DigitalOcean Reviews

Read unbiased DigitalOcean reviews from 353 verified users to discover if it's the best choice for you. DigitalOcean is currently ranked #1 in the cloud hosting industry with an average star rating of 4.6 and sentiment score of 62%. Keep reading to learn more.

DigitalOcean logo
DigitalOcean
DigitalOcean offers a simplified cloud computing experience, making it ideal for developers and small businesses seeking affordable and scalable solutions. Its platform is widely used for hosting web applications, managing databases, and deploying containerized workloads.
Founded
2011
Location
New York, United States
Industries
Software Development, PaaS, Cloud Hosting
Social Links
TrustScore
85
Excellent TrustScore (out of 0 to 100)
Industry Rank
#1
#1 out of 9 companies in this industry
Industry Standing
100.0%
Top performer in the industry
Sentiment Score
62%
Customer overall sentiment score
Average Rating
4.6
Star rating out of 5
Total Reviews
353
Last updated: 2025-01-27 12:01:51
Industry Comparison - Cloud Hosting
CompanyRank
TrustScore
RatingSentimentReviews
Market Share
DigitalOcean#1854.662%353
39.4%
Vercel#2693.545%20
15.9%
Railway#3683.544%95
19.6%
Vultr#4643.433%58
15.7%
Render#5512.614%17
8.5%
Linode#6351.9-12%14
2.0%
Heroku#7291.5-19%37
1.0%
Netlify#8291.8-28%13
-0.5%
Hetzner#9261.6-35%20
-1.7%

In the Cloud Hosting industry, DigitalOcean leads with the highest trust score of 85%, performing 67.8% above average, while Hetzner has the lowest trust score of 26%, 48.7% below the industry average. DigitalOcean has the highest sentiment score of 62%, and DigitalOcean has the most customer feedback with 353 reviews.

Industry Average Rating
2.7
Industry Average Sentiment
12%
Industry Total Reviews
627

DigitalOcean Trust Score

0
out of 100
Rating Score (40% weighted)4.6 / 5
Sentiment Score (60% weighted)62%

TrustScore is a combination of 1 to 5 star rating (40% weighted) and -1 to 1 sentiment score (60% weighted) to provide an accurate and comprehensive measure of customer satisfaction. Learn more.

DigitalOcean Sentiment Overview

Total Reviews
353
Positive
84%
297 reviews
Neutral
7%
25 reviews
Negative
9%
32 reviews
DigitalOcean Customer Reviews

DigitalOcean customers are most satisfied with Support (85%) and Performance (73%), while being most critical of .

Reviews by Category

Positive Feedback

Support

Prices are unbeatable and even their customer support is truly great as well.. very knowledgeable and with reasonably prompt responses.

Support

The support team communicates about upcoming maintenance downtime as well.

Support

Digitalocean paid support works i am paying for support for digitalocean and it is worth it.

Negative Feedback

Most Recent DigitalOcean Reviews

Positive Reviews

servers are very fast even the 512mb ram vps is really fast compared to other hosting providers, i wish i could rate more than 5...

horizon

Comprehensive and In-Depth Support Experience. I had a truly grateful experience with the DigitalOcean support team. Their comprehensive and in-depth responses not only addressed my...

Bader Idris

I recommend digitalocean. com. My email provider stopped service and I couldn't receive the verification code. With the patient help of the staff, they solved...

Tom

Negative Reviews

Frequent host of phishing scam artists. I’ve been receiving several texts EVERY DAY for several months non-stop and EVERY SINGLE ONE contains a website link...

Jay Light

Charged $5 a month without my knowledge. I used Digital Oceans Droplet service for a few months to run a piece of code in the...

Matthew

The sentiment analysis above has highlighted customer feedback at scale. The DigitalOcean review below provides an expert take at the features that matter most to help you decide if this company is the right choice for you.

Company Overview

DigitalOcean is a cloud infrastructure provider that caters primarily to developers, startups, and small to medium-sized businesses. Known for its simplicity and developer-friendly tools, it has carved a niche in the competitive cloud computing market dominated by giants like AWS and Google Cloud. DigitalOcean stands out with its focus on providing streamlined, cost-effective solutions and unique technologies such as its Droplets (virtual machines) and Kubernetes-based container orchestration.

