Heroku alternative for PHP hosting
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fortrabbit vs Heroku.
fortrabbit is the modern, PHP-focused Heroku alternative — managed deployments, integrated MySQL, EU hosting (AWS Ireland), and human support.
Why move from Heroku to fortrabbit for PHP?
fortrabbit is a managed PaaS built exclusively for PHP. Since 2012 we've been running git-push deployments, integrated MySQL, atomic releases, and zero-downtime restarts for freelancers, agencies, and startups. Heroku invented the modern PaaS — and then Salesforce bought it in 2010. What followed reads like a slow goodbye to the developers who made it big: the free tier was shut down in November 2022, entry prices climbed, and the next-generation platform ships enterprise-first (more on that below).
Moving off Heroku with PHP — whether Laravel, Symfony, Statamic, Craft CMS, Kirby, or plain PHP — fortrabbit keeps the same git-push workflow, but adds native PHP tuning, an integrated managed MySQL component (Heroku has none), EU hosting (AWS Ireland), and direct support from the engineers who run the platform. Plans start at €2.50 per month, and pricing scales with app size rather than dyno-hours.
Start a free trial — no credit cardHow does fortrabbit compare to Heroku?
| Feature | Heroku | fortrabbit |
|---|---|---|
| PHP focus | Polyglot | PHP only |
| Deployment | git push | git push, atomic |
| Managed MySQL | Add-on (JawsDB, ClearDB) | Native |
| Managed Redis | Add-on | Native |
| File storage | S3 add-on | Persistent app storage |
| SSH access | One-off dynos | Full SFTP + SSH |
| Pricing model | Per-dyno, hourly | Per-app, monthly |
| Free tier | Removed Nov 2022 | 7-day trial, no card |
| Support | Tiered, paid for fast | Human chat, all plans |
| Region | US or EU (Dublin) | EU (Ireland) |
| Company | Salesforce | Independent, bootstrapped |
Pricing comparison
Heroku's cheapest always-on dyno is Basic at $7 per month — but the $5 Eco dyno sleeps after 30 minutes without traffic, and the first production-grade dyno (Standard-1X) is $25 per month for 0.5 GB RAM. The database is always a separate line item on top.
| Use case | Heroku (dyno + Postgres) | fortrabbit |
|---|---|---|
| Small site / dev | Basic $7 + Essential-0 $5 = $12 / mo | €5 / mo |
| Production app | Standard-1X $25 + Standard-0 $50 = $75 / mo | €30 / mo |
| Scaled app | Performance-M $250 + database = $300+ / mo | €60–€120 / mo depending on tier |
Heroku prices from heroku.com/pricing, July 2026; traffic and add-ons come on top. See fortrabbit pricing for the current matrix.
What happened to Heroku?
Nothing sudden — a direction. A few verifiable milestones:
- 2010 — Salesforce acquires Heroku. The platform becomes a business unit of a CRM company.
- April 2022 — an attacker exfiltrates customer GitHub OAuth tokens from a Heroku database and clones private customer repositories. GitHub revokes the tokens, Heroku disables its GitHub deploy integration for weeks and force-resets user passwords.
- November 2022 — the free tier is removed; free dynos are converted to paid Eco dynos that sleep after 30 idle minutes.
- 2026 — Fir, the next-generation platform (Cloud Native Buildpacks, Kubernetes), goes GA — inside Private Spaces only. Apps on the standard runtime stay on Cedar, the legacy generation, where classic buildpacks live on but the new platform investment does not.
None of this makes Heroku unusable. It shows where the priorities went: upmarket, behind Private Spaces, away from the indie developers and small teams the platform was famous for. Those are exactly the people fortrabbit is built for.
Other Heroku alternatives worth knowing
Honest answer: the right Heroku alternative depends on the stack. For PHP we argue for fortrabbit — it is the only platform in this list built for PHP alone. For other stacks, or other trade-offs, these are the serious candidates:
- Render — the closest general-purpose Heroku successor; polyglot, with free static sites.
- Railway — usage-based pricing and a fast developer experience; a younger platform.
- Fly.io — apps run close to users on a global edge; expect more ops involvement.
- DigitalOcean App Platform — PaaS convenience inside the DigitalOcean ecosystem.
- Laravel Cloud and Laravel Forge — the first-party options for Laravel-only teams.
