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DigitalOcean Review: Droplets, Pricing, Pros and Cons (2026)
DigitalOcean is the developer-friendly cloud: simple Droplets from a few dollars a month, per-second billing, and some of the best tutorials on the web. Here’s what you get, what it costs, the catches and who it suits.
Prices checked October 2026No commitmentPros & cons
Pricing
DigitalOcean Droplet prices
| Basic Droplet | vCPU | RAM | SSD | Transfer | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smallest | 1 | 512 MB | 10 GB | 500 GB | About $4/month |
| Starter | 1 | 1 GB | 25 GB | 1 TB | About $6/month |
| Popular | 1 | 2 GB | 50 GB | 2 TB | About $12/month |
| Growing | 2 | 4 GB | 80 GB | 4 TB | About $24/month |
Prices are for Basic Droplets in October 2026. Billing is per second with a monthly cap, so you only pay for the time a server exists. Premium CPU, memory-optimized and GPU Droplets cost more.
Pros and cons
What you get, and the catches
Pros
- Clean, simple dashboard that beginners understand
- Per-second billing: delete a server any time
- Same price every month, no promo-then-renewal jump
- Excellent tutorials and documentation
- Managed databases, Kubernetes, App Platform and object storage when you grow
Who it’s for
DigitalOcean is a great fit for
- Developers learning Linux and deploying their first app
- Short projects and testing, thanks to per-second billing
- Startups that may later need managed databases or Kubernetes
- Anyone who wants to avoid long prepaid terms
Look elsewhere if
- You want the most RAM for your money (try Hostinger)
- You need a server in a specific country (try Vultr)
- You only need a tiny always-on server for a few dollars a year (try RackNerd)
Choosing between the two developer clouds? See DigitalOcean vs Vultr.
Getting started
Creating your first Droplet
Sign up
Create an account through our link and add a payment method.
Pick a region and image
Choose the region closest to your users and Ubuntu LTS.
Add your SSH key
Paste your public key so you can log in without a password.
Log in and secure it
Create a sudo user, turn off password logins and enable the firewall.
Every command for those last steps is in our guide on how to set up a VPS.
FAQ
DigitalOcean questions, answered
Is DigitalOcean good for beginners?
Yes. Its dashboard is one of the simplest around, and its free tutorials cover almost every Linux task, which makes it a great place to learn.
What is a Droplet?
A Droplet is DigitalOcean’s name for a virtual server. You choose its size, region and operating system, and get full root access over SSH.
How does DigitalOcean billing work?
Droplets are billed per second up to a monthly cap. If you delete a Droplet after a few hours, you only pay for those hours.
Do I pay for a Droplet that is powered off?
Yes. A powered-off Droplet still reserves its resources, so it is billed. Take a snapshot and destroy it to stop the charges.
Does DigitalOcean include backups?
Automatic backups are a paid add-on, priced as a percentage of the Droplet cost. Snapshots are charged by the gigabyte.
Is DigitalOcean cheaper than AWS?
For simple servers, usually yes, and its prices are far easier to predict. AWS offers more services, but costs can be hard to estimate.
Spin up a Droplet in under a minute
Simple pricing, per-second billing and no commitment. Delete it any time if it’s not for you.