Industries

Software Development
PaaS
Cloud Hosting
Cloud Computing

Target Audience

Developers building web applications
Startups seeking affordable cloud hosting
Small to medium-sized businesses requiring scalable infrastructure

Unique Selling Points

Developer-centric tools and APIs that simplify cloud infrastructure management.
Transparent and predictable pricing with no hidden fees, making it cost-effective for startups.
High-performance SSD-based virtual machines and data centers located globally for low-latency access.
Pricing Plans
Basic Droplets
$5/monthly
Renews at $5/monthly
No Trial
DigitalOcean does not offer refunds but provides detailed usage tracking to avoid overcharges.

The Basic Droplets plan provides virtual machines with SSD storage, making it suitable for small-scale applications and development environments. It offers flexibility in choosing CPU and memory confi...

Best For:
This plan is ideal for developers and small businesses launching lightweight web applications or testing environments. It is also suitable for those who need affordable cloud infrastructure without complex configurations.

What's Included

  • 1 GB RAM
  • 1 vCPU
  • 25 GB SSD storage
  • 1 TB transfer
  • 99.99% uptime SLA
  • Global data centers
  • Monitoring and alerts
  • Free inbound data transfer

What's Not Included

  • Managed database services
  • Load balancers
  • Premium support
  • Advanced security features

Hidden Costs

  • Additional bandwidth usage
  • Paid backups

Payment & Billing

Payment Methods:
Credit Card
PayPal
Google Pay
Currencies:
USD
EUR
GBP
Billing Cycles:
Monthly

Free Extra Features

  • Free monitoring and alerting tools
  • Access to DigitalOcean's community tutorials and guides
Premium Droplets
$6/monthly
Renews at $6/monthly
No Trial
DigitalOcean does not offer refunds but provides detailed usage tracking to avoid overcharges.

Premium Droplets offer enhanced performance with faster CPUs and NVMe storage, making them suitable for high-traffic applications and more demanding workloads.

Best For:
This plan is recommended for businesses and developers running high-performance applications or websites with moderate traffic. It is also ideal for those needing faster storage and processing power.

What's Included

  • 2 GB RAM
  • 1 vCPU (Premium Intel or AMD)
  • 50 GB NVMe SSD storage
  • 2 TB transfer
  • 99.99% uptime SLA
  • Global data centers
  • Monitoring and alerts
  • Free inbound data transfer

What's Not Included

  • Managed Kubernetes
  • Load balancers
  • Premium support
  • Advanced networking features

Hidden Costs

  • Paid backups
  • Additional bandwidth usage

Payment & Billing

Payment Methods:
Credit Card
PayPal
Google Pay
Currencies:
USD
EUR
GBP
Billing Cycles:
Monthly

Free Extra Features

  • Free monitoring and alerting tools
  • Access to DigitalOcean's API for automation
Managed Kubernetes
$10/monthly
Renews at $10/monthly
No Trial
DigitalOcean does not offer refunds but provides detailed usage tracking to avoid overcharges.

The Managed Kubernetes plan allows users to deploy, scale, and manage containerized applications with ease. It eliminates the complexity of managing Kubernetes clusters.

Best For:
This plan is perfect for teams deploying containerized applications and microservices. It is also ideal for businesses that want to leverage Kubernetes without managing the infrastructure themselves.

What's Included

  • Free control plane
  • 99.95% uptime SLA
  • Integrated monitoring
  • Load balancers
  • Persistent storage
  • Global data centers
  • Kubernetes API access
  • Free inbound data transfer

What's Not Included

  • Worker node costs
  • Advanced security features
  • Premium support
  • Additional bandwidth usage

Hidden Costs

  • Additional worker nodes
  • Paid backups

Payment & Billing

Payment Methods:
Credit Card
PayPal
Google Pay
Currencies:
USD
EUR
GBP
Billing Cycles:
Monthly

Free Extra Features

  • Free Kubernetes control plane
  • Access to DigitalOcean's Kubernetes tutorials

We recommend DigitalOcean for its simplicity, affordability, and developer-centric approach. It is a great platform for small to medium-sized projects but may not meet the needs of large enterprises.

Total Cost Calculator
Pricing Plan
Cost Breakdown

Basic Droplets Plan

Monthly Cost$5/month

Total Cost over 3 Years

Year 1$60
Year 2$60
Year 3$60
Total after Year 1
$60
Total after Year 2
$120
Total after Year 3
$180

Optional Add-ons

  • Managed databases (starting at $15/month)
  • Backups (20% of Droplet cost)

Extra Costs not Included

  • Additional bandwidth usage
  • Paid backups
Explore Features

Feature Preferences

Select your feature requirements. Must-have features are essential for your needs, while nice-to-have features are beneficial but not critical.

