/
App tips

Heroku Connect vs. Purpose-Built Solutions: Choosing the Right CRM Sync Platform

Real-time bidirectional CRM sync has evolved from a nice-to-have feature to a strategic necessity for mid-market companies. While Heroku Connect pioneered this space for Salesforce users, purpose-built solutions now offer broader capabilities, greater flexibility, and potentially significant cost advantages.

Heroku Connect vs. Purpose-Built Solutions: Choosing the Right CRM Sync Platform

Introduction

For mid-market companies with multiple software systems, maintaining consistent data across platforms is no longer optional—it's essential. Real-time bidirectional CRM sync has emerged as a critical capability, enabling organizations to keep customer data synchronized across CRMs, databases, and operational systems without delay or discrepancy.

While Heroku Connect has been a popular option for Salesforce-to-Postgres synchronization, purpose-built solutions now offer expanded capabilities for organizations seeking more flexibility, broader system support, and potentially lower costs. This comprehensive comparison explores how these solutions stack up across features, pricing, performance, and use cases to help technical leaders make informed decisions.

Understanding Real-Time Bidirectional CRM Sync

What Is It and Why Does It Matter?

Real-time bidirectional CRM sync refers to the automatic, instantaneous updating of data between two or more systems in both directions. When a field changes in System A (like Salesforce CRM), it's immediately reflected in System B (like a PostgreSQL database)—and vice versa.

Unlike traditional one-way ETL processes or batch synchronization, which might run hourly or daily, real-time bidirectional sync propagates changes within seconds or even milliseconds. This creates a "single source of truth" across your technology stack, eliminating the data silos that plague many organizations.

Key Benefits for Mid-Market Organizations

For growing companies with 200-1,000+ employees and lean technical teams, real-time bidirectional CRM sync delivers several tangible benefits:

  • Operational Efficiency: Engineering teams spend up to 40% of their time maintaining custom integration code. Purpose-built sync solutions can reduce this by 80-90%.
  • Data Consistency: Customer information remains identical across systems, preventing the confusion and errors caused by outdated or conflicting records.
  • Developer Focus: Engineers can concentrate on core product innovation rather than "integration dirty plumbing."
  • Business Agility: New integrations can be deployed in days instead of months, allowing faster adaptation to changing business requirements.
  • Reduced Technical Debt: Replacing brittle custom integrations with reliable sync platforms reduces long-term maintenance burden.

Common Use Cases

Most mid-market companies implement real-time bidirectional CRM sync for:

  • Synchronizing customer records between CRM and operational databases
  • Creating a backbone connection between CRM and ERP systems
  • Building custom internal tools and dashboards with real-time CRM data
  • Enabling real-time analytics while maintaining operational data consistency
  • Supporting complex multi-system environments during CRM migrations or acquisitions

Heroku Connect: The Salesforce-Postgres Specialist

Platform Overview and Capabilities

Heroku Connect is a synchronization service that connects Salesforce to a PostgreSQL database hosted on Heroku. Launched around 2014 by Salesforce (via Heroku), it provides:

  • Near real-time synchronization between Salesforce and PostgreSQL
  • Support for Salesforce standard and custom objects
  • Bidirectional sync capability for specified objects
  • Field-level mapping configuration
  • Salesforce APIs optimization (Bulk, REST, Streaming)

The platform is particularly popular with organizations that already use both Salesforce CRM and Heroku for application hosting, as it provides a streamlined way to use Salesforce data in Heroku applications.

Limitations and Constraints

Despite its utility, Heroku Connect has several notable limitations:

  1. Limited Ecosystem: Only supports Salesforce to PostgreSQL synchronization, with no ability to connect other CRMs, ERPs, or databases
  2. Platform Lock-in: Requires hosting your database on Heroku, limiting flexibility
  3. Scalability Concerns: Performance can degrade with high volumes, and pricing increases proportionally with data size
  4. Error Handling: Users report challenges with error recovery and manual intervention requirements
  5. Maintenance Overhead: Requires ongoing monitoring and occasional troubleshooting

Pricing Structure

Heroku Connect employs a contract-based pricing model tied to Salesforce licenses and required Heroku Postgres instances. Typical costs range from $2,500-$3,000 per month for standard deployments, but can increase significantly based on:

  • Number of records synchronized
  • Sync frequency requirements
  • Number of Salesforce objects
  • Enterprise-level requirements

These costs are in addition to Heroku Postgres database hosting expenses, which scale with database size and performance needs.

