DigitalOcean Plans & Pricing: Cheap but What’s the Catch? [2024]

DigitalOcean’s cloud-based virtual machines (VMs) are highly customizable, but the wide range of options might confuse you. Droplets (as DigitalOcean calls its VMs) come in different configurations, with over a dozen add-ons to consider. But which of these plans and services do you actually need?

Having experience with a few of DigitalOcean’s services, I decided to dive deep into DigitalOcean’s plans and pricing. I’ll be covering its popular Droplets and the lesser-known Managed Kubernetes and App Platform plans to help you determine which plans might be right for your project.

Keep in mind that DigitalOcean markets itself as the “developer cloud,” so you won’t find any beginner-friendly, easy-to-use solutions here. If you’re looking for more accessible cloud solutions, you might want to jump straight to my recommended alternatives.

There’s also a considerable price jump from basic Droplets to higher-spec configurations. Luckily, DigitalOcean does offer a free 60-day trial with a $200 credit so you can try out its services before making a commitment.

DigitalOcean Features and Pricing Overview

Affordable Plans Bogged Down by Pricey Add-Ons

DigitalOcean’s cloud services revolve around one main product – the Droplet. Droplets are highly customizable VMs that can host static websites, dynamic applications, databases, and more. You can’t configure the exact number of vCPU cores or the amount of RAM or storage, but there are dozens of pre-configured options to choose from.

Other services include managed Kubernetes clusters built on top of Droplets and the App Platform designed for quick deployment, cloud storage, and managed database hosting.

You can pay hourly or monthly using major credit/debit cards, PayPal, Google Pay, and Apple Pay. Wire transfers, purchase orders, and ACH are also accepted on request. DigitalOcean doesn’t offer a money-back guarantee, but you’ll get $200 in credits as a new client. You can use these credits to try a Droplet for free for up to 60 days or until your credit runs out.

Once you sign up, you’ll find that Droplets come equipped with several great features by default. You get a free firewall, plus access to DigitalOcean’s RESTful API, monitoring graphs, and collaboration tools. That said, extra features can be expensive. For example, adding basic load balancers to a starter Droplet can quadruple its cost. Backups aren’t as pricey but they still add 20% (weekly backups) to 30% (daily backups) to your Droplet cost.

If you change your mind, you can cancel any service straight from your dashboard without having to contact support. The entire process takes no more than a couple of minutes, provided that no issues occur along the way.

Droplets Pricing

With a Droplet, you get all the benefits of VPS hosting – but on the cloud. DigitalOcean’s Droplets are self-managed, so it’s best if you have the technical knowledge to set up your own server to deploy an app (or host a website). That is, unless you opt for DigitalOcean’s managed service from Cloudways1.

Among the five available Droplet plans, only the Basic Droplets use shared vCPU. While they have dedicated RAM, storage, and bandwidth, other VMs can use their CPU hyper-threading. For mission-critical websites and apps, I’d recommend the other four vCPU Droplets as a more suitable choice. Let’s look into some of these plans.

Basic Droplets1

Starting at $4.00/month, DigitalOcean’s Basic Droplets configuration is nothing short of affordable. At this price, you’ll start with 1 vCPU core, 512 MB of RAM, 10 GB SSD storage, and 500 GB of transfer. For a few dollars more, you can upgrade to AMD Premium or Intel Premium for more processing power, which ups your starting specs to 1 GB RAM, 25 GB storage, and 1 TB transfer.

Because Basic Droplets share vCPU cores, these plans are suitable for small websites, databases, or low-traffic servers. They’re also a good environment for developing and testing an app that doesn’t require a lot of CPU work. Of course, if you need more resources, you can choose from eight other configurations up to 8 vCPU cores, 32 GB RAM, 640 GB storage, and 10 TB of bandwidth.

General Purpose Droplets1

While General Purpose sounds like a catch-all for most use cases, these Droplet configurations pack a lot of resources. You can scale these VMs up to 48 vCPU cores, 192 GB of RAM, 1.44 TB of storage, and 11 TB of transfer on Intel Premium plans, which are only slightly more expensive than standard General Purpose plans.

To avoid underusing your resources, you’d only want to consider these plans if you’re running a mission-critical application, SaaS application, or high-traffic web server. Pricing starts at less than $100 per month and can run into the thousands, especially if you factor in essential add-ons like load balancers and backups.

CPU-Optimized Droplets1

If you’re running graphics-heavy applications, work with video production, or want to run a machine learning project, you’ll find these plans offer more than enough resources, with room to grow.

Not only are CPU-Optimized plans cheaper than General Purpose, but they’re also much more scalable. For all CPU-Optimized plans, there’s a RAM-to-CPU ratio of 2:1 and you’ll have 11 Intel configurations to choose from.

