it is easy to deploy next-generation applications using it.

An IT solutions consultant at a tech services company rates Google Cloud highly because they find the solution stable with a good user experience and a straightforward setup.

Google

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.

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

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