Laravel Forge vs Heroku
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Laravel Forge and Heroku.
Quick Verdict
4.2/5
Laravel Forge
383 reviews
4.3/5
Heroku
393 reviews
Heroku is rated higher (4.3 vs 4.2). Laravel Forge provisions and manages PHP servers for Laravel applications. Auto-deploys from GitHub, manages Nginx, databases, SSL, and cron jobs. The standard for Laravel deployments. Heroku pioneered platform-as-a-service in 2007. Owned by Salesforce. Supports 10+ languages, huge addon marketplace (150+ addons). Removed free tier in 2022 but remains popular for ease of use. Eco plans restart.
Laravel Forge Server management for PHP/Laravel deployments | Heroku The original PaaS — still the easiest deploy | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.2 (383 reviews) | 4.3 (393 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | paid | paid |
| Starting price | From €12/mo | From €5/mo✓ |
| Best for | Laravel PHP developers who want automated server provisioning and deployment to any cloud VPS | Developers who prioritize the largest addon ecosystem and a proven, mature PaaS with minimal configuration |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | managed optionapi access | managed optionus datacentereu datacenterapi access |
| Visit Laravel Forge → | Visit Heroku → | |
Laravel Forge
Pros
- + Laravel community standard
- + Deploy to any VPS provider
- + Manages Nginx, MySQL, Redis automatically
Cons
- - PHP/Laravel centric — limited other language support
- - Monthly fee on top of VPS cost
Heroku
Pros
- + Most addon marketplace options — 150+
- + Dead-simple deployments with git push
- + Longest PaaS track record
Cons
- - Removed free tier in 2022
- - More expensive than competitors for equivalent resources
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