With all the discussion in the dev community lately about changes made at Heroku, we wanted to use this moment to talk about PaaS (Platform as a Service) providers and how AppSignal can be a vital tool to ensure you're using your app's hosts for everything from optimal performance to lower usage bills.

What Is PaaS?

Platform as a Service, or PaaS, is essentially a hosting solution that handles all the infrastructure headaches for you. Instead of managing servers, configuring databases, or worrying about scaling infrastructure yourself, PaaS providers give you a ready-made environment where you can deploy your application and let them handle the rest.

Think of it like renting a fully furnished apartment versus building a house from scratch. With PaaS, you get the keys to a space that's already set up with everything you need, you just move your app in and start using it.

What PaaS Does for You

PaaS platforms take care of a lot of the heavy lifting that would otherwise fall on your shoulders (or your DevOps team's shoulders). Here's what they typically handle:

• Server Management: No need to provision, configure, or maintain physical or virtual servers. The PaaS provider handles all of that behind the scenes.

• Automatic Scaling: When your app gets a traffic spike, PaaS platforms can automatically scale your resources up or down based on demand. No manual intervention needed.

• Database Management: Most PaaS providers offer managed database services, so you don't have to worry about database setup, backups, or maintenance.

• Deployment Pipeline: Push your code, and the platform handles the deployment process, often with built-in CI/CD capabilities that make shipping updates a breeze.

• Security & Compliance: PaaS providers handle security patches, SSL certificates, and compliance requirements, so you can focus on building features instead of security audits.

• Monitoring & Logging: Built-in tools for tracking your app's health, though (as we'll see) you might want something more comprehensive.

• Load Balancing: Traffic distribution across multiple instances happens automatically, ensuring your app stays responsive even under heavy load.

The beauty of PaaS is that it lets developers focus on what they do best, writing code and building features, while the platform handles the infrastructure complexity. But as with any powerful tool, understanding how to monitor and optimize your PaaS usage is key to getting the most out of it.

Why Monitoring Your PaaS Matters

The convenience of PaaS can come with its downsides if you don't properly manage your app.

Unlike traditional self-hosted setups where you can configure your stack on a granular level to meet your app's needs, with PaaS you can run the risk of bill shock through things like usage or storage spikes or choosing a package that's too small for your app's needs, and if you choose a package that's too large for your needs you risk paying for more than what you need.

How AppSignal Helps You Leverage Your Platforms

AppSignal comes with a vast suite of tools that help you rein in your app's performance and keep it running smoothly, like:

AppSignal Host Monitoring: Your Key to Infrastructure Insights

Most importantly, though, our Host Monitoring tool gives you key insights into your host metrics, helping you make critical, informed decisions about your hosts to prevent billing shock and downtime. These metrics include:

• CPU usage: Is your CPU maxed out? Track CPU usage in real-time and over time to spot performance bottlenecks before they impact your users.

• Disk I/O: Is your disk I/O causing slowdowns? Monitor read and write operations to identify when disk activity is slowing down your app's performance.

• Disk usage: Are your disks half full or half empty? Keep an eye on your disk space to avoid running out of storage and prevent unexpected downtime.

• Load average: Do you need to scale up? Use load average insights to understand when your system is under stress and when it's time to add more resources.

• Memory usage: How is your memory holding up? Monitor memory consumption to catch memory leaks early and ensure your app has enough headroom to handle traffic spikes.

• Network usage: Is your network traffic getting too high? Track data sent and received to understand your bandwidth needs and avoid hitting network limits.

Like all of our tools, we've designed Host Monitoring to be intuitive to use and help you make data-driven decisions without becoming an expert in DevOps, unlike some tools that often overwhelm you with a vast array of metrics (we're looking at you, Datadog). At AppSignal, we keep things simple, choosing to show you the information you need rather than all the information we have:

Set Up Log Drains for Deeper Observability

Wherever you can run your app, you can run AppSignal. It's that simple. We offer log drain support for popular PaaS platforms, so you can stream your platform logs into AppSignal and combine them with all of your app's logs and metrics for complete visibility.