Streaming video or hosting a game server? All of DigitalOcean’s Droplets offer free outbound data transfer, starting at 500 GiB per month. If you go over your quota, there’s a $0.01 per GiB charge. Premium Intel CPU-Optimized Droplets also feature outbound transfer speeds of 10 Gbit/sec and NVMe storage.

Memory-Optimized Droplets1

For Memory-Optimized plans, you’ll get more RAM (8 GB, to be exact) per vCPU core, and there are more than 12 Regular and Premium configurations to choose from. If you opt for the introductory plan, you’ll start off with 2 vCPUs, 16 GB memory, 50 GB SSD storage, and 4 TB of transfer.

While the cheapest memory-optimized plan costs twice as much as the cheapest CPU-optimized plan, you do start off with more memory and more (and better) NVMe storage. If 16 GB of memory isn’t enough, you can scale up to 256 GB of RAM with 32 vCPUs on both Regular and Intel premium plans.

Like all Droplets solutions, there are optimal use cases for these plans. Consider Memory-Optimized plans if you have high-traffic websites or an online store with decent traction. These plans are also good for data mining, executing complex machine learning applications, and running mission-critical apps with high memory requirements.

Are Droplets Right for You?

If you’re fluent in Linux, DigitalOcean’s Droplets are an easy and very inexpensive way to host anything from blogs and other simple sites to high-traffic online stores, CPU- or RAM-intensive applications, massive databases, and more. (If Windows is more your thing, you might find these top Windows cloud hosts more to your liking.)

Unfortunately, if you’re looking for plans packed with features, you won’t find them here. DigitalOcean can keep its costs low by offering stripped-down plans. You’ll also have to manage your own VMs, and the low costs may not justify the time and effort spent.

Managed Kubernetes Pricing1

If you use Kubernetes to deploy apps, the managed DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) service might be worth considering. This service isn’t divided into plans – instead, you’re charged for the underlying resources used to power your Kubernetes worker nodes. These include any Droplets, load balancers, or block storage you might need for your project.

You can spin up a cluster for as little as $12.00/month per node, and like Droplets, there’s a $0.01 per GiB charge for any transfer overages. DigitalOcean throws in a free control plane (with optional paid High Availability) that helps you manage your Kubernetes nodes. This makes it easier to deploy Kubernetes clusters without having to administer the master node.

DigitalOcean will also automatically update your Kubernetes to the latest version, but you have to schedule this upgrade in advance. If you want DigitalOcean to adjust the number of nodes in your cluster to match the need for additional resources, you can turn on autoscaling. When you no longer need extra resources, the autoscaling function removes them from your cluster, which can help you keep costs low.

Are Kubernetes Right for You?

If you’re looking for an affordable Kubernetes service, DigitalOcean’s managed plan provides a free control plane and completely managed nodes so you can concentrate on your app. There’s also an extensive knowledge base with tutorials on how to configure your clusters.

You pay for the managed Kubernetes service based on the resources you use to power your nodes. Because of its transparent pricing, DigitalOcean’s Kubernetes service can fit most budgets. It’s also much more user-friendly than managing Kubernetes yourself.

App Platform Pricing

DigitalOcean’s App Platform is an easy way to publish code without having to configure or manage the underlying infrastructure. The Free Tier supports up to three static apps/websites, while the Shared and Dedicated Tiers are best for dynamic sites and apps. Pricing depends on the services you’ll use to run your app or site. For example, using a 2 GB RAM instance will cost $25.00 per month on a Shared plan and $39.00 on a Dedicated plan.

All dedicated paid plans are highly flexible so you can scale up or down at any time. If you’re on a budget, you can choose a Fixed Shared plan (from $5/month), but they’re limited to one container with lower memory, storage, and vCPU specs.

Free Tier1

You really can’t beat free when it comes to pricing, so the Free Tier is already a winner. On this plan, you can build up to three static websites and have 1 GB of outbound transfer per app/month on a shared vCPU core. You’re not bound by these limits, although any additional sites will cost $3.00/month and excess bandwidth is $0.02 per GiB.

If you’re worried about the free plan’s lack of features, DigitalOcean alleviates your fears by offering managed SSL/TLS certificates, DDoS mitigation, a global CDN, and GitHub and GitLab integration. You can also bring your custom domain over.

Shared (Fixed) and Shared Tier1

The Shared (Fixed) and Shared plans can handle static and dynamic sites and mobile apps, such as low-traffic websites, blogs, discussion forums, and CMSs. They’re ideal if you want DigitalOcean to provision, manage, and secure your cloud infrastructure. Pricing will depend on how much RAM you’ll need to run your app’s services for the month. This can vary from 512 MB to 4 GB.

