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Google Cloud SQL vs Heroku Postgres: What are the differences?
What is Google Cloud SQL? Store and manage data using a fully-managed, relational MySQL database. MySQL databases deployed in the cloud without a fuss. Google Cloud Platform provides you with powerful databases that run fast, don’t run out of space and give your application the redundant, reliable storage it needs.
What is Heroku Postgres? Heroku's Database-as-a-Service. Based on the most powerful open-source database, PostgreSQL. Heroku Postgres provides a SQL database-as-a-service that lets you focus on building your application instead of messing around with database management.
Google Cloud SQL and Heroku Postgres are primarily classified as "SQL Database as a Service" and "PostgreSQL as a Service" tools respectively.
Some of the features offered by Google Cloud SQL are:
- Familiar Infrastructure
- Flexible Charging
- Security, Availability, Durability
On the other hand, Heroku Postgres provides the following key features:
- High Availability
- Rollback
- Dataclips
"Fully managed" is the top reason why over 12 developers like Google Cloud SQL, while over 27 developers mention "Easy to setup" as the leading cause for choosing Heroku Postgres.
Open Humans, PullReview, and Churn Buster are some of the popular companies that use Heroku Postgres, whereas Google Cloud SQL is used by Implisit, Policygenius, and OTOBANK. Heroku Postgres has a broader approval, being mentioned in 74 company stacks & 38 developers stacks; compared to Google Cloud SQL, which is listed in 71 company stacks and 28 developer stacks.
Considering moving part of our PostgreSQL database infrastructure to the cloud, however, not quite sure between AWS, Heroku, Azure and Google cloud. Things to consider: The main reason is for backing up and centralize all our data in the cloud. With that in mind the main elements are: -Pricing for storage. -Small team. -No need for high throughput. -Support for docker swarm and Kubernetes.
DigitalOcean's offering is pretty solid. Easy to scale, great UI, automatic daily backups, decent pricing.

Good balance between easy to manage, pricing, docs and features.
Pros of Google Cloud SQL
- Fully managed13
- SQL10
- Backed by Google10
- Flexible4
- Automatic Software Patching3
- Replication across multiple zone by default3
- Encryption at rest and transit3
Pros of Heroku Postgres
- Easy to setup29
- Follower databases3
- Dataclips for sharing queries3
- Extremely reliable3
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Cons of Google Cloud SQL
Cons of Heroku Postgres
- Super expensive2