Software Alternatives & Startups

Heroku VS SimpleDB

Compare Heroku VS SimpleDB and see what are their differences

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.

Rating
4.5 · 2 reviews
SimpleDB

Amazon SimpleDB is a simple database storage solution that allows developers to simply store & query data items via web services requests, saving time.

Rating
0 reviews
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.

Which is more popular?

Based on our record, Heroku seems to be a lot more popular than SimpleDB. While we know about 74 links to Heroku, we've tracked only 6 mentions of SimpleDB.

social mentions
74 vs 6
Cloud Computing popularity
100% vs 0%
alternatives listed
240+ vs 87

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

Heroku
SimpleDB
Website heroku.com aws.amazon.com
Pricing
Company Startup from the United States
Listed in

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

Heroku 6 features
SimpleDB 5 features
  • 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

  • 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.
  • Scalability
    SimpleDB automatically manages server infrastructure on behalf of users, allowing it to scale in response to application demand without manual intervention.
  • Ease of Use
    It is designed to be simple, with a straightforward API that makes it easy to get started without needing to manage the complexities of traditional database systems.
  • Flexible Data Model
    The schema-less nature of SimpleDB allows users to store structured data without predefining the data types, making it adaptable to changes in data format or structure.
  • Indexing and Querying
    SimpleDB provides automatic indexing of all attributes, which facilitates quick querying and retrieval of data without requiring users to manage indices.
  • Integration with AWS Services
    Seamless integration with other AWS services like S3 and EC2, allowing users to build comprehensive cloud solutions.

Possible disadvantages

  • Limited Query Functionality
    SimpleDB's querying capabilities are more limited compared to relational databases; it does not support complex queries or joins.
  • Storage and Throughput Limitations
    There are limitations on storage size per domain and concurrent read/write throughput, which could be restrictive for large-scale applications.
  • Consistency Model
    SimpleDB trades off strong consistency for high availability, which means applications must be designed to handle eventual consistency.
  • Cost
    While SimpleDB can be cost-effective for small applications, costs can accumulate quickly with large-scale data operations due to its pricing model based on data usage.
  • Obsolescence
    With the advancement and growing use of more robust AWS databases like DynamoDB, SimpleDB has become less appealing and might not receive the same level of support or updates.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

Heroku
SimpleDB

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.

No analysis of SimpleDB yet.

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

Heroku 2 videos + Add
SimpleDB 3 videos + Add

What is Heroku | Ask a Dev Episode 14

More videos

  • - Heroku review

Android App for Amazon SimpleDB

More videos

  • - Android SimpleDB Voice Query Demo
  • - How to get SimpleDB Query Count with Boto and SDBManager

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
Heroku
SimpleDB
100% 100%
0% 0%
0% 0%
100% 100%
100% 100%
0% 0%
0% 0%
100% 100%

User comments

Share your experience with using Heroku and SimpleDB. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

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Reviews and articles

External articles and on-site reviews we used to compare the two products.

Heroku 4.5 · 2 reviews
SimpleDB no reviews yet

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We have no reviews of SimpleDB yet. Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

Heroku 74 mentions
SimpleDB 6 mentions

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  • Amazon is laying off another 9,000 employees across AWS, Twitch, advertising
    Amazing that this managed DB service is still running: https://aws.amazon.com/simpledb/. Source: over 3 years ago
  • What is the difference between Dynamo and DynamoDB?
    Over the years, Amazon also developed another NoSQL database called SimpleDB. Unlike the original Dynamo, SimpleDB is a managed service so it's easy for teams to adopt and operate. However, SimpleDB can't grow past 10 GB and its... Source: over 4 years ago
  • Amazon EC2-Classic Is Retiring
    You can actually still use SimpleDB: https://aws.amazon.com/simpledb/. - Source: Hacker News / about 5 years ago

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Alternatives to Heroku and SimpleDB

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