Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Heroku Postgres VS ElephantSQL

Compare Heroku Postgres VS ElephantSQL and see what are their differences

Heroku Postgres logo Heroku Postgres

Heroku Postgres is an SQL database as a service.

ElephantSQL logo ElephantSQL

PostgreSQL open-source database, hosted in the cloud.
  • Heroku Postgres Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-22
  • ElephantSQL Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-29

Heroku Postgres features and specs

  • Scalability
    Heroku Postgres offers seamless vertical and horizontal scaling, allowing you to handle increased loads without significant changes to your application.
  • Managed Service
    Heroku manages the database infrastructure, which includes automated backups, software updates, and security patches, reducing the operational overhead.
  • Integration
    Heroku Postgres integrates well with other Heroku services and add-ons, facilitating a smoother development and deployment workflow.
  • High Availability
    It provides high availability features like automated failover and redundancy to minimize downtime and ensure consistent performance.
  • Monitoring Tools
    Includes several built-in tools for monitoring database performance, which help you identify and troubleshoot issues efficiently.

Possible disadvantages of Heroku Postgres

  • Cost
    Heroku Postgres can be more expensive than self-hosted solutions, especially as your database requirements grow.
  • Limited Control
    As a managed service, it offers less control over database configurations and customizations compared to self-managed databases.
  • Vendor Lock-In
    Using Heroku Postgres can make it more challenging to transition to other platforms in the future, potentially leading to vendor lock-in.
  • Latency
    For applications not hosted on Heroku, there can be increased latency when interacting with the Heroku Postgres service due to its remote nature.
  • Advanced Feature Limitations
    Some advanced PostgreSQL features might not be fully supported or available in Heroku Postgres, limiting its use for certain specialized applications.

ElephantSQL features and specs

  • Fully Managed Service
    ElephantSQL offers a fully managed PostgreSQL service, which means users do not need to worry about database maintenance, backups, or updates. This allows developers to focus on building applications rather than database administration.
  • Scalability
    ElephantSQL provides various plans that cater to different needs, from small projects to large enterprise applications. As your application grows, you can easily scale your database to match increased demand.
  • High Availability
    ElephantSQL offers high availability features, including automated backups, failovers, and replication, ensuring minimal downtime and data loss in case of failures.
  • Easy Setup
    Setting up a PostgreSQL instance with ElephantSQL is straightforward and quick, enabling developers to get started with minimal effort.
  • Integration with Popular Cloud Platforms
    ElephantSQL can be integrated with major cloud providers, such as AWS, Google Cloud, and Heroku, providing flexibility and ease of use for cloud-based applications.

Possible disadvantages of ElephantSQL

  • Cost
    ElephantSQL can become expensive as you move to higher-tier plans, especially for startups or small businesses with limited budgets.
  • Limited Customization
    As a managed service, ElephantSQL may not offer the same level of customization and control as a self-hosted PostgreSQL instance, which could be a limitation for some advanced use cases.
  • Shared Resources on Lower Plans
    Lower-tier plans may involve shared resources, which could lead to performance bottlenecks if other users on the shared infrastructure are consuming significant resources.
  • Dependency on a Third-party Service
    Relying on a third-party service like ElephantSQL means your application's uptime is dependent on their reliability and service availability.
  • Potential Latency
    Depending on the geographic location of the ElephantSQL servers and your application servers, there may be some latency, which could impact the performance of latency-sensitive applications.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Heroku Postgres and ElephantSQL)
Databases
56 56%
44% 44
Relational Databases
65 65%
35% 35
NoSQL Databases
64 64%
36% 36
PostgreSQL As A Service
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, ElephantSQL seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 2 times since March 2021. 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.

Heroku Postgres mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Heroku Postgres yet. Tracking of Heroku Postgres recommendations started around Mar 2021.

ElephantSQL mentions (2)

  • 🚀 Building a Fullstack App with dart_frog and Flutter in a Monorepo - Part 4
    We will be using the PostgreSQL database for this tutorial. To use the PostgreSQL database for this tutorial, we can set up a test database on elephantsql.com. Simply sign up on the website and click on the option to create a new instance. You should see something similar to this. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • What's your go-to database for Flutter apps and why?
    Hasura, PostgreSQL. Super easy if you already know SQL. Super secure. Easy to implement authorization. Plays EXTREMELY well with Firebase auth. You can use the flutter_graphql package. You can set everything up in a few hours with Hasura Cloud (hasura.io) and ElephantSQL (elephantsql.com). You only have to learn GraphQL and honestly it's a joy to work with that. Source: almost 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Heroku Postgres and ElephantSQL, you can also consider the following products

Amazon RDS - Easy to manage relational databases optimized for total cost of ownership.

MySQL - The world's most popular open source database

PostgreSQL - PostgreSQL is a powerful, open source object-relational database system.

SQLite - SQLite Home Page

Google Cloud Spanner - Google Cloud Spanner is a horizontally scalable, globally consistent, relational database service.

MariaDB - An enhanced, drop-in replacement for MySQL