Migrating from Heroku to fortrabbit
The move is usually a one-day job for a small app, a weekend for a larger one. Most of the work is data migration; the deployment workflow stays the same.
- Provision the app on fortrabbit. Pick a region (EU) and a plan. The free trial is enough to validate the move.
- Add the MySQL component. Heroku users coming from JawsDB or ClearDB can
mysqldumpthe source database and import via the SSH tunnel — see MySQL import guide. - Connect your git provider. Install the fortrabbit GitHub App (or connect GitLab / Bitbucket) and link your existing repo to the new fortrabbit app — see deployment intro. Pushes to your branch trigger an automatic deploy; Composer install runs as part of it.
- Move environment variables. Heroku config vars map 1:1 to fortrabbit's environment variables — set them in the dashboard or via the CLI.
- Move uploads and assets. If you used Heroku's S3 add-on, rsync (or
aws s3 syncthen upload) the bucket contents into your fortrabbit app's persistent storage via SFTP / SSH — no separate bucket service needed. - Cut over DNS. Add the domain in the fortrabbit dashboard, update the CNAME, and watch the certificate issue automatically via Let's Encrypt.
For framework-specific notes see the install guides — particularly Laravel and Statamic, which are the most common migrations.
Start the migration with a free trialWhy teams switch
- Predictable bills. No dyno-hour math, no surprise add-on charges at the end of the month.
- PHP-first ergonomics. Composer, OPcache tuning, PHP version pinning, and integrated MySQL all just work.
- Owner-run support. You talk to the engineers who run the platform, not a tier-1 queue.
- Independence. We're not a Salesforce business unit. Roadmap decisions are made for PHP developers, not platform-wide.
For background on Heroku itself, see our hosting guide entry. Still weighing categories rather than vendors? Read how to choose the right hosting for your PHP project.
# Frequently asked
How do I migrate my Laravel app from Heroku to fortrabbit?Self-service
Self-service - Most Laravel migrations off Heroku take a day. Set up the fortrabbit app, add a MySQL component, dump and import your JawsDB or ClearDB database via the SSH tunnel, copy your Heroku config vars over as environment variables, and re-point your repo at the fortrabbit app for git-push deploys. Uploaded files in an S3 add-on get rsynced into the app's persistent storage — no separate bucket service to wire up.
#Why is fortrabbit cheaper than Heroku for a small PHP app?No add-on stacking
No add-on stacking - Heroku bills you per dyno-hour, with the managed database and Redis as separate add-ons that each carry their own monthly minimum. A small PHP app on Heroku quickly lands at $20-25 a month before traffic. On fortrabbit the same app is a set of components — PHP, traffic, storage and an optional MySQL component — booked individually and billed on one invoice, from roughly €5 a month with a database. There are no usage meters in the middle and no surprise bill at the end of the month.
#Does fortrabbit support Heroku-style buildpacks for PHP?No
No - That is intentional. fortrabbit runs your PHP code directly with Composer at build time — no buildpack indirection, no proprietary install layer between your repo and the deployed app. PHP version, extensions, opcache, and Composer cache are configurable per environment via the dashboard, not by editing a buildpack URL.
#How is fortrabbit's PHP support different from Heroku's?PHP-only focus
PHP-only focus - Heroku is a polyglot PaaS — PHP is one supported language among many, and the runtime defaults reflect that. fortrabbit has only ever hosted PHP, since 2012. PHP version pinning, opcache tuning, MySQL integration, and Composer behavior are the platform's main concerns. When you open a support chat about a PHP-specific issue, you reach engineers who think about PHP all day.
#What are good Heroku alternatives for PHP?Depends on the stack
Depends on the stack - For pure PHP work — Laravel, Symfony, Craft CMS, Statamic — fortrabbit is the specialist option: managed PHP with integrated MySQL and git-push deploys. Render and Railway are the closest general-purpose Heroku successors for polyglot teams. Fly.io suits apps that need to run close to users worldwide. Laravel-only teams can also consider the first-party Laravel Cloud or Forge. Heroku itself still works for PHP; its recent investment went into the enterprise-only Fir platform rather than the standard runtime.
#Is there a free tier now that Heroku removed its own?A trial
A trial - There is no forever-free tier, but every new app gets a 7-day free trial with no credit card. After that, pricing is component-based and billed in arrears with a one-day minimum, so the first invoice only covers what the app actually used.
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