Google App Engine vs Heroku

Question

I am starting a web app and it would be the first time I use cloud services (PAAS).

I am building an IOT platform that intends to display live data coming from bluetooth and using python.

I am considering both google app engine and heroku as paas providers.

I saw that there seem to be a preference for Heroku vs Google App Engine in the developer community. Can anybody clearly explain why that is ? What would you opt for and why?

And also, it seems that PAAS alternatives limit the database options (for example in google it's datastore and heroku it's postgres) .. and other limitations as well. If I want to move to IAAS later on, would that be a major concern?

It seems that opting for IAAS (such as Amazon) is a much more complex endeavor, especially since I am just starting ... but let me know what you think :)

Thank you very much in advance

Answer 1

I can't answer for the community at large, but I can throw in my 2 cents. I use App Engine at work, but if I was making a prototype or a small application, I would go with Heroku mostly for the versatility that it offers. Google's PaaS is heavily "google" based, and while you can use various languages or databases (if you pay), it isn't nearly as (easily) customizable as Heroku is.

Basically I look at it this way: If you are ok with predominantly doing it how Google would like you to do it (which makes it easy to choose things), then go App Engine. It's very usable and easy to see how much daily quota you have remaining etc.

If you want to build and maintain it exactly how you want, I believe Heroku offers the better PaaS. Also, if you are more familiar with SQL and want to remain on the free tier of your PaaS, Heroku is more suitable in my opinion (google has cloud SQL but to my knowledge it isn't available on the free tier).