A self-hosted Heroku alternative
The push-to-deploy simplicity that made Heroku famous — git push and it's live — but on a server you own, driven by AI agents over MCP, with SSO, SCIM and a per-user audit log in the open-source build. One command to install. AGPL-3.0. Your infrastructure, your data, your keys.
Why leave the dyno
Heroku taught a generation of developers what a good deploy feels like: no servers to configure, HTTPS handled, a database a click away. It runs on Heroku's cloud and bills dyno time from wall-clock time, prorated to the second. SAML SSO is open to any Heroku team; Audit Trail is an Enterprise account feature. Since February 2026 Heroku has been in a sustaining engineering model focused on stability, security, reliability and support, and it no longer offers Enterprise Account contracts to new customers. Existing customers see no change.
AppCrane keeps the feel and moves the trust boundary. It installs on a plain Ubuntu box in one command and gives you Docker isolation per app, auto-HTTPS via Caddy, zero-downtime deploys, persistent /data volumes, scheduled cron jobs, whole-system backup with off-site S3, and Nixpacks builds for Python, Go, Ruby, Rust, PHP, Node, and more. The difference from Heroku: it's yours, it's open source, and an AI agent can drive the whole thing.
# one command on your Ubuntu server — then push to deploy curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gitayg/appCrane/main/install.sh | sudo bash
Agent-first, not just push-to-deploy
Heroku has an agent path too: its Platform MCP Server, in early development, runs through the Heroku CLI and can deploy with app.json, scale dynos and read app logs, all on Heroku's platform. AppCrane's MCP server runs on your own box and exposes 74 appcrane_* tools, so Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex can create an app, deploy to sandbox, roll back and promote to production in plain language, with each call audited against the user it acts for. Prefer the classic flow? Push from GitHub works too — or use a managed repo and ship without a GitHub account at all. Walkthrough: Deploy from Claude & Cursor.
| AppCrane | Heroku | |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting model | Self-hosted, your box | Heroku's cloud |
| Pricing | Free, on your server | Dyno time, prorated to the second; add-ons billed separately |
| Status | Active development | Sustaining engineering since Feb 2026 |
| Push-to-deploy | ✓ | ✓ |
| Agent / MCP control | MCP server on your box | Heroku MCP Server (early development) |
| Zero-downtime deploys | Default | Preboot, enabled per app |
| Single sign-on | SAML, OIDC, SCIM | SAML 2.0 for any team |
| Audit log | Per-user, every plan | Audit Trail on Enterprise accounts |
| Source | AGPL-3.0 | Vendor-operated |
| On-prem / air-gap | ✓ | Heroku-hosted |
What comes in the box
Docker isolation
Every app runs in its own container with sandbox and production environments.
Auto-HTTPS
Caddy provisions and renews TLS automatically, including custom domains.
Nixpacks builds
Deploy Python, Go, Ruby, Rust, PHP, Node, and more — not just one runtime.
Backup & restore
Whole-system backup plus scheduled off-site S3 backups for real disaster recovery.
Cron + /data
Declare scheduled jobs and get persistent volumes that survive every redeploy.
Enterprise auth
SAML/OIDC/SCIM SSO, four-role RBAC, and per-user token-bound audit, included.
Frequently asked
Is AppCrane a good self-hosted Heroku alternative?
Yes — one-command install, Docker isolation, auto-HTTPS, zero-downtime deploys, cron, and persistent volumes, plus SSO, SCIM, RBAC and a per-user audit log in the open-source build. And it's agent-first.
Does it have push-to-deploy?
Yes — push from GitHub, deploy over MCP with an agent, or use a managed repo with no GitHub account.
How does the pricing model differ?
AppCrane is free and open source and runs on a server you already pay for, with no metering. Heroku bills each dyno's wall-clock time, prorated to the second, and bills add-ons separately.
Can I run it air-gapped?
Yes, with your own TLS certificate and images loaded from an archive; dependency scanning needs network access. Self-host on any Ubuntu server, including on-prem or in a VPC. Code and secrets stay on your box.