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Sevalla has the best feature parity with Heroku on the market. No other alternative covers as many Heroku features out of the box. As of February 2026, Heroku has transitioned to maintenance-focused support. With Sevalla, you get the same workflow youā€™re used to (buildpacks, Procfiles, pipelines, preview apps, 12-factor architecture) without having to rethink how you deploy. Bring your existing Git repos, buildpacks, or Docker images and get running without changes. This guide explains how Heroku concepts map to Sevalla, enabling you to plan your migration with confidence. If you encounter any issues during the migration, weā€™ve got you covered. Contact our support team using the chat icon in the lower right corner of Sevalla.

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Why migrate to Sevalla

Beyond Herokuā€™s shift to maintenance mode, Sevalla provides several advantages:
  • Lower costs - Competitive pricing with no surprise add-on fees. Databases, object storage, CDN, and DDoS protection are integrated into the platform rather than sold as third-party add-ons.
  • Built-in CDN and edge caching - Powered by Cloudflareā€™s global network spanning 260+ cities in 100+ countries. Enabled with a single click, no add-on required.
  • DDoS protection included - Enterprise-level Cloudflare DDoS protection on every application at no extra cost.
  • Private networking - Internal connections between your applications and databases stay within the network, with no exposure to the public internet.
  • Flexible build options - Choose between Nixpacks (20+ languages), Heroku Buildpacks, or your own Dockerfile.
  • Preview environments - Automatically generated for pull requests through pipelines, making it easy to test changes before promoting to production.
  • Persistent storage - Attach disks directly to your application pods, something Heroku doesnā€™t natively support.
  • Modern analytics - Built-in compute and web analytics with request metrics, country-level breakdowns, response times, and zoomable charts.

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Feature mapping

The tables below show how Heroku features and terminology map to their Sevalla equivalents.

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Compute

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Deployment

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Networking

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Datastores

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Storage and assets

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Observability

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Platform

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Enterprise and security

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Phase 1: Prepare to migrate

Before moving anything, take inventory of your Heroku setup so nothing gets missed.

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Create a Sevalla account

Sign up at sevalla.com if you havenā€™t already. You can explore the dashboard and create resources before committing to a migration.

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Catalog your Heroku resources

For each Heroku app, document the following:
  1. Procfile processes - List every process type and its command. Each one maps to a Sevalla process:
  2. Config vars - Export all environment variables. You can import these into Sevalla via the dashboard or by uploading a .env file.
  3. Add-ons - Identify your Heroku Postgres, Redis, and any third-party add-ons. Many third-party services (like SendGrid, Mailgun, or Sentry) continue working after migration since they connect via environment variables.
  4. Custom domains - Note all custom domains and their DNS configuration.

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Phase 2: Recreate your app on Sevalla

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Step 1: Create datastores first

Create your databases before deploying your application so the app can connect immediately on first deploy.
You are not moving data yet. This step creates empty databases for your application to connect to. Data migration happens in Phase 3.
To create a database:
  1. In the Sevalla dashboard, go to Databases > Create database.
  2. Select the database type and version (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Redis, or Valkey).
  3. Configure the database name, user, and password.
  4. Select a data center location - this must match the location you choose for your application to enable internal connections.
  5. Choose a resource size and click Create database.
Create a database in Sevalla

Create a database in Sevalla.

Repeat for each datastore you need to migrate (e.g. one for Postgres, one for Redis).

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Step 2: Create your application

  1. In the dashboard, go to Applications > Create > Application.
  2. Connect your Git provider (GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket) and select your repository, or deploy from a Docker image.
  3. Choose the same data center location as your databases.
  4. Select a process size.
Add an application from a private Git repository

Add an application from a private Git repository.

Donā€™t deploy yet. Configure your environment variables and processes first.

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Step 3: Configure environment variables

  1. Go to your applicationā€™s Environment variables tab.
  2. Add your Heroku config vars - you can paste key=value pairs in bulk or import a .env file.
  3. Set each variableā€™s availability to Runtime, Build, or both.
Add environment variables to your application

Add environment variables to your application.

Sevalla does not automatically set NODE_ENV to production. Add it manually if your application depends on it.

