AppHarbor
Cloud platform as a service (PaaS) software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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$49 per month
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What is AppHarbor
AppHarbor is a cloud platform-as-a-service focused on deploying and hosting applications built on the Microsoft .NET ecosystem. It provides Git-based deployments, build automation, and managed add-ons to support common application dependencies. The product targets developers and small teams that want a hosted runtime without managing servers, particularly for web applications and APIs.
Git-based deployment workflow
AppHarbor supports deployments triggered from Git pushes, which fits common developer workflows. This reduces the need for custom CI scripting for basic build-and-deploy scenarios. It is well-suited to teams that want a straightforward path from source control to a running .NET application.
Managed .NET hosting focus
The platform is oriented around hosting .NET applications, including build and runtime conventions aligned with that stack. This specialization can simplify setup compared with more general-purpose infrastructure services. It is most relevant for teams standardizing on Microsoft frameworks and tooling.
Add-ons for common services
AppHarbor offers add-ons to connect applications to supporting services (for example, data stores and other dependencies) without self-managing those components. This can speed up initial environment setup for typical web application architectures. It also provides a more integrated experience than assembling each dependency manually on raw infrastructure.
Limited ecosystem breadth
Compared with broader cloud platforms, AppHarbor has a narrower set of native services and integrations. Teams needing a wide range of managed services (advanced networking, eventing, data, and observability options) may outgrow the platform. This can lead to additional external tooling or a later migration.
Primarily .NET-centric
AppHarbor is most suitable for .NET workloads and is less compelling for polyglot teams. Organizations running multiple runtimes may prefer platforms that provide first-class support across languages and frameworks. This can limit standardization if the engineering organization is not .NET-focused.
Less control than IaaS
As a PaaS, AppHarbor abstracts infrastructure and restricts low-level configuration compared with virtual machines or container platforms. This can be a constraint for applications that require custom OS packages, specialized networking, or nonstandard build steps. Teams with strict compliance or bespoke runtime requirements may need more configurable hosting options.
Plan & Pricing
| Plan | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| Canoe (historical) | Free | 1 worker unit; complimentary yourapp.apphb.com subdomain; piggyback SSL using the apphb.com certificate; access to build/CI and add-ons. (Historical — see shutdown note below.) |
| Catamaran (historical) | $49 per month | 2 worker units; custom hostnames and SNI SSL included. |
| Yacht (historical) | $199 per month | 4 worker units; custom hostnames and IP SSL included. |
| Custom hostnames (add-on, historical) | $10 per month | Billed per application; could be added to Canoe. |
| SNI SSL (add-on, historical) | $10 per month | Billed per application. |
| IP SSL (add-on, historical) | $100 per month | Billed per application. |
| Additional worker units (add-on, historical) | $49 per month per unit | Billed per unit; used to scale web or background workers. |
Note: The pricing above comes from AppHarbor's official announcements and blog posts and represents historical pricing. AppHarbor announced it would shut down and terminate all services on December 5 (see vendor notice).
Seller details
AppHarbor
Copenhagen, Denmark
2010
Private
https://appharbor.com/
https://x.com/appharbor
https://www.linkedin.com/company/appharbor
