Heroku does not work in China
Heroku does not work in China

TLDR; This article provides you with a compliant and simple solution to get your Heroku applications working fast and stable in China.


What is Heroku?

Heroku is a cloud deployment platform that provides an easy click and deploys to build pipelines out-of-the-box from source code to live.


Does Heroku work in China?

No. Although Heroku is not blocked in China, it does not have servers in mainland China. If you want to make your Heroku app work in China, this guide will give you step-by-step instructions on how to do it.


Comparison Chart Before and After a Speed Increase

Left image: the speed test result of the site deployed on Heroku; the right image is the speed increase after deploying with 21YunBox. The color represents the feedback time of the site, green represents fast, and the closer to red, it means extremely slow or even inaccessible.
Left image: the speed test result of the site deployed on Heroku; the right image is the speed increase after deploying with 21YunBox. The color represents the feedback time of the site, green represents fast, and the closer to red, it means extremely slow or even inaccessible.

Left image: the speed test result of the site deployed on Heroku; the right image is the speed increase after deploying with 21YunBox. The color represents the feedback time of the site, green represents fast, and the closer to red, it means extremely slow or even inaccessible.

The speed test shows the site deployed on Heroku doesn’t work or is very slow (orange) in China (left picture).

After speeding up with 21YunBox, the results have reached the maximum available speed (all the provinces with tests on the right are dark green)

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See it in action


Streamlit official website screenshot
Streamlit official website screenshot

We chose a Streamlit example as the test object:


How to Improve Heroku’s Access Speed in China?


The traditional way to make your Heroku apps work in China

Deploy your apps direct to China by hosting them on VPS (virtual private server) in China from AWS China or Alibaba Cloud.

The disadvantages of using the basic cloud server to deploy are very obvious. There are many initial configurations to consider, such as setting up a reverse proxy, Nginx, SSL certificate management, database management, etc.

If you want to make continuous deployment (Git push automatic packaging and deployment), you will need to cooperate Use Continuous Integration tools such as Jenkins / Github Action / Travis CI, etc.


The modern way to make your Heroku apps work in China

21YunBox deploys like Heroku, but it’s dedicated to foreign companies and developers to make their web applications work in China. This means your Heroku app will be deployed within the Firewall, and inside mainland China, with the best possible speed you can get.


4 Steps to deploy your Heroku apps in China:

1. Get an 21YunBox account

2. Authorize 21YunBox to access your code repo (read-only)

Authorize 21YunBox to access your Heroku app code repo (Read-only)
Authorize 21YunBox to access your Heroku app code repo (Read-only)

3. Configure the Build Command and Start command

Configure Streamlit build command and start command
Configure Streamlit build command and start command

This step tells 21YB runtimes how to build and run your web app. We have prebuilt Node, Ruby, PHP, Python, Java, and even Docker runtimes that you can use it serve your need.

4. Click “Run & Deploy”

It takes a couple of minutes, the 21YB build bot will build and run your app for you in China, and you will be assigned a custom domain to access your web app.


Ready to Get your Heroku apps to run faster and more stable in China?

21YunBox, a cross-border company, has worked with several fortune 500 enterprises and offices in the U.S. and Shanghai. We can assist you in every phase of your china hosting strategy to make your video, website, and content delivery in China at the best speed and advise you on the best channels to promote your business in China.

Contact us today, and our experts will explain to you all the secrets of making your site live in China!



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