# rack vs swiftwave

> Two self-hosted [Heroku alternatives](https://selfhost.directory/alternative-to/heroku), compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | rack | swiftwave |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 56/100 ✓ | 49/100 |
| Rank in category | #5 of 10 in PaaS | #23 of 44 in Container Management |
| GitHub stars | 1 889 ✓ | 908 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +-1 | — |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 8 ✓ | 2 |
| Latest release | 20261021234916 · 22 Oct 2026 ✓ | 2.23.1-1 · 2 Aug 2026 |
| Setup | Advanced | Moderate ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | No |
| License | Other | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Go | Go |

## Which one should you pick?

rack scores 56/100 against 49/100 for swiftwave, so it is the safer default.

rack ships more often: 8 stable releases in the past year, against 2 for swiftwave.

If you want the quickest setup, swiftwave is easier to run; rack needs more configuration.

## Details

- [rack](https://selfhost.directory/project/rack) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/rack.md)
- [swiftwave](https://selfhost.directory/project/swiftwave) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/swiftwave.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/rack-vs-swiftwave