Purpose-Built Sync Solutions: The New Generation

Key Players and Capabilities

Several purpose-built solutions now offer comprehensive real-time bidirectional CRM sync capabilities:

Stacksync:

  • 200+ pre-built connectors spanning CRMs, ERPs, databases, and SaaS applications
  • Sub-second bidirectional synchronization
  • Enterprise-grade security (SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA, ISO 27001)
  • No-code setup with minimal maintenance
  • Automatic error handling and conflict resolution

Syncari:

  • "Patented multi-directional sync" across systems
  • Data quality management capabilities
  • AI-ready data platform positioning
  • Focus on unified customer records

Unito:

  • Specializes in two-way sync for work management tools
  • Strengths in project management, issue tracking, and CRM
  • Visual mapping interface

PieSync (HubSpot Operations Hub):

  • Specializes in contact synchronization
  • Part of HubSpot's operations platform
  • Limited to contact/company objects

Technical Architecture Advantages

Purpose-built solutions typically offer architectural benefits over Heroku Connect:

  • Event-Driven Architecture: Real-time change detection and propagation
  • Connector Flexibility: Support for multiple CRMs, databases, and SaaS applications
  • Conflict Resolution: Automated handling of simultaneous updates in different systems
  • Error Recovery: Sophisticated retry and remediation mechanisms
  • Workflow Capabilities: Ability to trigger actions based on data changes

Comparative Analysis: Head-to-Head

Feature Comparison Table

Heroku Connect vs. Purpose-Built Solutions Comparison
Feature Heroku Connect Purpose-Built Solutions (e.g., Stacksync)
Connectors Salesforce ↔ Postgres only 200+ connectors (CRMs, ERPs, databases, etc.)
Hosting Requirements Requires Heroku Cloud-agnostic; works with any hosting
Real-Time Performance Near real-time (minutes) Sub-second latency
Scalability Limited by Postgres constraints Handles millions of records with consistent performance
Setup Complexity Moderate Low (no-code, minutes to configure)
Maintenance Regular monitoring required Minimal maintenance with automated error handling
Security & Compliance Basic Enterprise-grade (SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA, ISO 27001)
Pricing Model Contract-based, linked to SF licenses Transparent usage-based pricing
Additional Capabilities Limited to sync Workflow automation, event triggers, transformation

Performance and Scalability

Performance differences become significant at scale:

  • Heroku Connect: Performance degrades at higher volumes, and sync can slow to minutes rather than seconds with large datasets. Users report spending significant time troubleshooting as data volumes grow.
  • Purpose-Built Solutions: Designed for enterprise-scale performance. For example, Stacksync claims to handle "millions of records with sub-second latency" and maintain consistent performance even with complex data models.

A logistics company with approximately 3 million shipment records reported reducing sync times from hours to seconds after switching from Heroku Connect to a purpose-built solution, while maintaining 99.99% sync reliability at peak load.

Pricing Comparison

The pricing difference can be substantial for growing organizations:

  • Heroku Connect: $2,500-$3,000/month base cost, plus additional costs for increased record volume and Heroku Postgres instances. One customer reported spending over $30,000 annually on Heroku Connect.
  • Purpose-Built Solutions: Typically offer tiered pricing based on record volume, not tied to specific platforms. For example, Stacksync pricing starts around $1,000/month for smaller deployments (50k records), scaling up to $3,000/month for 1M records with enterprise features. Volume discounts apply as record count increases.

For companies synchronizing millions of records, purpose-built solutions often represent 30-50% cost savings compared to Heroku Connect, with the gap widening as volume grows.