Hold Ctrl (Windows) or Cmd (Mac) to select multiple features

Monthly Budget Range

Select your preferred budget range. This helps us find plans that fit your financial requirements.

Recommended Plans

Select features to get plan recommendations
DigitalOcean Competitor Comparison

Select the features that are important to you. This will help us match competitors based on your needs.

Adjust how much you want to consider price in the comparison.

Features OnlyBalancedPrice Focused

Competitor Rankings

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Best Match

AWS is the largest cloud provider, offering a wide range of services for businesses of all sizes. Its extensive ecosystem and global reach make it a popular choice for enterprises.

Match Score: 0%
AWS is generally more expensive, especially for small-scale applications, due to its pay-as-you-go model and additional costs for advanced features.
Key Differences: AWS offers a broader range of services and advanced features, but its pricing model can be complex and less predictable compared to DigitalOcean.
When to Choose: Choose AWS for enterprise-level applications requiring advanced features and scalability.
When Not to Choose: Avoid AWS if you are a startup or small business looking for cost-effective and simple solutions.
Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

GCP is a robust cloud provider known for its data analytics and machine learning capabilities. It offers a wide range of services for businesses and developers.

Match Score: 0%
GCP's pricing is competitive but can become expensive for small businesses due to additional costs for advanced features.
Key Differences: GCP excels in data analytics and AI but has a steeper learning curve compared to DigitalOcean's simpler platform.
When to Choose: Choose GCP for big data applications and AI-driven projects.
When Not to Choose: Avoid GCP if you need a straightforward platform with minimal setup.
Linode

Linode is a cloud hosting provider similar to DigitalOcean, focusing on simplicity and affordability. It is popular among developers and small businesses.

Match Score: 0%
Linode's pricing is comparable to DigitalOcean, but DigitalOcean offers more value with additional features like Kubernetes.
Key Differences: Linode offers similar pricing and features but lacks some of the advanced integrations and global reach of DigitalOcean.
When to Choose: Choose Linode for basic hosting needs with a focus on simplicity.
When Not to Choose: Avoid Linode if you need advanced features like managed Kubernetes or a larger global presence.
User Feedback

Common Praise

Developers appreciate the simplicity and ease of use of DigitalOcean's platform.
The transparent pricing model is highly praised by startups and small businesses.
High performance and reliability of SSD-based Droplets are frequently highlighted.

Common Complaints

Some users find the lack of a free trial disappointing.
Limited advanced networking features compared to competitors like AWS.
Occasional complaints about customer support response times.

Success Stories

A startup scaled its e-commerce platform using DigitalOcean's Kubernetes, reducing downtime significantly.
A developer launched a SaaS product leveraging DigitalOcean's Droplets, saving 30% on hosting costs compared to competitors.
An education technology company used DigitalOcean to host their LMS, achieving 99.99% uptime during peak usage.

Potential Deal Breakers

No free trial to test the platform before committing.
Limited advanced features for enterprise-level applications.
Customer support options are not as robust as competitors.
Final Verdict

DigitalOcean is an excellent choice for developers, startups, and small businesses seeking a cost-effective and developer-friendly cloud platform. Its simplicity, transparent pricing, and reliable performance make it a standout option in the cloud hosting market. However, it may not be suitable for enterprises requiring advanced features or extensive support.

DigitalOcean Pros

  • Transparent and predictable pricing.
  • Developer-friendly tools and APIs.
  • High-performance SSD-based infrastructure.
  • Extensive tutorials and community support.

DigitalOcean Cons

  • Limited advanced features for enterprise applications.
  • No free trial available.
  • Customer support could be more robust.

Recommended For:

DigitalOcean is ideal for developers building web applications, startups launching MVPs, and small businesses needing affordable cloud infrastructure.

Not Recommended For:

DigitalOcean is not recommended for enterprises requiring advanced networking features or businesses needing extensive customer support. It is also not ideal for those unfamiliar with basic cloud infrastructure concepts.

We recommend DigitalOcean for its simplicity, affordability, and developer-centric approach. It is a great platform for small to medium-sized projects but may not meet the needs of large enterprises.

Frequently Asked Questions