Everything you love about Heroku, in your own cloud account
Heroku made deploying apps simple - but Salesforce has moved it into sustaining engineering mode, with no new features planned. Skyhook brings that same simplicity to Kubernetes - with preview environments, canary deployments, auto-scaling, and full infrastructure ownership. A platform that's actively invested in, not winding down.
How Skyhook compares
| Dimension | Skyhook | Heroku |
|---|---|---|
| Core approach | Kubernetes-native developer platform. Skyhook provisions clusters for you or connects to existing ones. Full access to the Kubernetes API, kubectl, and Helm. | Proprietary PaaS with dynos as the compute unit. No container orchestration visibility or Kubernetes access. |
| Infrastructure ownership | Skyhook provisions clusters for you or connects to existing ones - EKS, GKE, AKS, OCI, on-prem, or bare metal. Your cloud account, you pay your provider directly. | Runs entirely on Heroku's managed infrastructure (Salesforce). No access to underlying servers or cloud account. |
| Scaling | Kubernetes-native horizontal and vertical auto-scaling based on CPU, memory, or custom metrics. No upper limits beyond your cluster capacity. | Manual dyno scaling. Performance-M/L dynos for vertical scaling. Auto-scaling requires third-party add-ons or Performance dynos. |
| Deployment strategies | Canary deployments with traffic splitting, blue-green with instant cutover, progressive delivery with automatic rollback on error thresholds. | Preboot for zero-downtime deploys (runs two versions simultaneously, similar to blue-green). No native canary or progressive delivery. Pipelines support promote-to-production workflow. |
| Preview environments | Full-stack preview environments for every PR with production-like conditions, unique URLs, and automatic teardown on merge. | Review Apps available through Heroku Pipelines. Limited to apps in the pipeline - not full-stack multi-service environments. |
| Vendor lock-in | Standard Kubernetes resources. Leave anytime - your workloads are already running on vanilla K8s. | Procfile-based deployment model, Heroku-specific buildpacks, and add-on ecosystem. Migrating requires re-architecting deployment and infrastructure. |
| Pricing | Generous free tier (3 users, 3 services, 1 cluster) with no credit card required. No per-dyno costs - you pay your cloud provider directly for compute. Pair with cloud provider free credits for a zero-cost start. | Free tier removed. Eco at $5/month (shared hours, apps sleep). Basic at $7/month per always-on dyno. Standard at $25/month. Performance at $250-500/month. Costs multiply quickly with multiple services. |
| Multi-cloud & compliance | Runs on any cloud or on-prem. SOC 2 certified. Full data residency control since clusters run in your cloud account. | Single-provider (Salesforce infrastructure). SOC 2 Type 2 for all plans. PCI-DSS and HIPAA on Shield/Enterprise only. Private Spaces for network isolation at premium cost. |
Feature-by-feature comparison
Why teams choose Skyhook over Heroku
Graduate from PaaS without the pain
Heroku is great for getting started, but teams outgrow it. Skyhook gives you the same developer-friendly experience - Git-connected deployments, preview environments, easy scaling - on top of Kubernetes running in your own cloud account.
Stop paying the dyno tax
Heroku's per-dyno pricing adds up fast when you run multiple services. Skyhook's free tier (3 users, 3 services, 1 cluster) paired with cloud provider free credits (AWS Free Tier, GCP's $300 credit, Azure's $200 credit) means small teams can get started at zero cost - and even as you scale, paying your cloud provider directly is a fraction of Heroku's markup.
Ship with confidence, not hope
Heroku gives you rolling restarts. Skyhook gives you canary deployments that shift 5% of traffic to the new version, monitor error rates, and auto-rollback if something goes wrong. Plus production readiness checks that catch misconfigurations before they reach users.
Your cloud account, your control
With Heroku, you rent someone else's platform. With Skyhook, your code runs in your AWS, GCP, or Azure account. Full visibility, full control, full compliance - with the developer experience you loved about Heroku.
Invest in a platform that's investing in you
Salesforce moved Heroku into sustaining engineering mode in early 2026 - no new features, no new Enterprise contracts. Skyhook is actively developed with new capabilities shipping regularly. When you're choosing infrastructure for the next 3-5 years, bet on a platform that's growing, not one that's in maintenance mode.
Frequently asked questions
I love Heroku's simplicity. Is Skyhook more complex?
Skyhook's default workflow is just as simple - connect your Git repo, configure your service, deploy. The difference is that when you need more control (custom networking, Helm charts, advanced scaling), it's there. Most developers use Skyhook's dashboard day-to-day and never touch kubectl unless they want to.
How much will I save compared to Heroku?
Skyhook's free tier (3 users, 3 services, 1 cluster) paired with cloud provider free credits (AWS Free Tier, GCP's $300 credit, Azure's $200 credit) means many small teams can run production workloads at zero cost. Even as you grow, paying your cloud provider directly for compute is typically 50-70% cheaper than Heroku's per-dyno pricing.
Can I migrate my Heroku apps to Skyhook?
Yes. Skyhook can provision a Kubernetes cluster for you, so there's no infrastructure setup required. If your apps are already containerized (Docker), you can deploy them directly. If you use Heroku buildpacks, you can use Cloud Native Buildpacks in your CI to produce Docker images, then deploy through Skyhook.
What about Heroku add-ons like Postgres, Redis, etc.?
With Skyhook, you use your cloud provider's managed services directly - RDS for Postgres, ElastiCache for Redis, etc. These are typically cheaper and more configurable than Heroku add-ons, and you maintain full ownership of your data.
Is Heroku being discontinued?
Not immediately, but Salesforce moved Heroku into sustaining engineering mode in early 2026. That means no new features, no new Enterprise contracts, and a platform in maintenance mode. Existing apps continue to run, but teams planning for the next 3-5 years should consider migrating to a platform that's actively invested in. Skyhook can provision clusters for you and supports Docker-based migrations from Heroku.
Last updated: April 2026
Why Choose Skyhook?
Best Practices Out-of-the-Box
Start strong with monitoring, rollout strategies, ephemeral environments and secret management.
No Lock-in
Stay in control without being dependent on specific cloud providers or third-party tools. Unlike PaaS, you can easily migrate away.
Start and scale quickly
Get started in minutes, not days, with our fully configured environment. Grows with your needs, regardless of engineering group size.
Kubernetes based
Simplify Kubernetes for developers and make management easy for DevOps.
The Best tools
Skyhook has built-in support for the top tools in the Kubernetes ecosystem, such as ArgoCD, Kyverno, Grafana and many more.
Flexible
With Kubernetes under the hood, all the ecosystem and advanced functionality is readily available when you need it.
Ready to roll?
It's quick and easy to get started.
No credit card required.