14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook is a great platform for developers, they can write their apps using web technologies, or a coding language of their choice, and have it up and running on the site in no time.
The only snag in the process is the hosting, developers need to run their own apps on a server somewhere. For a developer just starting out, this can be quite costly.
Thankfully, these days, a developer can leverage a cloud infrastructure which is usually cheaper, at least at first, and needs little to no configuration.
Which is why Facebook is announcing a partnership with Heroku, a cloud computing platform. Developers will be able to create a new app on Facebook and choose to host it with Heroku from the dashboard.
Heroku is already used by a number of Facebook apps, so it was a natural choice, but more cloud providers will be integrated at a later date.
"We know that one of the most difficult things to getting started is setting up a place to host your app," Facebook wrote.
"As a result, we are starting to partner with some of the top cloud service providers to make it simpler for you to have your first app up and running in a few clicks -- all from within the Dev App," it said.
"Today, we are happy to announce our partnership with Heroku as the first of these providers to be integrated into the Dev App. With Heroku, you can now start building from a sample app in your choice of languages, including PHP, Ruby, Node.js and Python at no cost," it announced.
One of Heroku's touting points is that it's free for developers just starting out. Until your app reaches a certain scale, you don't pay anything, so experimental apps, personal apps, or those just starting out will cost nothing to run.