Contributing Technology Writer
This article offers ideas, comparisons, and fresh opportunities for third-party add-ons developers who’re looking for an alternative to Heroku because they’re starved, thirsty, and pining for greener pastures.
PaaS marketplaces are a happy place for app-running users who want to focus on the logic, coding, and management of their web apps while paying less mind to infrastructure, middleware, hosting web applications, and all that jazz.
For the third-party addons, services, and integrations vendors who make such happy places possible, it’s not as easy to see the light.
Why most addons marketplaces suck
Addons are the lifeblood of PaaS (the kind of platforms-as-a-service that host web apps), doing it justice, quite literally, by making the PaaS look good at the addon’s expense.
Just consider Heroku, and its range of Heroku Elements that streamline, simplify, and cut costs for Heroku users as they deploy apps and manage them there on a daily basis.
Unfortunately, there are still a number of reasons why it’s not lucrative to be a Heroku add-on vendor, even if your addon is a wild success.
Yet, addons devs are forced to rely on PaaS marketplaces like Heroku and the DigitalOcean app platform for their bread, because they represent an instant potential customer base and a way to showcase and provision their services—and because that's where addons have always been sold!
On the addons and integrations marketplaces that fit into these sprawling web-applications-hosting environments, addon devs have access to application developers who’re in need of ready-to-go, critical components for their apps.
Heroku takes advantage of this by charging addon devs a staggering 30% of all revenue for the privilege—and other marketplaces follow suit.
We’re perturbed by this, but we’re proud to offer some solutions. That’s why we’re counting down to the best alternative to Heroku for the marketing, sales, and provisioning of your add-on.
Let’s start with how we approached our best Heroku alternatives comparison. Bear in mind that these are all factors that addon devs should consider when searching for ideal markets to sell their addons.
How we evaluated our alternative-to-Heroku contenders
To evaluate our contenders for the position of best Heroku alternative, we asked the same questions that developers like you should be asking when evaluating PaaS markets for your addons.
We didn't bother to include platforms like Google App Engine or Azure App Service because they don't offer add-on marketplaces in the true sense, and not for addons as we see them. Both Google App Engine and Azure App service let users build and deploy mobile apps, web apps, and static sites via their cloud servers.
However, their addons and integrations ecosystems don't compete as income-source alternatives to Heroku for add-on devs, and they don't automate the provisioning process like our contenders do.
Render has an addons market in the pipeline, but it's been in the pipeline for some time, and, since we don't have much info in that regard, we didn't want to get lost in speculation. However, you can read more about that in our Render vs Heroku comparison.
We chose our Heroku alternatives based on:
1. Accessibility to the target audience
We assessed whether the marketplace was easily accessible to our target audience of web application developers and businesses. Being readily available to your targets ensures maximum exposure and reach. Also, how many potential customers are you cut off from because they're not users of that particular app engine, app deployment, and app management platform?
2. Visibility and promotional opportunities
We analyzed the Heroku alternatives' capabilities to provide sufficient visibility and promotional opportunities for add-on products. We identified the best Heroku alternatives that offer effective marketing channels and promotional support to enhance the discoverability of the addons. Many PaaS Heroku alternatives exist but, if they don't offer an accessible market for third-party addons, they have no business on our list.
3. Submission and listing requirements
We examined the requirements and guidelines for submitting and listing addons on each of our marketplace Heroku alternatives. A straightforward process with transparent guidelines was essential to facilitate a seamless experience for vendors. Also, how long will you need to stay in the free tier, and what are the rules around free plans? Many platforms—and Heroku is a big culprit here—have lengthy Beta testing periods in which you're forced to foot the bill for free-plan Beta users.
4. Provisioning convenience
We evaluated the provisioning process on each marketplace to determine if it was quick, seamless, and convenient for customers, and how easily addons could be provisioned and up-tiered during horizontal and vertical scaling. An efficient provisioning and scaling system ensures a positive user experience and encourages adoption by new users.
5. Revenue sharing and pricing models
This is a big deal, and we know only one fair-trade addons marketplace—our #1. We examined how each cloud platform handled revenue sharing or pricing models for addon sales. Fair and competitive revenue share agreements mean profit for you. This article is about where you can make the most profit in the long run, so it was important for us to compare this info.
6. Functionalities and technology support
We asked whether there were any limitations or restrictions on the functionalities or technologies supported by add-ons. Compatibility with a wide range of functionalities and technologies allows vendors to cater to diverse user needs and evolving tech standards. Customers who're bound to an addon with limited technology support could be bound to a sinking ship. So, we want to ensure that your marketplace isn't setting you up to fail.
7. Marketplace community activity and diversity
We assessed the level of activity within the marketplace community, and the diversity of its users. An active and diverse community fosters collaboration, knowledge sharing, and potential business opportunities. Some platforms listed are still very much up and coming, but a niche target audience puts a cap on growth potential, whereas a diverse spectrum means the sky's the limit.