AppSignal supports log drains for the following platforms:

• AWS Kinesis / CloudWatch
• Clever Cloud
• Gigalixir - Built specifically for Elixir and Phoenix applications, Gigalixir offers a Heroku-like experience tailored for the Elixir ecosystem.
• Heroku - Install the AppSignal add-on for Heroku
• Netlify
• Render - A modern PaaS that supports Docker and makes it easy to deploy from Git, with automatic SSL and zero-downtime deployments.
• Scalingo
• Vector
• Vercel

AppSignal Supported PaaS Platforms

AppSignal runs wherever your app does. For popular hosting platforms, we also support log drains. Here are some of the places AppSignal can give you extra insights into your application's performance and health.

Heroku

Founded in 2007, Heroku was one of the first cloud platforms to make deploying web applications truly simple. For a lot of devs, particularly those who work in Ruby, there is a chance they've shipped with Heroku their entire career.

With Heroku log drains, you can stream your app logs straight into AppSignal to combine metrics, errors, and logs in one place.

For even deeper visibility, our Heroku Automated Dashboard gives you dedicated views for status codes, Redis, and PostgreSQL so you can answer questions like why your app is returning error codes or how much memory your database is using.

Install the AppSignal add-on for Heroku or set up Heroku log drains.

While Heroku may be navigating some changes, we're committed to supporting the Heroku community and continuously developing our popular Heroku add-on that is relied on by thousands of devs every day.

Scalingo

Founded in 2014, Scalingo is a European PaaS that offers a Heroku-like experience with a focus on developer experience and GDPR compliance. With Scalingo log drains, you can stream your app logs straight into AppSignal to combine metrics, errors, and logs in one place.

Set up Scalingo log drains.

Clever Cloud

Founded in 2010, Clever Cloud is a French PaaS that provides auto-scaling infrastructure with pay-as-you-go pricing, making it easy to deploy and scale applications. Clever Cloud log drains can be wired up to AppSignal so you can ship platform logs alongside your application telemetry.

Set up Clever Cloud log drains.

AWS Kinesis / CloudWatch

AWS Kinesis Data Firehose and CloudWatch Logs make it easy to stream your application and infrastructure logs into AppSignal using our log drains, so you get all your AWS insights in one place.

Set up AWS Kinesis / CloudWatch log drains.

Vercel

Founded in 2015, Vercel lets you deploy full-stack applications using serverless functions and API routes, so you can run your backend code alongside your frontend. Vercel log drains send your function logs and platform events to AppSignal, so you can see everything in one place.

Set up Vercel log drains.

Gigalixir

Built specifically for Elixir and Phoenix applications, Gigalixir offers a Heroku-like experience tailored for the Elixir ecosystem. Gigalixir log drains let you stream your platform logs into AppSignal.

Set up Gigalixir log drains.

Netlify

Netlify specializes in JAMstack applications and static sites, offering seamless deployments with built-in CI/CD. Netlify log drains can send your function logs to AppSignal for monitoring.

Set up Netlify log drains.

Vector

Vector is a free, open source, high-performance observability data pipeline that lets you route logs from multiple sources to AppSignal. Perfect for custom log routing and multi-platform setups.

With log drains configured, you can see your platform logs alongside your metrics, errors, and traces in one place. This gives you complete visibility into your application's health and performance, making it easier to debug issues and optimize your PaaS usage.

Set up Vector with AppSignal.

Choosing the Right Hosting Platform for Your App

Here's a quick comparison of the PaaS platforms we support to help you pick the right one for your needs:

Keep in mind, wherever you choose to host, AppSignal works with all of the above platforms and offers log drains for them.

Start Monitoring Your Stack with AppSignal

Hopefully, this article has helped give some clarity on why monitoring with AppSignal is vital for your app, especially when hosting with PaaS.

Ready to get started? Sign up for AppSignal, and you'll get 30 days of full access to all our tools with no usage caps and no credit card required. After your trial, we'll suggest the best plan for you based on your usage, or you can stick with our free plan if your app fits within those limits.

If you have any questions about monitoring your PaaS platform or setting up AppSignal with your hosting provider, just reach out to our support team. We're here to help you get the most out of your monitoring setup!