Inside this Article
1. Plans and Pricing
FastComet wins with its reasonable pricing and beginner-friendly features
FastComet offers reasonably-priced shared hosting plans. Both its cloud VPS and dedicated CPU servers, though affordable, are on the more expensive end of the spectrum. DigitalOcean doesn’t offer any shared hosting plans. However, DigitalOcean pricing for cloud VMs (called Standard Droplets) is pretty affordable where the beginner plan costs lesser than FastComet’s highest shared plan. Developers looking for a docker host can use both DigitalOcean and FastComet dockers. Despite giving more resource options (vCPUs, disk space, data transfer, etc.), DigitalOcean’s VMs don’t offer beginner-friendly features like those of FastComet. FastComet Web Hosting
Plan NameStorageBandwidthFree SSLNumber of SitesPrice
More details DigitalOcean Cloud Hosting
Plan NameStorageBandwidthCPURAMPrice
More details2. Features
More hosting plans and user-friendly features help FastComet edge past DigitalOcean
With FastComet’s cloud VPS, you’ll get SSD web space, network/power/hardware redundancy, and optimized server setup along with multiple freebies including multiple developer tools, Cloudflare CDN, Softaculous auto-installer, SSH access, website and domain transfer, and daily backups. The shared hosting plans additionally offer free SSL certificate, several discounted SEO tools, and a website builder. DigitalOcean’s VMs are equipped with load balancers, API, CLI, and client libraries, floating IP addresses, cloud firewalls, multiple pre-installed software, 1-click apps, free Let’s Encrypt SSL, and automated backups. To compare FastComet and DigitalOcean’s key features, check this feature comparison table.FastComet | DigitalOcean | |
Hosting Types | Shared hosting, cloud VPS, and dedicated CPU servers | Cloud VMs |
Free Domain | × | × |
Free SSL Certificate | ✓ | ✓ |
Disk Space | 50GB SSD-320GB SSD | 25GB SSD-3,840GB SSD |
Bandwidth | 2TB-8TB | 1TB-12TB |
Automatic Backups | Daily | Weekly |
Control Panel | cPanel | Plesk, CyberPanel, and VPSrobots |
Email accounts | Unlimited (shared hosting) | Not mentioned |
Free CDN | ✓ | ✓ |
Free Site Migration | ✓ | × |
Money-Back Guarantee | 45 days (shared hosting); 7 days (VPS and dedicated servers) | × |
3. Performance
FastComet wins with credit-backed uptime guarantee plus several speed-enhancing features
FastComet offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee. This is backed by a 10% credit of your monthly fee for every hour of network downtime, up to 100% of the paid monthly fee for the affected service. But FastComet isn’t fast. However, I found its speed to be quite good, but only across the U.S., Europe, and Canada. You can check our expert FastComet review for details.
DigitalOcean offers a 99.99% uptime SLA (for Droplets and Block Storage). It performed well in our tests as long as it was up and running. You can read our in-depth DigitalOcean review to know what went wrong.
FastComet’s VPSes use SSDs, optimized server setup, and CDN. Its shared hosting plans have 5 layers of caching and speed optimizations (like lossless data compression, JavaScript bundling, etc.) and RocketBooster WordPress optimization based on Varnish Cachewall with LiteSpeed LSPHP Technology. DigitalOcean just uses SSDs and free CDN for enhanced performance.
With a credit-backed uptime guarantee that’s the industry average and multiple speed-enhancing features, FastComet is the winner here.
4. Security
Multi-level integrated security solution for optimal protection helps FastComet edge past DigitalOcean
FastComet uses a multi-level integrated security solution. This includes SpamExperts, daily backups with 1-click restore, secure account isolation with FastGuard protection, WAF, BitNinja firewall, and Cloudflare CDN for DNS and DDoS protection. DigitalOcean’s security practices include firewalls, SSH keys, VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) networks, unattended updates, service auditing, disabling the directory indexes, and regular backups. Thanks to its optimal effort possible on all levels to ensure your website stays secure, FastComet wins this round.5. Support
Extremely efficient customer support wins it for FastComet
FastComet offers 24/7 support via live chat, phone, email, and support ticket. I tried these and found the support staff to be quick, responsive, and extremely efficient in most cases. For self-help, you’ll get a blog, several tutorials (including video tutorials), and a well-stocked knowledgebase. DigitalOcean provides support exclusively through tickets, although you might encounter difficulties when submitting them, as I experienced. To assist yourself, you have access to DigitalOcean’s tutorials, documentation, resources, articles, and online community. Customer support is a strong point of FastComet, which is why it wins this round.A Closely-Fought Competition Won by FastComet
With some closely-fought rounds and then somewhere it wins hands down, FastComet emerged a winner in this competition with DigitalOcean. While it scored easy wins with its performance, security, and support, it had a neck-and-neck match in pricing and feature categories. Still, it emerged the undisputed winner. However, if you have a tech background and are looking for a cloud web host with developer-friendly features, DigitalOcean would be a better choice. Before you make a final decision, remember that neither of these hosts made it into our top 10. To see the ones that did, check our list of the best web hosting services.Comparison Table
FastComet
DigitalOcean
Plans and Pricing
Reasonably-priced shared hosting, cloud VPS, and dedicated CPU servers
Affordably-priced cloud VMs that are cheaper than FastComet’s cloud VPS
Key Features
SSD web space, network/power/hardware redundancy, and optimized server setup along with freebies including multiple developer tools, Cloudflare CDN, Softaculous auto-installer, SSH access, website and domain transfer, and daily backups; free SSL certificate, several discounted SEO tools, and a website builder with shared hosting
Load balancers, API, CLI, and client libraries, floating IP addresses, cloud firewalls, multiple pre-installed software, 1-click apps, free Let’s Encrypt SSL, and automated backups
Performance
A credit-backed 99.9% uptime guarantee; speed-enhancing features like SSDs, optimized server setup, CDN, 5 layers of caching and speed optimizations, and RocketBooster WordPress optimization based on Varnish Cachewall with LiteSpeed LSPHP Technology
99.99% uptime SLA; SSDs and free CDN
Security
SpamExperts, daily backups with 1-click restore, secure account isolation with FastGuard protection, WAF, BitNinja firewall, Cloudflare CDN for DNS and DDoS protection
Firewalls, SSH keys, VPC networks, unattended updates, service auditing, disabling the directory indexes, and regular backups
Support
24/7 support via live chat, phone, email, and support ticket; a blog, several tutorials (including video tutorials), and a well-stocked knowledgebase for self-help
Support tickets; tutorials, documentation and resources, articles, and online community for self-support