8. Target audience limitations
We examined whether the marketplace limited vendors to a specific demographic, such as small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). A marketplace that caters to a global network and a broader audience (as mentioned in our previous point) provides greater market potential for vendors.
9. Tools and resources for vendor management
We considered whether the platform-as-a-service offered all the tools and resources to assist vendors in creating and managing their listings. Access to comprehensive vendor management tools streamlines the process and improves efficiency, whereas an arduous approval process with micro-management from the platform can become costly and wasteful for the vendor.
10. Support for marketing, documentation, and troubleshooting
Other than all the tools and resources, we evaluated the level of support provided by the marketplace around marketing, documentation, and troubleshooting. Adequate support in these areas helps vendors effectively promote and maintain their add-ons.
11. PaaS partnership expectations
Importantly, we analyzed the complicated documentation that makes up the average third-party vendor agreement for addons devs, to determine whether the PaaS is taking such complete control of your business that they’re less of a partner and more of a boss. This is very much the case with Heroku, and it's probably part of the reason why you're shopping for an alternative to Heroku now.
12. User feedback and reputation
We investigated whether each marketplace has review or rating systems to showcase user feedback and reputation for add-on developers. Positive user feedback and a strong reputation contribute to the credibility and success of vendors.
13. Analytics and insights
We considered whether the marketplace offers analytics or insights on add-on performance and user engagement. Access to relevant data allows vendors to make informed decisions and optimize their offerings.
14. Security and data privacy
We asked how each marketplace handles security and data privacy aspects for addons. Ensuring robust security measures and compliance with data privacy regulations is critical to maintaining user trust. We feel that security compliance and best practices should be mandatory for all add-ons being curated for public markets.
15. Updates and maintenance process
We assessed whether the marketplace had a clear process for updates and maintenance of add-ons. Regular updates and maintenance contribute to the longevity and reliability of add-ons.
16. Exclusive partnerships and design requirements
This is another big one, we asked if there were any exclusive or preferred partnerships, or platform-tailored design requirements that may affect the distribution of add-ons or result in vendor lock-in. Vendor lock-in is a dilemma for addon's customers looking to migrate or scale to another platform. Their reliance on Heroku-tailored addons makes the process complex and costly. We know that addon vendors could gain and maintain more clients if this wasn't a factor.
Countdown of PaaS marketplaces for addon devs
You may be dismayed to see Heroku on our list of Heroku alternatives, but we did that to drive home the point that, when it comes to addon marketplaces, there really aren't that many viable competitors! What's more, among the front runners (all except number one), most of Heroku's cons aren't even that unique.
In fact, there are only minor differences between Heroku and our number two and three alternatives to Heroku in terms of addon sales. Unfortunately, that's just the sad state of the present sales landscape for addon devs.
The truth is, if you're looking for an awesome place to sell your addons for a decent freakin' profit, your options are seriously limited. Luckily for you, there's a solution waiting at number one.
#4 Heroku
The Heroku Elements marketplace is a thriving ecosystem of third-party addon vendors, and web application devs looking for managed critical services to add to their stacks.
Heroku has an impressive range of users running everything from sprawling web-based platforms to free-tier static sites. Unfortunately, Heroku's hefty revenue share demands drive up addons prices for buyers, while slimming down profits for addons devs.
Pros
Ease of use—Provides a user-friendly platform for you to list and provision your add-ons.
Established marketplace—Offers a well-established marketplace with a large user base, providing instant potential exposure for addon developers—once you make it through Heroku's rigorous Beta testing and approval phase.
Flexibility—Supports various functionalities and technologies, allowing developers to create diverse add-ons, however, there are certain design requirements that may cause issues, but more about that in the cons.
Collaboration opportunities—Active community with a fairly diverse spread of Heroku users, fostering collaboration and potential business partnerships.
Billing and payments—Heroku handles the billing and payments for addon sales, simplifying the financial aspects for vendors.
Cons
Accessibility—While widely recognized, this competitive marketplace may make it hard for new addon developers to find a foothold for themselves.
Visibility—The marketplace's vast range of addons can result in higher competition and decreased visibility for individual addon products. At the time of writing, there are 203 addons listed on Heroku.
Submission & listing requirements—Specific, rigorous guidelines for submitting and listing addons mean additional effort and potential hurdles for developers. On Heroku, the lengthy four-phase approval and testing processes require plenty of Heroku-specified work and hosting of Beta users in the free tier without any income for you.
Revenue sharing—Heroku charges an atrocious 30% of all revenue for addons, which can significantly impact profitability, making it less than lucrative for developers. Essentially, this kind of cut more than doubles your expenses, and this is after an extended period of testing and trial phases with no income. To learn more about Heroku's trial phases, read this Render vs Heroku review post.