You’ll get everything that’s included in the Free Tier plan, including the option to deploy code from GitHub, GitLab, and public Git repositories, plus auto OS patching and the ability to scale horizontally by adding containers and vertically by increasing container size. You’ll get 50 to 250 GB of outbound transfer per container instance per month.

If you need something above what these plans offer, you can add managed databases, development databases ($7.00/month per 512 MB database), additional outbound transfer (for $0.02 per GiB/month), dedicated egress IPs ($25 per app/month), and object storage.

Dedicated Tier1

On this plan, you’ll get everything included in the Free and Shared plans, plus a few additional features to support high-performance apps and sites, including e-commerce, SaaS, gaming, and AI/ML workloads. Dedicated plans can also support both horizontal/vertical scaling and autoscaling.

Dedicated plans are more than double the price of the Shared plans (you are getting a dedicated vCPU, after all). You’ll also get 100 to 900 GB of outbound transfer per container instance, as well as hourly metrics to help you analyze the performance of your apps.

And for what it’s worth – especially considering DigitalOcean’s spotty reliability – you’ll have High Availability clusters (also available for App Platform’s Shared plans). If you ever need to roll back your app to an earlier version, DigitalOcean will keep the last ten successful deployments for you.

Is the App Platform Right for You?

App Platform plans are ideal if you want to concentrate on the code and let DigitalOcean handle the rest. If you use Git, you can tell the platform to automatically analyze and build your code. Alternatively, you can upload a container image to the DigitalOcean Container Registry and use it to publish your app. DigitalOcean provisions and manages the infrastructure for you while you only pay for the resources that you use.

The Free Tier plan is an excellent way to try out DigitalOcean’s services, and you can easily upgrade to a Shared or Dedicated plan if you need dynamic capabilities or more computing resources. While the pricing schema isn’t the most easy to follow – especially with add-ons and extra instances – all infrastructure is fully managed, which makes up for the price.

Pricing of Other Services

In addition to cloud computing, DigitalOcean offers a wide range of add-on services that you can use to expand your VM, including network services, block/object storage, and managed databases.

Block and Object Storage1

DigitalOcean offers block (Volumes) and object (Spaces) storage to complement your Droplets. You can use them for various purposes, including machine learning and AI training. However, block storage is best for databases, containers, transactional workloads, or smaller amounts of data that need frequent access or require metadata.

In contrast, object storage is better for large amounts of unstructured data like email or document archives you need to access using metadata. It’s S3-compatible and comes with a built-in CDN to ensure quick access from almost anywhere.

Object storage is also the more affordable of the two, with plans starting at $5/month for 250 GB storage, while block storage starts at $10/month for 100 GB storage or $0.10 per GiB/month. However, you should choose based on what you’ll be using the storage for, not pricing.

Network Services1

DigitalOcean offers network services to keep you connected to the web, including load balancers, Reserved IPs, DNS services, and virtual private clouds. Starting at $15.00 per node per month on the Standard Tier, you can use load balancers for Droplets and Kubernetes. If your site or app experiences spikes in traffic, this is a valuable add-on to ensure reliable performance.

If you’re looking for an isolated network, you might want to consider a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). VPCs are simple to create and customize. Like other plans, DigitalOcean will bill you for outbound transfers only and charge $0.01 per GiB if you exceed your transfer limit for the month.

DigitalOcean’s DNS service and cloud firewalls are free, although you’ll have to configure these yourself. Reserved IPs, which improve availability, are also free – but there’s a $0.006 per hour charge for any reserved IPs not assigned to a Droplet.

Managed Databases1

DigitalOcean’s Managed Database service takes care of the setup, maintenance, updates, and backup of your database. Supported database engines include MongoDB, Kafka, MySQL, Redis, OpenSearch, and PostgreSQL, and these are hosted on Droplets, which means you can choose from shared or dedicated vCPUs.

Regardless of which database you choose, pricing will only vary based on Droplet selection. Prices start at $15.00 per month for MongoDB, MySQL, Redis, and PostgreSQL databases on a 1 vCPU (shared) and 1 GB RAM plan. Kafka plans are much more costly due to higher resource allotments. Like all DigitalOcean plans, you can scale your resources easily.

One of the major features of the Managed Database service is security. You can set the level of access and there’s data encryption during transit and at rest. DigitalOcean will set up automatic daily backups, with the option to restore data from the past seven days.

Recommended DigitalOcean Alternatives

DigitalOcean’s Droplets are one of the cheapest ways to deploy apps to the cloud, but the service is by no means perfect. It’s great for developers on a budget who don’t mind the lack of proper customer support. But if that’s not what you’re looking for, see my top-rated DigitalOcean alternatives outlined below.

