I used Heroku for years. It was my go-to for quick and easy deployments. But when they shut down their free tier, I found myself hunting for alternatives.

I tried a bunch from Render to Railway, but most either felt limited or too complex. What I really wanted was something that reduces my efforts, but with more control, lower costs, and without locking me in.

Eventually, I landed on Kuberns, and to my surprise, I migrated my Node.js app in under an hour, without breaking anything.

No YAML. No Complex Setups.

Here’s how the switch went, what changed for me, and why I wish I had done it sooner.

Before switching, I made a checklist:

• ✅ Git-based deployments
• ✅ Background worker support
• ✅ Cron jobs, logs, metrics
• ✅ Easy env variable management
• ✅ No vendor lock-in
• ✅ Simple dashboard
• ✅ Works with my Node.js app without rewriting code

Why I chose Kuberns?

I found Kuberns while looking for alternatives for Heroku.

What stood out:

• It runs on AWS, but you don’t need to manage EC2 or Kubernetes
• You get logs, metrics, service scaling, and custom domains built in
• It’s actually optimized for developers who need more control but with less work

There’s a full comparison here, but the gist is: same simplicity, better control, lower cost.

The Migration was also smooth (Under 1 Hour)

1. Connect GitHub

Signed up → Connected GitHub → Selected my Node.js repo. That’s it.

2. Choose Branch & Service Name

Picked the main branch and named the service. Kuberns auto-detected the Node.js runtime and didn’t require a Dockerfile.

No container setup. No infra headaches.

3. Add Environment Variables

I copied the same vars I had on Heroku. You can do it manually or upload a .env file.

4. Click “Deploy”

Watched real-time logs show up in the dashboard.

A few minutes later, the app was live, on a production-grade AWS backend, with HTTPS and metrics included.

What changed for me?

• Kuberns understood my Node.js app without needing any config changes. My start script worked. Background workers worked. Static files served as expected.

• Heroku’s pricing was adding up fast. Kuberns gave me more RAM, better scaling, and zero platform fees, since I only pay for the underlying AWS usage (and they’ve optimized that too).

  I’m already saving ~40% on AWS.

  👉 Compare Heroku and Kuberns

• The Kuberns dashboard shows RAM, CPU, request throughput, and build logs in one place.

• Need a background worker? Add it from the left sidebar.

• Want to tweak memory or storage? Done in one click.

• Custom domains, SSL, environment configs, it’s all built-in.

Should you move too?

If your app is growing, or you’re just tired of Heroku’s limitations, switching to something more modern makes sense.

And if you’re like me, someone who values speed, simplicity, and control without devops overhead, Kuberns hits a sweet spot.

You can migrate in under an hour and keep your code exactly as it is.

👉 Need help in migration? They will help you.