App developers rely on software abstractions to simplify development and enhance productivity
When it comes to running apps, containerization abstracts away the burden of managing hardware or virtual machines
Instead of hardware management, you deploy an app to Heroku, which packages the app’s code and dependencies into containers — lightweight, isolated environments that provide compute, memory, an OS, and an ephemeral filesystem
Containers are typically run on a shared host, yet are completely isolated from each other

The Heroku Platform uses the container model to run and scale all Heroku apps
The containers used at Heroku are called “dynos
” Dynos are isolated, virtualized Linux containers that are designed to execute code based on a user-specified command
Your app can scale to any specified number of dynos based on its resource demands
Heroku’s container management capabilities provide you with an easy way to scale and manage the number, size, and type of dynos your app may need at any given time

Dynos are the building blocks that power any Heroku app, from simple to sophisticated
Deploying to dynos, and relying on Heroku's dyno management, makes it easy for you to build and run flexible, scalable apps - freeing you from managing infrastructure, so you can focus on building and running great apps

$5 for 1000 dyno hours/month

Learn more about how dynos work on Heroku

Buildtime: preparing code to run in a dyno

Heroku automates the build process, from the initial deploy to producing a “slug” - ready to be pushed to a dyno
More on the Heroku build process →

Runtime: configuring process and dyno types

Developers can optimize their app at runtime by breaking it down into different “process types” that determine what code runs in different dynos
More on dyno configuration →
Heroku manages the dynos, and cycles dynos to maintain the health of all apps and the overall system
More on the dyno lifecycle →

Scaling apps with dynos

When an app needs to scale, Heroku makes it easy to change a dyno formation instantly
More on dyno scaling →

Dynos in Heroku Private Spaces

High performance dynos in Private Spaces communicate directly with each other over a private network
More on dynos in Private Spaces →
“Heroku makes managing scale incredibly easy
When we're getting a spike in traffic, we don’t have to spin up a bunch of new servers, we simply add more dynos
”