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Step 4: Set up internal connections

Connect your application to the databases you created in Step 1:
  1. Go to your applicationā€™s Networking tab.
  2. Under Connected services, click Add internal connection.
  3. Select the database and select Add environment variables to the application to auto-populate connection details (e.g. DATABASE_HOST, DATABASE_PORT, DATABASE_USER, DATABASE_PASSWORD, DATABASE_NAME).
  4. Click Add connection.
Add an internal connection to your database

Add an internal connection to your database.

Internal connections stay within the Sevalla network and are faster and more secure than external connections.

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Step 5: Set up processes

If your Heroku app uses multiple Procfile processes, add the equivalent processes in Sevalla:
  1. Go to your applicationā€™s Processes tab.
  2. Update the web process start command if needed.
  3. Click Create new process to add background workers, cron jobs, or jobs as needed.
Update the web process start command and configuration

Update the web process start command and configuration.

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Step 6: Configure build settings

Sevalla defaults to Nixpacks for builds. If you prefer to keep using Heroku Buildpacks:
  1. Go to Settings > Build strategy > Update build strategy.
  2. Select Buildpacks and choose the appropriate Heroku Pack builder.
Update build strategy to use Heroku Buildpacks

Update build strategy to use Heroku Buildpacks.

You can also switch to a Dockerfile if your project uses one.

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Phase 3: Migrate data and go live

This phase requires brief downtime for your application. Schedule it during off-peak hours.

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Step 1: Enable maintenance mode on Heroku

Prevent new writes to your Heroku database during migration:

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Step 2: Export your Heroku database

PostgreSQL:
This creates a latest.dump file locally. Redis: Export your Redis data using the method appropriate for your dataset size. For smaller datasets, you can use redis-cli with the --rdb flag or a tool like redis-dump.

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Step 3: Import data into Sevalla

Get your Sevalla databaseā€™s external connection details from the databaseā€™s Networking tab (enable external connections temporarily if needed).
Database external connection details

Database external connection details.

PostgreSQL:
MySQL:
For detailed import instructions, see the database-specific guides:

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Alternative: Server-to-server migration without downloading

If downloading the database to a local machine is not an option (e.g. for security or compliance reasons, or the dataset is too large), you can spin up a lightweight Sevalla application that migrates data directly between the two databases. Data flows server-to-server and never touches a local machine.
  1. Create a new Sevalla application with a Dockerfile that includes the database client tools you need (e.g. postgres:17 or mysql:9 images already have them).
  2. Add environment variables for both the Heroku source and the Sevalla target connection strings.
  3. Set the start command to pipe the export directly into the import:
PostgreSQL:
MySQL:
  1. Deploy the application and monitor the logs to track progress.
  2. Once the migration completes, delete the migration application.
This approach keeps your data in transit between servers only, which is important for large databases and environments with strict data handling policies. Make sure both databases are accessible from the Sevalla applicationā€™s data center.

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Step 4: Deploy your application

Go to your applicationā€™s Deployments page and click Deploy now. Monitor the deployment log to verify everything builds and starts correctly.
Manually deploy your application

Manually deploy your application.

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Step 5: Update DNS records

Once your application is running on Sevalla:
  1. Go to your applicationā€™s Domains tab and add your custom domain.
  2. Add the TXT record for domain verification at your DNS provider.
  3. Add the CNAME record for SSL certificate provisioning.
  4. Update your A record to point to the IP address provided by Sevalla.
  5. Allow time for DNS propagation.
Verify your custom domain

Verify your custom domain.

For step-by-step instructions, see Custom domains.

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Step 6: Verify and disable Heroku

After confirming your application works correctly on Sevalla:
  1. Test all critical functionality.
  2. Verify database data integrity.
  3. Check that background workers and cron jobs are running as expected.
  4. Disable external connections on your Sevalla database if you enabled them for import.
  5. Scale down or delete your Heroku resources.

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Whatā€™s next

Now that your application is running on Sevalla, explore these features:
  • Pipelines - Set up dev/staging/production environments with preview apps.
  • CDN and edge caching - Enable the built-in Cloudflare CDN for faster delivery.
  • Analytics - Monitor performance with built-in compute and web analytics.
  • Auto-scaling - Configure automatic horizontal scaling based on CPU usage.
  • Webhooks - Get notified about deployment events and resource lifecycle changes.
If you encounter any issues during the migration, weā€™ve got you covered. Contact our support team using the chat icon in the lower right corner of Sevalla.