DigitalOcean Alternatives: 9 VPS Providers Compared
Every VPS provider we track, compared with DigitalOcean: the cheapest plan for each amount of RAM, data center countries, and billing.
Short answer
With 4 GB of RAM, DigitalOcean starts at $24.00 a month; cheaper: Hostup ($4.95), Contabo ($6.14) and Hetzner ($6.68). Cheaper options exist at 1 GB (Hostup), 2 GB (Hostup), 4 GB (Hostup), 8 GB (Contabo), 16 GB (Contabo) and 32 GB (Contabo). More data center countries than DigitalOcean (8): Vultr (20), AWS Lightsail (17) and OVH Cloud (10).
DigitalOcean alternatives
Sorted by how many RAM sizes each provider is cheaper than DigitalOcean at. Monthly prices in USD at today's exchange rate.
| Provider | From | 4 GB RAM from | Cheaper than DigitalOcean at | Countries | Hourly billing | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hostup | $3.54 | $4.95 | 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB | 1 | No | DigitalOcean vs Hostup → |
| AWS Lightsail | $3.50 | $20.00 | 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB | 17 | Yes | DigitalOcean vs AWS Lightsail → |
| Vultr | $2.50 | $20.00 | 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB | 20 | Yes | DigitalOcean vs Vultr → |
| Contabo | $6.14 | $6.14 | 2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB | 7 | No | DigitalOcean vs Contabo → |
| Hetzner | $6.68 | $6.68 | 2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB | 4 | Yes | DigitalOcean vs Hetzner → |
| Netcup | $8.35 | $8.35 | 2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB | 5 | No | DigitalOcean vs Netcup → |
| Hostinger | $11.99 | $11.99 | 2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB | 9 | No | DigitalOcean vs Hostinger → |
| OVH Cloud | $6.74 | $13.50 | 2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB | 10 | Yes | DigitalOcean vs OVH Cloud → |
| Ionos | $6.00 | $14.00 | 2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB | 5 | No | DigitalOcean vs Ionos → |
Cheapest alternative for each amount of RAM
The cheapest plan with at least this much RAM from DigitalOcean and from any other provider. The cheaper one is highlighted.
| RAM | DigitalOcean | Cheapest alternative |
|---|---|---|
| 1 GB+ | s-1vcpu-1gb$6.00/mo1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 25 GB disk | Hostup VPS Nano$3.54/mo1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 25 GB disk |
| 2 GB+ | s-1vcpu-2gb$12.00/mo1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 50 GB disk | Hostup VPS Nano$3.54/mo1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 25 GB disk |
| 4 GB+ | s-2vcpu-4gb$24.00/mo2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 80 GB disk | Hostup VPS XS$4.95/mo2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 50 GB disk |
| 8 GB+ | s-2vcpu-8gb-amd$42.00/mo2 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 100 GB disk | Contabo Cloud Vps Core 4 SSD$6.14/mo4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 100 GB disk |
| 16 GB+ | s-4vcpu-16gb-amd$84.00/mo4 vCPU, 16 GB RAM, 200 GB disk | Contabo Storage Vps 30 SSD$15.62/mo6 vCPU, 18 GB RAM, 1024 GB disk |
| 32 GB+ | s-8vcpu-32gb-amd$168.00/mo8 vCPU, 32 GB RAM, 400 GB disk | Contabo Cloud Vps Core 12 SSD$27.90/mo12 vCPU, 48 GB RAM, 400 GB disk |
FAQ
What is a cheaper alternative to DigitalOcean?
With 4 GB of RAM, DigitalOcean starts at $24.00 a month; cheaper: Hostup ($4.95), Contabo ($6.14) and Hetzner ($6.68). Prices are monthly, in US dollars at today's exchange rate.
Which DigitalOcean alternative is cheaper most often?
Hostup: it is cheaper than DigitalOcean with 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB and 32 GB of RAM.
Which DigitalOcean alternatives bill by the hour?
AWS Lightsail, Vultr, Hetzner and OVH Cloud. Hourly billing suits test servers and short jobs: you pay only for the hours the server exists.
Which DigitalOcean alternative has the most data center locations?
Vultr offers VPS plans in 20 countries (The Netherlands, United States, India, Germany, South Africa, United Kingdom, Spain, Australia, Mexico, Italy, Japan, France, Chile, South Korea, Singapore, Sweden, Brazil, Israel, Canada and Poland). DigitalOcean covers 8.
How do you pick a DigitalOcean alternative?
Start with the RAM you need and compare the cheapest plan of each provider at that size, then check CPU type (shared or dedicated), storage, the data center closest to your users, and benchmarks. The comparison pages below go plan by plan.