Support & documentation—While providing decent support, some developers may find the level of support for marketing, documentation, and troubleshooting queries insufficient.
Updates and maintenance—The process for updates and maintenance of addons on the marketplace may have limitations or lack clear guidelines, potentially causing challenges for developers.
Partnerships & design requirements—Heroku doesn't have exclusive partnerships, but there are numerous design requirements that are mandatory in order to get your addon approved for sale to Heroku users. These requirements are well known to limit flexibility, resulting in vendor lock-in for your users. Heroku is notorious for tricky and costly migration processes, and the result is usually poor customer gains and retention for you.
#3 AWS
The AWS Marketplace enables developers and third-party vendors to sell addons, products, and services that integrate with and complement AWS services.
Their digital catalog only allows you to find, buy, and deploy software and services that run on the AWS platform. Customers can discover, compare, and purchase these offerings directly through the AWS Management Console.
Pros
Wide customer base—AWS Marketplace provides access to a large customer base, allowing vendors to reach a vast audience and potentially increase sales. However, only AWS customers apply.
Scalability—AWS offers a highly scalable infrastructure, so vendors can handle growing customer demands and accommodate increased addon usage.
Simplified billing and payment—AWS handles the billing and payment processes, making it easier for vendors to manage transactions and receive payments for their add-on sales.
Integration with AWS ecosystem—Vendors can leverage the existing AWS ecosystem and integrate their addons with other AWS services, expanding functionality and enhancing customer experience.
Cons
Revenue share—AWS retains a 25+/- percentage (depending on your product and specific agreement) of the addon sales as revenue share. Some studies have indicated a gross 30-40% profit margin for addon vendors here, which has to be better than Heroku, but Addons.io is still likely to top that by 10-20%.
Competitiveness—AWS Marketplace hosts numerous vendors, leading to increased competition and the need for effective marketing strategies to stand out. Also, when it comes to critical service addons, it's challenging to access third-party listings, and most of them seem to be made by Amazon.
Approval process—Like Heroku, vendors need to go through an extensive approval process before their addons can be listed, which means delays, work, adjustments, and costs before you actually start earning an income.
Dependency on AWS infrastructure—Given the nature of AWS, it’s easy for vendors in the space to become dependent on the AWS ecosystem and infrastructure, which could limit their flexibility to explore other customer bases, platforms, or marketplaces.
Support and documentation—The level of support and documentation for vendors may vary, and some vendors may require additional assistance or resources to navigate the AWS Marketplace effectively. Unless you have plenty of time on your hands, and unless you’re an experienced mid to senior developer, their Marketplace can be an ordeal to navigate.
#2 Digital Ocean
DigitalOcean Marketplace offers developers, at the time of writing, a total of 308 addons that can be quickly deployed to their DigitalOcean infrastructure.
Offering simplicity and ease of use, Digital Ocean allows devs to discover and incorporate addons into their DigitalOcean-hosted applications with minimal effort.
Pros
Infrastructure flexibility—Provides developers with a flexible infrastructure, empowering them to customize and tailor their add-ons according to their specific requirements and preferences.
Developer support—Offers a supportive community and resources, including forums, tutorials, and documentation, to assist developers in troubleshooting, learning, and optimizing their add-ons.
Cost-effective solutions—Provides affordable pricing plans, enabling devs to manage their addons within budget constraints and scale their offerings as needed.
Control & management—Equips devs with granular control and simplified management tools, empowering them to efficiently maintain and update their addons on the platform.
Cons
Accessibility—Although DigitalOcean offers straightforward onboarding and documentation, its focus on devs with a preference for infrastructure-level control may limit its appeal to a sizeable subset of developers.
Visibility—The marketplace for addons on DigitalOcean may have lower overall traffic compared to larger platforms, resulting in potentially limited exposure for addon developers.
Revenue sharing—The platform takes 25% of all revenue from addon devs, which is better than Heroku and most other Heroku alternatives, but still not ideal. There are also hidden fees and costs that are vaguely outlined in their revenue share agreement. This may raise concerns for devs over the financial viability and profitability of their addons. It's very close to AWS in terms of vendor profit margins.
Partnerships & design —DigitalOcean does not have exclusive partnerships, but its focus on specific technologies and infrastructure requirements may limit flexibility and result in additional development or compatibility efforts for addon developers.
The limitations of go-to add-on marketplaces for add-on devs
The truth is, Heroku and all of the alternatives feature the same set of drawbacks in terms of product control, integration requirements, vendor lock-in, and revenue share—all of which heavily affect addon vendor profit margins.
However, there's one platform that's in it to change all that.
Our number one is a place that's dedicated to addons and addons only, making addons more profitable for the devs who make them, and cheaper for the devs who buy them.
#1 AddOns.io
Addons.io isn't an app platform, it won't let you build web applications and deploy apps, and it won't handle your infrastructure or hosting.
