Salesforce Puts Heroku on Life Support, Signals End of Platform Innovation
Pioneer cloud platform shifts to 'sustaining engineering model' with no new features planned
The announcement, posted quietly to the official Heroku blog, confirms what many developers had long suspected: Salesforce's 2010 acquisition of the platform has led to its slow strangulation rather than growth.
"Today, Heroku is transitioning to a sustaining engineering model focused on stability, security, reliability, and support," the announcement reads. "Heroku remains an actively supported, production-ready platform, with an emphasis on maintaining quality and operational excellence rather than introducing new features."
The term "sustaining engineering model" is not standard industry terminology, leaving customers to interpret its meaning. In practice, it appears to mean that Heroku will keep existing services running but will not develop new capabilities or keep pace with competing platforms.
Salesforce justified the decision by stating they are "focusing our product and engineering investments on areas where we can deliver the greatest long-term customer value, including helping organizations build and deploy enterprise-grade AI in a secure and trusted way."
The news has prompted developers to begin migration planning. Industry commentators note that modern alternatives like Fly.io, Railway, and Render have already absorbed much of the developer mindshare that Heroku once commanded.
Analysis
Why This Matters
Heroku was foundational to the platform-as-a-service category and shaped how an entire generation of developers thought about deployment. Its decline marks the end of an era and raises questions about the long-term viability of platforms acquired by enterprise software giants.
Background
Salesforce acquired Heroku for $212 million in 2010, one of the largest startup acquisitions at the time. The platform was praised for its developer experience and "git push to deploy" simplicity. However, after discontinuing its free tier in 2022, Heroku lost significant community goodwill.
Key Perspectives
Developers argue that Salesforce never understood Heroku's core value proposition—making deployment delightful rather than merely functional. Enterprise software companies often struggle to maintain products built for individual developers.
What to Watch
Whether Salesforce eventually sells or sunsets Heroku entirely, and which platforms emerge as the primary beneficiaries of the migration exodus.