Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Handshake.org VS Heroku

Compare Handshake.org VS Heroku and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Handshake.org logo Handshake.org

Decentralized certificate authority and naming

Heroku logo Heroku

Agile deployment platform for Ruby, Node.js, Clojure, Java, Python, and Scala. Setup takes only minutes and deploys are instant through git. Leave tedious server maintenance to Heroku and focus on your code.
  • Handshake.org Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-19
  • Heroku Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-05

Handshake.org features and specs

  • Decentralization
    Handshake aims to create a decentralized root DNS zone, which can make the domain registration process more secure and less susceptible to censorship.
  • Security
    By employing blockchain technology, Handshake enhances domain ownership security, reducing the risks associated with traditional domain name system models, like central points of failure.
  • Transparency
    The transparency of blockchain technology can provide a clear and unchangeable record of domain ownership, which may help in disputes and verification of domain history.
  • Cost-effectiveness
    Eliminating traditional intermediaries and their associated fees can lead to reduced costs in obtaining and maintaining domain names.
  • Universal access
    Handshake aims to democratize domain ownership access, potentially allowing individuals from all over the world to participate without significant barriers.

Possible disadvantages of Handshake.org

  • Adoption Hurdles
    Building widespread adoption and integration into existing internet infrastructure poses significant challenges, as the traditional DNS providers are well established.
  • Technical Complexity
    The reliance on blockchain technology and understanding the novel system can introduce a steep learning curve for those accustomed to traditional DNS.
  • Market Competition
    Handshake is up against deeply entrenched traditional DNS systems and companies, which can make gaining traction difficult.
  • Limited Functionality
    Since it's a relatively new and developing platform, Handshake may currently lack some of the features and integrations available with more mature DNS services.
  • Stability and Security Risks
    As with many blockchain-based solutions, there are ongoing concerns regarding the long-term stability and security of the technology base.

Heroku features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    Heroku offers an extremely user-friendly interface and a high level of abstraction, making it easy for developers to deploy, manage, and scale applications without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.
  • Quick Deployment
    One of Heroku’s strongest points is the ability to deploy applications quickly using Git. Developers can push their code to Heroku with a simple command, streamlining the entire process.
  • Scalability
    Heroku provides effortless scaling options by allowing developers to add more dynos (containers) with a single command to handle increased traffic and workload.
  • Add-Ons Ecosystem
    Heroku offers a rich ecosystem of add-ons, such as databases, caching, monitoring, and more, which can be easily integrated into applications to extend their functionality.
  • Automatic Updates
    Heroku automatically handles operating system and server updates, allowing developers to focus solely on their application code rather than maintenance tasks.
  • Free Tier
    Heroku offers a free tier with sufficient resources to host small projects and learn the platform without incurring costs, making it accessible for beginners and small-scale applications.

Possible disadvantages of Heroku

  • Cost
    While Heroku offers a free tier, the costs can quickly add up for larger applications and professional use. Paid plans and additional dynos or add-ons can become expensive.
  • Performance
    Heroku’s performance can sometimes be suboptimal compared to other cloud providers, particularly when running high-performance or resource-intensive applications.
  • Limited Control
    Heroku abstracts away a lot of infrastructure management, which can be a downside for developers who need fine-grained control over their environments and configurations.
  • Dyno Sleeping
    Applications running on Heroku’s free tier experience 'dyno sleeping,' where the application goes to sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity, causing a delay when it wakes up after receiving a new request.
  • Vendor Lock-In
    Relying heavily on Heroku’s ecosystem and platform-specific features can lead to vendor lock-in, making it challenging to migrate to another platform if needed.
  • Add-On Costs
    The costs for add-ons can also become significant, as many useful features and integrations require paid add-ons, increasing the overall expense.

Analysis of Heroku

Overall verdict

  • Heroku is a solid choice for developers seeking a straightforward, cloud-based solution for deploying and managing applications. However, it may not be the most cost-effective option for large-scale or data-intensive applications.

Why this product is good

  • Heroku is a popular platform as a service (PaaS) due to its ease of use, fast deployment process, and robust support for multiple programming languages. It allows developers to focus on building applications without worrying about the underlying infrastructure. Heroku offers scaling capabilities, a wide variety of add-ons, and a strong developer community.

Recommended for

    Heroku is recommended for startups, small to medium-sized applications, hobby projects, and developers who value ease of use and quick deployment cycles. It is particularly suited for those who are developing web applications in languages such as Ruby, Node.js, Python, and others supported by the platform.

Handshake.org videos

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Heroku videos

What is Heroku | Ask a Dev Episode 14

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Handshake.org and Heroku)
Domain Names
100 100%
0% 0
Cloud Computing
0 0%
100% 100
Web App
100 100%
0% 0
Cloud Hosting
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Handshake.org and Heroku

Handshake.org Reviews

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Heroku Reviews

  1. Useful Cloud Platform

    Great service to build, run and manage applications entirely in the cloud!

    🏁 Competitors: Amazon AWS, Dokku on Digital Ocean, Firebase
    👍 Pros:    Easy user interface|Good customer service|Multi-language cloud application platform
    👎 Cons:    Limitation with some addons|Low network performance
  2. jamestelford
    · Full Stack Developer at OutDev ·
    🏁 Competitors: Docker, Amazon AWS
    👍 Pros:    Powerful development environments|Great value for the money|Great customer support|Paas

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Source: genezio.com
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Top 10 Netlify Alternatives
Heroku is another alternative to Netlify that doesn’t only host static websites but has the ability to host dynamic websites. This PaaS platform was launched in 2007 and conferred highly scalable features to deploy, host and launch applications.

Social recommendations and mentions

Heroku might be a bit more popular than Handshake.org. We know about 73 links to it since March 2021 and only 60 links to Handshake.org. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Handshake.org mentions (60)

  • The Top of the DNS Hierarchy
    Would you consider https://handshake.org to be one? - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Own full personal domain name without .com etc.
    It's based on the handshake blockchain https://handshake.org/ and yes, it's outside of DNS from what I have read. I originally assumed that had bought 1,000,000 TLD at $240k each :) which is crazy as its sounds. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • Vickrey Auction
    The Handshake [0] project used (uses?) Vickrey auction to auction off the initial supply of names. It had some other cool ideas, such as replacing certificate authorities with self-signed certificates verified by the blockchain. I know everyone hates blockchain, I kind of do too, but Handshake I found genuinely interesting. Disclaimer, I own some Handshake names so you could say I'm shilling for it but mostly the... - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • So we did a thing !
    Our stack is built on Handshake. You can know more at handshake.org. Source: about 2 years ago
  • ELI5: How do internet domains work? Who are you paying?
    In the future things might change, there's discussions around decentralization of trust that now has accumulated with a select few (donut domains? Verisign?) Handshake is one such protocol that allows you to have decentralized trust and hence gives you freedom to have your own TLD, porkbun will even sell you one if you'd like but it's very much experimental today. Source: over 2 years ago
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Heroku mentions (73)

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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Handshake.org and Heroku, you can also consider the following products

One Word Domains - Database of all available one-word domains

DigitalOcean - Simplifying cloud hosting. Deploy an SSD cloud server in 55 seconds.

Ethereum Name Service - Like DNS, but for Ethereum wallet addresses

Linode - We make it simple to develop, deploy, and scale cloud infrastructure at the best price-to-performance ratio in the market.

Lean Domain Search - Find a Great Domain Name w/ twitter handle availability

Amazon AWS - Amazon Web Services offers reliable, scalable, and inexpensive cloud computing services. Free to join, pay only for what you use.