Addons.io isn't for deploying apps, and it won't force you to languish in the free tier for months while you adjust to its requirements and lock yourself (and your customers) in. It's just an addon marketplace—and that's what makes it perfect for addon devs.
The addons sold here aren't tied to any cloud platform—they're independent.
This means that, as an addon marketplace, Addons.io won't subject you to any of the cons around design requirements, control, management, updates, maintenance, and limited customer base that we see so much of on other platforms.
Pros
Accessibility to the target audience— Addons.io targets devs across various platforms and solutions who are actively seeking critical service addons for their stacks. This fact that it’s focused on addon sales from the start, and from such a diverse audience, increases the chances of attracting potential buyers.
Visibility and promotional opportunities—Since Addons.io isn’t a sideshow marketplace in the midst of a complex PaaS like Heroku or AWS, it's better for sellers and buyers alike. It’s a dedicated marketplace for addons, making it highly accessible and intuitive for visitors. Listings are prominently displayed, providing quick access to your product details, pricing, and a summary of features. Buyers can easily explore specifications, use cases, pricing, and choose packages.
Submission and listing requirements—Addons.io follows a curated approach, considering only security-compliant and quality addons. However, it doesn't impose platform-specific submission and listing requirements, saving you time, effort, and money on rigorous approvals and extended testing.
Provisioning convenience—Addons.io offers instant access and provisioning for addon buyers, with billing and payment handled by Addons.io so there’s less complication for you. Instant provisioning and billing mean you can reach more customers and make more sales.
Revenue sharing and pricing models—Addons.io has the most competitive revenue share agreement in the industry and only asks for a 20% share of your revenue. This is a full 10% lower than Heroku, increasing your profit margin.
Functionalities and technology support—Addons.io doesn't impose limitations on add-on functionalities, technology, or partnerships. As a diverse marketplace for independent buyers and sellers, it allows flexibility and innovation without platform-enforced restrictions.
Marketplace community activity and diversity—While the Addons.io marketplace is still growing, it has the potential to be the most active and diverse marketplace online because its addon buyers and sellers are not limited to users and technologies associated with a particular PaaS like AWS or Heroku.
Target audience limitations—There are no limitations on the target audience for your add-ons on Addons.io.
User feedback and reputation—Every Addons.io product page includes links to customer feedback and testimonials on the add-on developer's site, allowing potential buyers to gain insights into your addon's reputation.
Updates and maintenance process—Updates and maintenance for addons are handled by each independent addon provider. Addons.io exercises no control or limitations besides mandatory security requirements, making regular maintenance and updates straightforward.
Control & management—Equips devs with granular control and simplified management tools, empowering them to efficiently maintain and update their addons on the platform.
Exclusive partnerships and design requirements—Addons.io isn’t a PaaS provider like Heroku or AWS, it’s just an addons marketplace, and it demands no exclusivity or design requirements to list your add-on. We prefer not to put a cap on innovation and creative evolution, and we’d like Addons.io to become and remain the most diverse and thriving add-on marketplace around.
Cons
Still a growing marketplace—Addons.io is a growing marketplace, so it may take time to reach the customer base size of established platforms like Heroku. However, there are no limitations on the customer base, and it seems the most likely to become a thriving, go-to marketplace in the mid- to long-term.
In conclusion
As far as Heroku alternatives for addon sales go, only Addons.io enables developers of addons to access, market, and sell to a diverse spread of web application developers, with no limitations set on which platform-as-a-service or infrastructure provider they use.
Addons.io is disrupting the market and offering a brighter, more flexible future for addon devs and buyers. Doing away with PaaS-specific add-ons for PaaS-specific customers, AddOns.io is a place for independent startups and addon devs who prefer to be tied to no one but themselves.
With so many pros, and because there is only one, temporary con, Addons.io is the best alternative to Heroku for addon devs, so why not Sign Up Free today?
FAQ
Where can I sell add-ons besides Heroku?
There are numerous PaaS whose primary function is hosting and providing infrastructure on which to build web applications. A handful of these sites, including Digital Ocean, Render, and AWS, now offer third-party addons marketplaces where you can sell your addon to the users who build their apps there.
These PaaS generally charge over 25% of revenue for addon sales. The addon marketplace with the fairest revenue share and the most diverse potential client base is Addons.io, where the sole focus is buying and selling addons!
Can I sell add-ons on a PaaS marketplace?
Yes, you can. However, there are many factors to consider when choosing a PaaS marketplace that aligns with your business needs.
Heroku, Digital Ocean, and AWS offer thriving addons marketplaces and ecosystems where you can interact and do business with other platform users, but these platforms have some serious drawbacks.
For addons sales and marketing, Addons.io is the best PaaS marketplace, with the most diverse potential customer base and the fairest revenue share deal for addon devs.