A Hard Look at the Total Cost of Ownership of Heroku vs. IaaS Platforms

Executive Summary: This began as an email to a customer who wrote in asking Heroku to lower its prices to counter an offer of free credits from AWS. Over time, this email has morphed from a retention email into an detailed examination of the ways in which Heroku allows companies to laser-focus on innovation and business value — the main things that make and retain customers — instead of on keeping the lights on. Heroku’s best-in-class Developer Experience — and the freedom that comes from abstracting away a massive amount of operational complexity — is exactly why we do not compete directly on price with IaaS providers. …