Ask HN: Heroku vs EngineYard

by grep on 6/9/2010, 4:44 PM with 7 comments

What do you prefer, and why?

Other than the support plan, I don't quite understand why I should use EY instead of Heroku. Why do you use one instead of the other?

Thanks!

Edit: I use Heroku but I see a lot of companies using EY.

  • by aaronbrethorst on 6/9/2010, 5:54 PM

    I use EC2 for one project and Heroku for everything else. I don't think I'll use anything besides Heroku moving forward because it's so ridiculously easy to set up and use.

    A couple days ago, I needed to set up a new website, so I registered the domain at Godaddy, created a new (free) app on Heroku, and pointed the new domain at the Heroku app via the free, integrated Zerigo solution. I had the app running on a Heroku subdomain within minutes, and was done within 4 hours, including domain resolution.

    The speed and cost at which I can produce and validate an idea on Heroku is unmatched by anything else I've seen. Outside of the cost of the domain and my time, I have zero costs to toss a domain up on Heroku. If the idea bears fruit, I can transition over to a paid Heroku plan and keep running with it. If it doesn't, there's no real loss to me.

    Meanwhile, it doesn't look like EY offers anything that would cost me less than $85/month.

  • by nexneo on 6/9/2010, 5:51 PM

    When in doubt go with Heroku.

    P.S -- No one fired for choosing Heroku, yet.

  • by jph on 6/10/2010, 1:54 AM

    Both are great, but different. EngineYard provides much more.

    For example, I'm an EngineYard customer. EngineYard developers and support people have spent upwards of 100 hours with me discussing more advanced needs for security, scaling, integration, and professional services.

    EngineYard's leadership has especially impressed me with Rails 3, JRuby, and Rubinius.

    http://www.engineyard.com/company/press/10-06-09-engine-yard...

  • by on 6/9/2010, 9:11 PM

    undefined

  • by retro212 on 6/10/2010, 12:21 PM

    Use EngineYard if you need better control over servers, installing custom unix packets and stuff like that. Use Heroku for everything else. I've had great experience with both companies, so I believe that you can't go wrong with any of them.

  • by famfam on 6/9/2010, 9:46 PM

    I'd love to see a benchmark of per dollar performance of Heroku vs. EC2. Heroku seems more expensive to me, but I may be wrong.