Security and Compliance

Security capabilities vary significantly:

  • Heroku Connect: Benefits from Salesforce security but limited to Heroku's compliance framework.
  • Purpose-Built Solutions: Often offer broader compliance coverage. For example, Stacksync provides SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, HIPAA BAA, GDPR, and CCPA compliance. This makes them suitable for regulated industries like healthcare and finance.

Decision Framework: Making the Right Choice

When Heroku Connect Makes Sense

Heroku Connect remains a viable option for organizations that:

  • Use Salesforce as their only CRM and are committed to Heroku as their platform
  • Need a simple Salesforce-to-Postgres synchronization with limited complexity
  • Have a low record volume that won't trigger significant cost increases
  • Are already heavily invested in the Salesforce/Heroku ecosystem
  • Have only basic sync requirements with no need for multiple systems

When Purpose-Built Solutions Deliver More Value

Consider purpose-built solutions when:

  • You need to connect multiple systems (not just Salesforce and Postgres)
  • Your organization uses any cloud platform (AWS, Azure, GCP, on-prem) instead of Heroku
  • Data volume is large or expected to grow significantly
  • You require enterprise security and compliance certifications
  • Real-time synchronization is mission-critical
  • You want to reduce engineering time spent on integration maintenance
  • Cost predictability is important as your data scales

Real-World Implementation Considerations

When implementing either solution, consider:

  • Data Volume and Complexity: Accurately forecast your record counts and complexity to determine appropriate sizing and cost.
  • Existing Ecosystem: Evaluate how the solution fits with your current technology stack.
  • Engineering Resources: Consider the ongoing maintenance requirements and available technical talent.
  • Growth Trajectory: If your company is experiencing rapid growth, factor in how the solution will scale.
  • Total Cost of Ownership: Look beyond license fees to include implementation, maintenance, and opportunity costs.

Case Study: Mid-Market Logistics Company

Acertus Delivers, a vehicle logistics company with approximately 565 employees and $215M annual revenue, faced challenges managing integrations across Salesforce, Postgres, Zendesk, NetSuite, and Snowflake.

Initially using Heroku Connect at $2,500-$3,000/month, they experienced growing costs and integration limitations. After switching to a purpose-built solution (Stacksync), they reported:

  • Annual savings exceeding $30,000
  • Improved real-time data availability
  • Reduced manual effort across systems
  • Successful expansion to 15-20 companies in their portfolio

Blair Koch, Chief Digital Officer, cited "measurable improvements in data accuracy, processing time, and team productivity" as key outcomes.

Conclusion: Finding Your Optimal Solution

Real-time bidirectional CRM sync has evolved from a nice-to-have feature to a strategic necessity for mid-market companies. While Heroku Connect pioneered this space for Salesforce users, purpose-built solutions now offer broader capabilities, greater flexibility, and potentially significant cost advantages.

The right choice depends on your specific requirements:

  • For simple Salesforce-Postgres synchronization within the Heroku ecosystem, Heroku Connect may be sufficient.
  • For organizations needing true enterprise-grade, flexible, real-time synchronization across multiple systems, purpose-built solutions likely deliver superior value.

As data volumes grow and business requirements become more complex, the advantages of purpose-built solutions, wider connector support, platform independence, stronger security, and better scaling economics—become increasingly compelling.

By thoroughly evaluating your integration needs against the capabilities, limitations, and costs of these platforms, you can select the solution that will best support your organization's current operations and future growth.

Next Steps

Evaluating the right real-time bidirectional CRM sync solution for your organization? Consider these action items:

  1. Audit your current integration points and data volumes
  2. Calculate the engineering time currently spent on integration maintenance
  3. Document current and future systems requiring synchronization
  4. Request demos from multiple vendors to evaluate capabilities firsthand
  5. Run a small proof-of-concept before full implementation

Ready to explore how purpose-built real-time synchronization can transform your data operations? Contact us for a customized evaluation of your integration needs.