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dply vs Heroku
Heroku made git-push deploys the default. dply keeps that and changes the bill: apps sleep when idle and bill by the second they run. Laravel, Rails and Node are detected without a Procfile, databases, Valkey and queue workers are built-in resources rather than add-ons, and static or SSR frontends run from the edge in the same project.
How the pieces map
| Heroku | dply |
|---|---|
| Dynos | Container instances, billed per second while awake |
| Procfile web and worker processes | A detected app, plus queue workers |
| Release phase | Migrations when a container starts, or on demand |
| Heroku Postgres | Managed Postgres, MySQL or MongoDB |
| Redis / Key-Value Store add-on | dply Valkey |
| Review apps | A preview URL for every branch and pull request |
| Config vars | The Environment tab, per production and preview |
What to plan for on dply
- No SSH
- Containers have no shell. Use the logs and the database tools (Migrate, Seed, Connect).
- No persistent disk
- Files written at runtime are lost on restart. Put uploads in object storage.
- Cold starts
- An idle app sleeps after 5 minutes by default. Set a minimum instance to keep one warm.
When Heroku is the better fit
- Your stack depends on add-ons from the Heroku marketplace.
- Your team is built around Heroku Pipelines and promoting a slug between stages.
Also compare: dply vs Laravel Forge · dply vs Laravel Cloud