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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Heroku Platform

    Score7.6 out of 10
    N/AThe Heroku Platform, now from Salesforce, is a platform-as-a-service based on a managed container system, with integrated data services and ecosystem for deploying modern apps. It takes an app-centric approach for software delivery, integrated with developer tools and workflows. It’s three main tool are: Heroku Developer Experience (DX), Heroku Operational Experience (OpEx), and Heroku Runtime. Heroku Developer Experience (DX) Developers deploy directly from tools like…

    $85

    per month

    XenServer

    Score8.1 out of 10
    N/AXenServer (formerly Citrix Hypervisor) is a virtualization management platform optimized for application, desktop and server virtualization infrastructures.N/A
    Pricing
    Heroku PlatformXenServer
    Editions & Modules
    Production
    $25.00
    per month
    Advanced
    $250.00
    per month
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Heroku PlatformXenServer
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Heroku PlatformXenServer
    Considered Both Products
    Salesforce
    No answer on this topic
    Cloud Software Group
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    89%
    Would buy again
    8 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    7 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    89%
    Happy with the feature set
    8 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    89%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    8 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    89%
    Implementation went as expected
    8 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Heroku PlatformXenServer
    Platform-as-a-Service
    Comparison of Platform-as-a-Service features of Heroku Platform and XenServer
    Feature
    Heroku Platform
    7.2
    44 Ratings
    7% below category average
    XenServer
    -
    Ratings
    Ease of building user interfaces6.027 Ratings00 Ratings
    Scalability7.044 Ratings00 Ratings
    Platform management overhead7.043 Ratings00 Ratings
    Workflow engine capability6.030 Ratings00 Ratings
    Platform access control7.043 Ratings00 Ratings
    Services-enabled integration6.042 Ratings00 Ratings
    Development environment creation9.039 Ratings00 Ratings
    Development environment replication9.038 Ratings00 Ratings
    Issue monitoring and notification8.042 Ratings00 Ratings
    Issue recovery7.039 Ratings00 Ratings
    Upgrades and platform fixes7.044 Ratings00 Ratings
    Server Virtualization
    Comparison of Server Virtualization features of Heroku Platform and XenServer
    Feature
    Heroku Platform
    -
    Ratings
    XenServer
    7.6
    12 Ratings
    6% below category average
    Virtual machine automated provisioning00 Ratings7.011 Ratings
    Management console00 Ratings7.012 Ratings
    Live virtual machine backup00 Ratings8.010 Ratings
    Live virtual machine migration00 Ratings8.012 Ratings
    Hypervisor-level security00 Ratings8.011 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Heroku PlatformXenServer
    Small Businesses
    IBM Cloud Foundry
    Score8.5 out of 10
    Proxmox VE
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    IBM Cloud Private
    Score9.6 out of 10
    VMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    AWS Elastic Beanstalk
    Score8.6 out of 10
    IBM PowerVM
    Score9.6 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Heroku PlatformXenServer
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.0
    (47 ratings)
    7.0
    (12 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.5
    (6 ratings)
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    Usability
    9.2
    (17 ratings)
    7.0
    (3 ratings)
    Availability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    5.5
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    6.4
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.7
    (19 ratings)
    6.4
    (1 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    2.7
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.0
    (3 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.5
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.5
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.4
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Heroku PlatformXenServer
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Salesforce
    Heroku is very well suited for startups looking to get a server stack up and running quickly. There is little to no overhead when managing your instances. However, you'll need a background in basic DevOps or system management to make sure everything is set up correctly. In addition, it's easy to accidentally go crazy on pricing. Make sure you're only creating the server instances you need to run the base application and set up an auto-scaler plugin to handle peaks.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    It can be really helpful & useful if we are using Citrix Hypervisor with other provisioning tools. Here are some specific scenarios where Citrix Hypervisor (formerly Citrix XenServer) is well-suited: Server Consolidation, Virtual Desktops, Disaster Recovery, Development & Testing Environments. On the other hand, there are some scenarios where Citrix Hypervisor may be less appropriate: Small-scale Deployments, Highly Heterogeneous Environments, and Limited Virtualization Requirements.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Salesforce
    • Heroku has a very simple deployment model, making it easy to get your application up-and-running with minimal effort. We can focus on our efforts the unique aspects of our application.
    • The robust add-on marketplace makes it easy to try out new approaches with minimal effort and investment -- and when we settle on a solution, we can easily scale it.
    • Heroku's support is quite good -- their staff is quite technical and willing to get into the weeds to diagnose even complicated problems.
    Incentivized
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    Cloud Software Group
    • Citrix hypervisor does price very well for small organizations. It is free.
    • Since this product is open source it does not have any type of vendor lockdown issues.
    • Allows live migration of VM's so you can keep systems up and running when changes are needed to the hardware in the background.
    • The GUI management tools are quite easy to learn.
    • Has Snapshot capability which is a great way to protect against malware as well as do risk-free upgrades.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Salesforce
    • Large price jumps between certain resource tiers (2x Dyno for $50 per month versus Performance Dyno for $250). Free Postgres next jumps to $50 per month.
    • Marketing/Branding to non-technical stakeholders. As the years pass, I've had to fight more to convince stakeholders on the value of Heroku over AWS.
    • Improve Buildpack documentation. This is one area where Heroku's documentation is fairly confusing.
    Incentivized
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    Cloud Software Group
    • Adding or presenting additional storage to the host can often be a task that is far more involved than competitive products.
    • The product can require reboots more frequently than competitors due to the DOM kernel getting "hung up".
    • Sometimes when a virtual machine is deleted it still leaves behind orphaned vdisks.
    • Recovering from the loss of a host can sometimes cause virtual machines to require lengthy command prompt scripting to fix so they can be powered back on from another host.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Salesforce
