Ink vs Heroku
How Ink compares to Heroku — from legacy PaaS to agent-native infrastructure
Heroku pioneered platform-as-a-service. git push heroku main changed how developers deployed code. But Heroku was designed in 2007 for a world where humans typed commands and read dashboards.
Feature comparison
| Ink | Heroku | |
|---|---|---|
| Agent integration | Skill (prompt-guided), MCP (Streamable HTTP), CLI | MCP via local Heroku CLI |
| MCP capabilities | Full read/write: deploy, delete, scale, databases, DNS, logs, metrics | App lifecycle, Postgres ops, add-ons, pipelines, teams |
| Infrastructure | Bare metal (self-owned dedicated servers) | AWS (cloud VMs) |
| Build system | Railpack auto-detection, Dockerfile, Static | Buildpacks (Cedar), Cloud Native Buildpacks (Fir) |
| Pricing model | Per-minute compute billing, no seat fees | Per-dyno billing + database fees |
| Databases | PostgreSQL, Redis, MySQL, MongoDB (via templates) | Paid Postgres, Redis, and Kafka add-ons |
| Sleep behavior | No sleep — services run continuously | Eco dynos sleep after 30 min inactivity |
| WebSockets | Native support, no platform request timeout | Supported, with router inactivity behavior |
| HTTP timeout | No enforced platform request timeout | Router request timeout behavior applies |
| DNS management | Full programmatic DNS via MCP (A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, CAA) | No DNS hosting — external provider required |
| Docker support | Dockerfile build pack | Container Registry + heroku.yml |
| GraphQL API | Yes, with introspection | No |
Capabilities checklist
| Capability | Ink | Heroku |
|---|---|---|
| MCP server | ✅ | ✅ |
| Agent Skill (prompt-guided) | ✅ | ❌ |
| CLI | ✅ | ✅ |
| No CLI required for MCP | ✅ | ❌ |
| Multi-agent collaboration | ✅ | ❌ |
| Deploy via MCP | ✅ | ✅ |
| Delete services via MCP | ✅ | ✅ |
| Provision databases via MCP | ✅ | ✅ |
| DNS management via MCP | ✅ | ❌ |
| Metrics via MCP | ✅ | ❌ |
| Logs via MCP | ✅ | ✅ |
| GraphQL API | ✅ | ❌ |
| Bare metal infrastructure | ✅ | ❌ |
| No HTTP request timeout | ✅ | ❌ |
| No sleep/cold start on any tier | ✅ | ❌ |
| Per-minute billing | ✅ | ❌ |
| Add-on marketplace | ❌ | ✅ |
Where the gap is real
Agent integration: one path vs three
Heroku's MCP server wraps the Heroku CLI. It runs as a local stdio process requiring the Heroku CLI and heroku login authentication. Agents can manage apps, scale dynos, read logs, and operate Postgres — a solid set of tools. But it's the only integration path.
Ink gives agents three ways in. The Skill teaches agents the Ink CLI through a prompt file — zero infrastructure, the simplest setup for Claude Code users. The MCP server at https://mcp.deployink.com/ exposes 30+ tools over Streamable HTTP — no CLI needed, works with any MCP client. The CLI works standalone for scripts and CI/CD.
Router timeouts
Heroku's router timeout model means long-running web work usually needs streaming progress or a background worker dyno. You can stream AI responses if data flows regularly, but silent long computation and idle connections need architectural workarounds.
Ink runs persistent processes with no enforced HTTP timeout. Streaming, long-polling, SSE — all work without architectural workarounds.
Eco dyno sleep
Heroku's low-cost shared dyno path sleeps web dynos after inactivity and is limited by shared monthly hours. When hours are exhausted, dynos sleep for the rest of the month.
Ink services run continuously. No sleep behavior, no cold starts, no hour pools.
DNS is external
Heroku doesn't host DNS. You register a domain elsewhere, host DNS elsewhere, and configure CNAME records pointing to Heroku's DNS targets. TLS is automated via ACM, but the DNS layer is entirely your responsibility.
Ink manages DNS programmatically through MCP. Delegate your zone to ns1.ml.ink and ns2.ml.ink, and your agent creates A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, and CAA records directly. No external DNS provider needed.
Infrastructure cost
Heroku runs on AWS. You pay Heroku's platform margin on top of the underlying cloud cost, with dyno pricing varying by dyno class and database fees billed separately.
Ink runs on bare metal — self-owned dedicated servers. No cloud provider markup. Per-minute billing for actual compute consumed.
What Heroku does well
Heroku's add-on marketplace is unmatched. The Fir generation brings Kubernetes-based infrastructure with ARM processors. And git push heroku main remains one of the most intuitive deployment experiences ever designed — for humans.