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Heroku Is Freezing. Here's What That Actually Means.

· 3 min read

Heroku just said it's moving to a "sustaining engineering" model.

That's corporate speak for:

  • No big new features
  • Focus on stability and security
  • No new enterprise contracts
  • Maintain what exists

Heroku isn't shutting down.

But it's not a growth product anymore.

Why This Happens​

This isn't surprising.

Heroku was bought by Salesforce. It grew fast for years. Developers loved it. Enterprises signed contracts. But inside a big company, every product has to justify its budget.

If it doesn't fit the current strategy – AI, enterprise tooling, whatever leadership cares about now – it slides down the priority list.

That's how it usually goes:

  1. Growth
  2. Monetization
  3. Cost control
  4. Maintenance

Heroku just moved to step four.

It'll keep running. It'll stay stable. But it won't be where new ideas happen.

Why VC-Backed Platforms Change​

This isn't only about Heroku.

A lot of developer platforms follow the same path:

  • Raise money
  • Grow fast
  • Keep prices low to gain users
  • Capture market share
  • Then focus on margins

And at some point, growth slows.

So things change:

  • Pricing gets adjusted
  • Free tiers disappear
  • Roadmaps slow down
  • Enterprise rules tighten

Not because the product failed.

But because the incentives changed.

And incentives drive everything.

What This Means for Developers​

If you're already using Heroku, nothing breaks tomorrow.

But choosing a platform is a long-term decision. You're betting on where it's headed, not just where it is today.

And a platform in maintenance mode isn't building the next chapter.

So naturally people start asking:

  • Will pricing stay predictable?
  • Will meaningful features ship?
  • Is this the start of a slow decline?

That's why every time news like this drops, searches for "Heroku alternative" spike again.

Why Hostim.dev Is Structured Differently​

Hostim.dev wasn't built to chase growth charts.

It's:

  • Bootstrapped
  • Small by design
  • Focused only on Docker apps + built-in databases

No venture funding. No board pushing for aggressive expansion. No sudden shift toward whatever trend investors want next.

That changes the incentives.

The goal isn't hypergrowth.

It's staying stable and useful.

So the focus is simple:

  • Predictable pricing
  • Clean Docker deploys
  • Built-in Postgres, MySQL, Redis, and volumes
  • No credits
  • No enterprise lock-in

And no sudden freeze because strategy changed somewhere above the product team.

When you stay focused, you don't need dramatic pivots.

The Bigger Pattern​

Cloud platforms go through cycles.

You've seen it before:

  • Pricing overhauls
  • Free tiers removed
  • Feature roadmaps slowed
  • Products quietly put into maintenance

It's not drama.

It's business math.

Big platforms answer to shareholders. Small platforms answer to survival.

Hostim.dev is built to survive – not to flip or exit.

If you want a simple way to run Docker apps without betting on a product in maintenance mode:

👉 Try Hostim.dev

Let's build tools that don't need to freeze to stay alive.