Hosting & Infra

AWS vs DigitalOcean: Pricing Comparison 2026

Name: DigitalOcean
Brand: DigitalOcean
Price: 0.15 USD
Availability: OnlineOnly
Rating: 4.5 (2200 reviews)

Side-by-side pricing comparison of AWS and DigitalOcean. See all plans, features, and costs at a glance.

Bottom line: DigitalOcean starts at $0.15/mo, making it $2020/mo cheaper than AWS ($2020/mo). DigitalOcean offers a free plan.

Last updated: March 16, 2026

Data compiled by Arthur Jacquemin

Updated March 16, 2026

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AWS vs DigitalOcean: Quick Pricing Facts

Feature	AWS	DigitalOcean
Starting Price	$2020/mo	$0.15/mo
Number of Plans	4	18
Free Tier	No	Yes
Pricing Model	usage-based	usage-based
Annual Discount	N/A	N/A

DigitalOcean is the more affordable option, starting at $0.15/mo compared to AWS' $2020/mo. Both are Hosting & Infra tools with 22 combined pricing plans and 53 features compared.

DigitalOcean stands out with a free plan for getting started.

Review the detailed tier-by-tier comparison above to see exactly which features are included at each price point and find the best fit for your Hosting & Infra needs.

Pricing Plans	AWS Try it free	DigitalOcean Try it free
Tier 1	How does AWS pricing work? Custom pricing Start with How does AWS pricing work?	Gradient™ AI Platform $0/monthCheapest Includes Create custom AI Agents Integrate leading LLMs into your workflows No infrastructure management Start with Gradient™ AI Platform
Tier 2	How do you pay for AWS? Custom pricing Start with How do you pay for AWS?	Gradient™ AI GPU Droplets $2/monthCheapest Includes Run training and inference on AI/ML models Process large data sets and complex neural networks Serve additional use cases like high-performance computing (HPC) Start with Gradient™ AI GPU Droplets
Tier 3	Is AWS Private Pricing right for you? Custom pricing Start with Is AWS Private Pricing right for you?	Additional GPU Options Custom pricing Includes Simple provisioning interface Build, train, and deploy large models Scale AI/ML workloads on demand Start with Additional GPU Options
Tier 4	Pricing for AWS products $2020/month Start with Pricing for AWS products	App Platform $0/monthCheapest Includes Build, deploy and scale apps quickly Fully managed solution, zero infrastructure management Highly scalable Start with App Platform
Tier 5	—	Droplets $4/monthCheapest Includes Per-sec billing with 60 sec minimum or $0.01, whichever is higher Deploy in seconds Scale up on demand Run any workload - from mission critical apps to low traffic sites Start with Droplets
Tier 6	—	Kubernetes $12/monthCheapest Includes Simple, managed Kubernetes built for scale Free control plane, free bandwidth allowance, and more Automate and optimize to peak performance Start with Kubernetes
Tier 7	—	Functions $0/monthCheapest Includes Focus on building great apps Pay for what you use Scale automatically Start with Functions
Tier 8	—	Cloudways Managed Hosting $11/monthCheapest Includes Optimized for Wordpress & PHP based apps SSD stack with PHP 8 & Redis Unlimited apps, Git & staging Start with Cloudways Managed Hosting
Tier 9	—	Backups $20/monthCheapest Includes Choose flexible frequencies from Weekly, Daily, or Every 12/6/4 hours. Set custom retention periods from 3 days up to 6 months. Fast and fully-automated. Start with Backups
Tier 10	—	Databases $15/monthCheapest Includes Managed MongoDB, Kafka, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Valkey, and OpenSearch Worry-free setup, maintenance, and easy migration Free daily backups, automated failover, and more! Start with Databases
Tier 11	—	Spaces $5/monthCheapest Includes S3-compatible object storage Highly scalable Built in CDN Start with Spaces
Tier 12	—	Network File Storage $0/monthCheapest Includes Minimum: 50 GiB Increments: 10 GiB Flat pricing across all supported regions Start with Network File Storage
Tier 13	—	Volumes $10/monthCheapest Includes Block storage Highly available Easily scale block storage, resize when needed, and move them between droplets Start with Volumes
Tier 14	—	Container Registry $0/monthCheapest Includes Easily store and manage private container images Transfer container images over high-speed HTTPs connections to servers across four continents Start with Container Registry
Tier 15	—	Load Balancers $12/monthCheapest Includes Improve availability, performance, and scalability Let's Encrypt and HTTP/3 support Compatible with Droplets and DigitalOcean Kubernetes Start with Load Balancers
Tier 16	—	Support Plans $0/monthCheapest Includes Find answers to common questions, development guidelines written by experts and get free email support Ideal for those testing ideas and hosting small applications Start with Support Plans
Tier 17	—	Virtual Private Cloud $0/monthCheapest Includes Ingress data transfer to VPCs is free. Egress data transfer from VPCs to the internet counts against bandwidth quotas. Intra-datacenter VPC peering is free. Inter-datacenter VPC peering is $0.01/GiB. VPC NAT Gateway: $40.00 per node, includes 100 GiB bandwidth (overage $0.01/GiB), supports up to 500,000 connections. Start with Virtual Private Cloud
Tier 18	—	Uptime $0/monthCheapest Includes Uptime and latency checks Alerts by email and Slack One Uptime Check/month included with every account Start with Uptime

