Qovery Platform - AI-Optimized Technical Reference
Platform Overview
What it is: Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) that runs Kubernetes infrastructure in your own AWS/GCP/Azure account, combining Heroku-like simplicity with cloud ownership benefits.
Core Value Proposition: Deploy applications via Git push without DevOps team dependency while maintaining data sovereignty and cost control.
Critical Performance Metrics
Deployment Timeline
- Initial setup: 30 minutes (if Dockerfile works correctly)
- New K8s cluster: 8-10 minutes
- Standard deployment: 5-15 minutes
- Database provisioning: Click-button RDS setup
Failure Scenarios and Consequences
- Control plane downtime: ~30 minutes, twice in 2024 (apps continue running)
- Memory-intensive builds: Extended deployment times with npm dependencies (500+ packages)
- Health check failures: Timeout errors during traffic routing
- Concurrent deployments: Previously caused random failures (fixed with deployment queue in 2025)
Cost Analysis and Resource Requirements
Financial Breakdown
| Configuration | Qovery Cost | Cloud Cost | Total Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small app | $29/dev | ~$200-300 AWS | $230-330 |
| Team setup | $29/dev × team | $200-1200 AWS | Variable |
| Heroku equivalent | N/A | $500-800+ | $500-800+ |
Critical Cost Factors
- Primary expense: Cloud infrastructure (databases, instances), not Qovery subscription
- Cost optimization: Karpenter integration (2025) - auto-scales nodes, prevents idle instance costs
- Budget killers: Oversized staging databases (example: db.r5.2xlarge = $400/month waste)
- Money-saving features: Auto-shutdown dev/staging environments, resource recommendations
Technical Architecture and Implementation
Core Components
- Control Plane: Web UI/API (runs on Qovery servers)
- Deployment Engine: Open-source Rust codebase (your infrastructure)
- Cloud Resources: K8s clusters, databases, load balancers (your account)
Infrastructure Automation
- Security: Network policies, RBAC, automatic SSL certificate management
- Monitoring: Prometheus, Grafana, log aggregation (pre-configured)
- Auto-scaling: Horizontal pod autoscaling + Karpenter node scaling
- Backups: Automated RDS snapshots
Deployment Process (2025 Pipeline Update)
- Docker image build (2-10 minutes depending on dependencies)
- Infrastructure provisioning (if needed)
- Rolling deployment with health checks
- Traffic routing with failure detection
- Rollback capability (one-click)
Critical Warnings and Failure Modes
What Will Break
- Memory leaks: Platform won't fix application-level issues requiring 16GB RAM
- SSL renewal failures: Eliminated with automatic certificate management
- Pod networking at scale: Complex debugging still required for 10k+ containers
- Database connection limits: Standard cloud database limitations apply
Prerequisites Not in Documentation
- Docker knowledge: Essential - cannot abstract away container basics
- Cloud cost awareness: Teams regularly exceed budgets without monitoring
- Health endpoint requirements: Must be properly configured for deployment success
Decision Matrix: When to Use vs Alternatives
Use Qovery When
- DevOps team bottleneck (weeks for staging environments)
- Kubernetes expertise gap (months to set up production-ready K8s)
- Cost optimization needed (vs Heroku $25/dyno model)
- Data sovereignty required (compliance, audits)
Don't Use When
- Dedicated DevOps team with K8s expertise exists
- ML workloads with GPU requirements
- Custom Kubernetes operators needed
- Static site hosting (Netlify/Vercel more appropriate)
Vendor Lock-in Assessment
Exit Strategy
- Data ownership: Everything in your cloud account
- Code access: Open-source deployment engine
- Config export: Terraform files available
- Migration path: Hire team to manage exported configs
Risk Level: LOW
- Apps continue running during Qovery outages
- Infrastructure remains in your control
- Complete rebuild not required for migration
Operational Intelligence
Team Impact
- Developer velocity: Eliminates DevOps ticket dependency
- Resource requirements: Still need Docker understanding
- Expertise trade-off: Platform management vs K8s deep knowledge
- Support quality: Community forum, Discord, decent error messages
Production Readiness
- Companies using: Talkspace, European enterprises
- Compliance: SOC 2, HIPAA available
- Scaling evidence: Handles large deployments but complex at 10k+ containers
- Monitoring quality: Actual error messages vs generic "check logs" failures
Common Implementation Pitfalls
- Oversized resource allocation: Default to conservative sizing
- 24/7 staging environments: Implement auto-shutdown policies
- Health check configuration: Common deployment failure point
- Database sizing: Most expensive component, size appropriately
Integration Requirements
Existing Toolchain Compatibility
- CI/CD: GitHub Actions, GitLab CI integration via webhooks/API
- Infrastructure as Code: Terraform provider available
- SSO: SAML integration for enterprise access control
- Monitoring: Integrates with existing observability tools
Technical Dependencies
- Kubernetes access: Available for advanced users
- CLI tooling: Debug pod access, automation capabilities
- API access: REST API with client libraries
- VPC connectivity: Peering for existing infrastructure integration
Useful Links for Further Investigation
Actually Useful Qovery Links
| Link | Description |
|---|---|
| Documentation | The docs. Actually readable, start here. |
| Web Console | Where you'll actually manage deployments. |
| GitHub Repo | The open-source deployment engine if you want to see what's under the hood. |
| Community Forum | When shit breaks and Stack Overflow has no clue. |
| API Docs | For integrations and automation. |
| Discord | Live chat with other users and the team. |
| Pricing | Actual cost breakdown for budget planning. |
| Case Studies | Real companies using this in production. |
| Security Info | SOC 2 and compliance docs for the security team. |
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