diff --git a/scripts/heroku.sh b/scripts/heroku.sh
index 1283f73b5e..c62d17c333 100644
--- a/scripts/heroku.sh
+++ b/scripts/heroku.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,11 @@ export INTEGRATE_SOCKETIO=false
 # also socketio is not used in a celery task so no problem to turn it off
 chmod -R 0777 ./static
 celery worker -A app.celery --loglevel=info &
-gunicorn app:app -w 1
+if [ "$APP_CONFIG" == "config.DevelopmentConfig" ]; then
+    python manage.py runserver
+else
+    gunicorn app:app -w 1
+fi
 # if not running on free dyno
 # define a separate worker and scale
 # https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/celery-heroku