    Heroku is easy to use, services a ton of functions for you out of the box, and provides a means to get a software product off the ground and managed quickly and easily. The tools provide allows a small to medium size org to move very quickly. The CLI tools provided make managing an entire technical infrastructure simple.
    Incentivized
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    Cloud Software Group
    With the knowledge and usage of solutions from VMware and Microsoft offering more compelling cloud integrated options it makes it more compelling in many environments which I consult. XenServer is a good product and fits the bill in many smaller environments but as clients look to the cloud or a hybrid cloud it can in some cases make it a bit more difficult.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Salesforce
    Easy to use web based console and easy to use command line tools; deployment is done directly from a GIT repository. What more could you ask for? The one thing that keeps me from giving it a 10 is that custom build packs are almost incomprehensible. We used one for a while because we needed cairo graphics processing. Fortunately, I was able to figure out a different way to do what we needed so that we could get off the custom build pack.
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    XenServer is a good product in its use and probably free if you have the right Citrix licenses already. However, it does require specific knowledge to manage, which makes it harder to manage if you don't have that knowledge in house.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Salesforce
    Heroku availability correlates pretty strongly to AWS US EAST availability. We had a couple of times where there was a Heroku-specific issue but not for the last 7-8 months.
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    It's been a little problematic in the past at larger VDI deployments requiring a bit more care and feeding than other vendors. But the latest releases (6.5.x) have brought about huge improvements in the stability and availability.
    Incentivized
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    Performance
    Salesforce
    The only issue that I ever have is that about 1 out of 20 deployments (git push) will hang and need to be cancelled and done again.
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    When running like a top XenServer is a fantastic hypervisor. There is relatively low overhead on the Dom0 so workloads get the most of the resources.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Salesforce
    I've used it for many years without facing any major problem. It's not hard at all to get used to it, it's documentation is outstanding and simple. We are close to 2020 and I don't think most of the existing companies or startups should still face old problems such as wasting time deploying code and calculate computing resources.
    Incentivized
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    Cloud Software Group
    The staff I've worked with are very knowledgeable or able to get a very well articulated and capable support team member on the phone or helping them if necessary and they always want to ensure the best experience possible for you on the platform. The ability for the support team to reach out to hardware vendors for assistance is a nice plus too.
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    Salesforce
    No answers on this topic
    Cloud Software Group
    Part of a training for certification to become a trainer for Citrix included an in-person training with a Master CCI. The XenServer training at this time was pretty simplified due to the product primarily being installed however you did have to work with it and mildly configure the system.
    Incentivized
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    Online Training
    Salesforce
    No answers on this topic
    Cloud Software Group
    Haven't given it a real go with any online training however there are some options out there. I have taught a course following Citrix material for XenDesktop which leverages XenServer and it is pre-built so not the best for XenServer specifically for installation but configuration is mildly touched on
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Salesforce
    Be ready to pay a bit more than expected in the beginning if you're migrating from a big server. The application is probably not ready for the change and you have to keep improving it with time.
    It's also important to consider that you can't save anything to the disc as it will be lost when your application restarts, so you have to think about using something like S3.
    Incentivized
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    Cloud Software Group
    Ensure you review the HCL (hardware compatibility list) and reach out to the hardware vendors to ensure they support the platform and in case they have documentation that can be followed for the implementation. Also ensure the prerequisites are completed prior to implementation so that as few unexpected delays occur as you can control.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Salesforce
    Heroku is the more expensive option for hosting compared to some of the cloud platforms we investigated, but it's worth it for us because of the plug-and-play nature of Heroku deployment. We can be up and running in a few minutes and know with precision how much it will cost us each month to run the application, unlike Amazon Web Services where you have to go to great pains to configure it correctly or else you might end up with a shocking monthly bill. Overall, spending the time to configure Amazon Web Services or one of its competitors is likely the more affordable and powerful choice, because you have control over so many specifics of the configuration. But it also requires the burden of continuing to maintain and update your AWS instance, whereas with Heroku they take care of security fixes and platform upgrades. It's a great service and we are happy to pay the extra cost for the value-adds Heroku provides.
    Incentivized
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    Cloud Software Group
    Feature for feature they are neck and neck. I have used Hyper-V 2012 and 2016, VMware ESXi and XenServer evenly. XenServer is a fast install, good documentation, with enterprise features out the box that compare or exceed what VMWare offered with a higher cost of entry.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Salesforce
    No answers on this topic
    Cloud Software Group
    The servers latest versions have made massive improvements to scalability. But from past experience there have been issues when running workloads for extended periods of time without reboot on the hosts. I would need to run similar workloads on the 6.5 release which has changed much of the bottlenecks or issues so I'd imagine its far more capable now, Perhaps able to stand near the best in the market.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Salesforce
    • It has been critical in seamlessly operating our platform with runs all of our programs.
    • It has been impressive with its ability to scale quickly which results in the growth of our work.
    • It allows for tracking of different features which allows for quick problem solving which saves us time.
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    Cloud Software Group
    • Xenserver is easy to learn. We paid for support only for installation and deployment in the first three years, and now our team has the knowledge to solve most problems.
    • Low CAPEX if you have a team that uses open source software day by day.
    • But paid support is necessary to solve critical problems. The open source community is not enough. Actually, we have difficulty solving some bugs without paying for support.
    • Medium OPEX if you have a team that uses open source software day by day.
    Incentivized
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