Alibaba Cloud Auto Scaling vs Heroku

Alibaba Cloud Auto Scaling9.1Visit Heroku7.9Visit

Higher score Alibaba Cloud Auto Scaling #1 in Auto Scaling Software 9.1/10 Free plan Free plan Visit Alibaba Cloud

vs

Heroku #8 in Auto Scaling Software 7.9/10 Paid Visit Heroku

• Alibaba Cloud Auto Scaling fits best

  Alibaba Cloud users scaling instance groups

• Heroku fits best

  Teams already deploying apps on Heroku

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Side by side

Feature	Alibaba Cloud Auto Scaling 9.1/10 Visit ↗	Heroku 7.9/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.1	7.9
Ranking	#1 in Auto Scaling Software	#8 in Auto Scaling Software
Best for	Alibaba Cloud users scaling instance groups	Teams already deploying apps on Heroku
Pricing model	Free	Paid
Starting price	Free plan	$5/unit/mo
Free plan	✓ (best)	—
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud	Cloud
Platforms	Web	Web
Integrations	5 integrations	200+ integrations
Built for	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Specs
Scaling targets	Instances	Not checked yet
Scaling triggers	Predictive	Not checked yet
Cloud support	Single-cloud	Not checked yet
Scale direction	Both	Not checked yet
Deployment	Cloud	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Supports scheduled, metric-based, target-tracking, and predictive rules Replaces unhealthy instances and manages load-balancer registration Lifecycle hooks and activity records support custom operations and monitoring	Performance tiers include autoscaling and dedicated compute resources GitHub, Docker, pipelines, review apps, and rollback support delivery workflows Private Spaces, logs, platform APIs, and compliance options support larger teams
Cons	Scaling targets are limited to ECS and ECI instances Designed for Alibaba Cloud rather than multi-cloud scaling Compute and associated cloud resources are billed separately	No free plan; Eco is limited to personal accounts and sleeps after inactivity Autoscaling is reserved for Performance tiers; Standard offers simpler horizontal scaling Support is not available 24/7
Our verdict	Alibaba Cloud Auto Scaling adjusts the number of Elastic Compute Service (ECS) or Elastic Container Instance (ECI) instances in configured scaling groups. It suits teams already running those workloads on Alibaba Cloud, from small… Read the review →	Heroku is a fully managed, container-based cloud Platform as a Service for developers and teams deploying web and API applications. Applications run in managed dynos, with deployment through Git, GitHub, or Docker. Pipelines cover… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Alibaba Cloud Auto Scaling — where it wins

  • Supports scheduled, metric-based, target-tracking, and predictive rules
  • Replaces unhealthy instances and manages load-balancer registration
  • Lifecycle hooks and activity records support custom operations and monitoring

  Where it doesn't

  • Scaling targets are limited to ECS and ECI instances
  • Designed for Alibaba Cloud rather than multi-cloud scaling
  • Compute and associated cloud resources are billed separately

• Heroku — where it wins

  • Performance tiers include autoscaling and dedicated compute resources
  • GitHub, Docker, pipelines, review apps, and rollback support delivery workflows
  • Private Spaces, logs, platform APIs, and compliance options support larger teams

  Where it doesn't

  • No free plan; Eco is limited to personal accounts and sleeps after inactivity
  • Autoscaling is reserved for Performance tiers; Standard offers simpler horizontal scaling
  • Support is not available 24/7

• Alibaba Cloud Auto Scaling9.1/10 · Free plan

  A free Alibaba Cloud service for scaling ECS and ECI instance groups.

  Visit Alibaba CloudFull verdict →
• Heroku7.9/10 · Paid

  A managed dyno platform with clear scaling tiers, pipelines, and deployment controls.

  Visit HerokuFull verdict →