Falak vs Heroku · as of September 2026
git push, like Heroku, onto your own servers
Heroku defined git push deploys. Falak keeps that workflow but runs your apps, workers and databases on servers you own, with a flat server bill and observability built in.
Choose Falak if…
- You want flat, predictable server costs instead of per-dyno pricing.
- You want your Postgres and app on the same private network you control.
- You deploy Laravel/PHP and want a native runtime with Horizon and Octane.
Choose Heroku if…
- You want a fully managed platform with an add-on marketplace.
- You rely on review apps and pipelines.
- You need enterprise compliance offerings from your platform vendor.
Feature by feature
Heroku is a managed PaaS. Falak is a self-hosted platform that runs on your servers.
| Feature | Falak | Heroku |
|---|---|---|
| Runs on servers you own | YesAny Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 or Debian 12 server | NoHeroku’s cloud |
| Self-hostable | YesOne-command Docker Compose install | No |
| Git push-to-deploy | YesOne-click GitHub App, GitLab, Bitbucket, deploy hooks | Yes |
| Review apps per pull request | NoNot yet | Yes |
| PHP, Node and more | YesNative PHP, Node, Bun, Deno | YesBuildpacks |
| Docker | YesImage, Dockerfile or Compose | Yes |
| Background workers and scheduler | YesQueue workers, Horizon, daemons, scheduler | Yes |
| Postgres | YesPostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB on your servers | YesHeroku Postgres |
| Logs, metrics and traces built in | YesLoki, Tempo, VictoriaMetrics or Mimir, Grafana | PartlyLogs and metrics; more via add-ons |
| Add-on marketplace | No | Yes |
| Managed infrastructure | NoYou run the servers | Yes |
| Pricing model | YesFree; you pay your server provider | PartlyPer dyno plus add-ons |
Where Heroku is better
Falak is not the right tool for everyone. Heroku is the stronger choice here:
- Fully managed: no servers, OS or database operations.
- A large add-on marketplace for logging, email, search and more.
- Pipelines and review apps for promotion between stages.
What is a good self-hosted Heroku alternative?
Falak gives you git push deploys, background workers, a scheduler, Postgres or MySQL, custom domains with automatic HTTPS and built-in logs on your own servers. It is free and open source.
How do I move from Heroku to Falak?
Install Falak, connect a server, create a service from your repository, copy your config vars into Falak variables (falak env push reads a dotenv file), restore your database dump, then point your domain at the server.
More comparisons
Last reviewed September 2026. Competitor details come from their public websites and documentation and may have changed since; we leave out anything we could not confirm. All product names are trademarks of their owners; Falak is not affiliated with them. Spotted a mistake?Open an issue and we will fix it.
Try the self-hosted Heroku alternative.
One command installs Falak on a fresh Ubuntu or Debian host. Connect servers, push code, watch it go live.
curl -fsSL https://falak.sh/install.sh | sudo bash -s -- --domain falak.example.com --email you@example.com