Swipe to compare plans →

AWS

Comprehensive cloud computing platform by Amazon

View all AWS plans

DigitalOcean

Developer-friendly cloud infrastructure with simple pricing

View all DigitalOcean plans

Our Pick

DigitalOcean

DigitalOcean offers a free plan, starts at $2019.85/mo lower ($0.15/mo vs $2020/mo), offers 18 tiers vs 4.

Based on pricing data only. Review the full comparison below for your specific needs.

Best value: DigitalOcean

Try DigitalOcean free

Which Should You Choose?

Choose AWS if:

•AWS's usage-based pricing lets you match exact team size without tier gaps
•AWS's focused feature set keeps your team in control without tool bloat
•Your Hosting & Infra team's workflow matches AWS's feature organization more naturally

Choose DigitalOcean if:

•You want lower per-user costs—DigitalOcean starts at $0.15/mo, saving $2019.85/mo compared to AWS at $2020/mo
•You need a free plan with Build, deploy and scale apps quickly, Fully managed solution, zero infrastructure management—DigitalOcean offers no-cost access with no credit card required
•You need 18 pricing tiers for flexible team sizing—more options mean less overpaying for features you don't need
•You want more features built-in—DigitalOcean offers 53 additional features across its plans

DigitalOcean is the more affordable choice [1], starting at $0.15/mo compared to AWS's $2020/mo. For a 50-person team on paid plans, this translates to DigitalOcean saving approximately $100993/month. DigitalOcean offers 18 pricing tiers compared to AWS's 4, giving you more granular control over scaling costs as your team grows. Across all tiers, DigitalOcean provides 53 total features versus 0 for AWS, offering a richer feature set depending on your specific needs. If controlling SaaS spend is a priority, DigitalOcean offers the better cost-to-value ratio. Consider AWS only if its unique capabilities directly address a gap DigitalOcean cannot fill.

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Frequently Asked Questions: AWS vs DigitalOcean

Which is cheaper, AWS or DigitalOcean?

As of March 2026, DigitalOcean starts at a lower price point. AWS starts at $2020/mo while DigitalOcean starts at $0.15/mo. However, the best value depends on the features you need at each tier.

How many pricing plans does AWS have vs DigitalOcean?

AWS offers 4 pricing plans, while DigitalOcean offers 18 plans. More plans typically means more flexibility to match your exact needs and budget.

Does AWS or DigitalOcean offer a free plan?

DigitalOcean offers a free plan, while AWS does not. If budget is a concern, DigitalOcean lets you get started at no cost.

Does AWS or DigitalOcean offer custom enterprise pricing?

Yes, both AWS and DigitalOcean offer custom enterprise pricing tiers with quote-based pricing. Contact each vendor for a tailored quote.

How do AWS and DigitalOcean compare for Hosting & Infra?

Both AWS and DigitalOcean are Hosting & Infra tools. AWS offers 4 plans starting at $2020/mo, while DigitalOcean offers 18 plans starting at $0.15/mo. Review the feature breakdowns above to see which better fits your Hosting & Infra needs.

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Sources

AWS Official Pricing— Vendor pricing page
DigitalOcean Official Pricing— Vendor pricing page

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