Kamatera1

Unlike DigitalOcean, Kamatera offers fully customizable cloud servers, so you can add exactly as much CPU, RAM, and storage as you need without locking yourself into predefined configurations and pricing. It also offers pay-per-use plans charged at hourly rates so you can reduce costs on burstable projects.

Another bonus is that Kamatera has data centers around the world and a particularly strong presence in the Middle East, which DigitalOcean lacks. It also offers prompt support through ticket and phone, which puts it miles ahead of DigitalOcean in terms of customer service. For an additional monthly fee, you can even add managed services to your Kamatera hosting plan.

Liquid Web1

If you’re not comfortable provisioning and setting up your own VM, DigitalOcean is probably not a good choice. Liquid Web is more expensive, but if you choose its managed services, it will take care of all sysadmin tasks for you. You also have the option of self-managing your server or meeting in the middle with core-managed services. Most importantly, the choice is yours.

Liquid Web is also a great option if you have a high-traffic website but don’t have the technical expertise to set up a VPS on your own. You can even opt for one of the managed WordPress or WooCommerce plans if you want the tech team to take care of plugin updates, performance optimizations, and server security.

ScalaHosting1

With powerful yet affordable managed and unmanaged cloud VPS plans on offer, ScalaHosting is an excellent DigitalOcean alternative for growing sites or apps that need room to scale. Like Kamatera, you can pick from fixed VPS configurations or completely customize your server down to the exact number of cores, RAM, and storage you need.

Unlike many cloud and VPS providers, ScalaHosting’s managed cloud VPS plans only cost a third more than its unmanaged cloud VPS, which is already quite reasonably priced for what you get. However, there are no “basic” setups here so I don’t recommend ScalaHosting for small projects. The minimum configuration starts at 2 cores, 4 GB RAM, and 50 GB storage. The host also lacks the impressive global data center networks of DigitalOcean, Kamatera, and AWS.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)1

AWS needs no introduction. This cloud industry giant has an impressive global network of data centers and offers 200+ services for a wide range of projects. Its portfolio is far more diverse compared to DigitalOcean’s and includes everything from cloud computing and storage to machine learning, the Internet of Things, serverless computing, and much more.

But that’s the problem with AWS – it’s notoriously difficult to work with and challenging to determine which service to choose. If you’re prepared to invest days (or even months) in mastering the fundamentals, by all means I’d urge you to try AWS as it ranks among the most comprehensive options available. But if you seek a simpler alternative, consider exploring other options like the three hosts shortlisted above.

With DigitalOcean, You Get What You Pay For

If you’re a seasoned developer and you need a low-cost server to test new apps, DigitalOcean could be the right fit. Pricing is definitely one of DigitalOcean’s biggest advantages, but it’s not without its compromises (such as the lack of free features you’d otherwise get elsewhere). Basic Droplets are best for low- to medium-traffic websites. For app publishing with managed cloud infrastructure, I recommend its App Platform.

If you’re looking for a completely customizable cloud server, I suggest giving Kamatera a try1. Its flexibility allows you to choose your RAM, vCPU, storage, and OS, and you can instantly scale any of your servers. Kamatera also offers a 30-day free trial with a $100 credit similar to DigitalOcean.

FAQ

What kind of support does DigitalOcean offer?

DigitalOcean offers basic 24/7 support via ticket or email only. It does offer paid support ranging from an additional $24 – $999/month. There are three tiers to choose from: Developer (advanced email support), Standard (email and live chat), and Premium (dedicated Slack channel, live chat, video calls, and email).

How easy is it to scale with DigitalOcean?

DigitalOcean’s Droplets are all hosted in the cloud, which makes it very easy to scale up or down. You can do this straight from your dashboard, or you can turn on the autoscaling feature to better handle surges in traffic. You’ll also be able to keep track of your resource usage through the dashboard.

Which is the best DigitalOcean alternative for developers?

Kamatera is a good DigitalOcean alternative because of its customizable cloud VPS options and superior support. Starting at $0.005 per hour for 1 core, 1 GB RAM, and 20 GB storage, it costs around 30% less than DigitalOcean’s cheapest options. However, for larger setups or for managed services, DigitalOcean may be cheaper.

Does DigitalOcean have a free trial for Droplets?

As a new customer, DigitalOcean offers a 60-day trial with $200 of credits. The catch? You’ll have to provide your credit card or PayPal information to verify your identity. You’ll also have to pay for any services you use that exceed the value and time limit stipulated.

Does DigitalOcean have managed VPS hosting?

DigitalOcean’s Droplets are all self-managed, which means that you’re in charge of setting up and maintaining your VM. Instead, DigitalOcean offers managed cloud VPS hosting via Cloudways. If this host doesn’t feel like the right fit, you can find more options in our list of the best VPS services in 2024.