Best DigitalOcean Droplets Alternatives 2026

Simplified cloud infrastructure for developers and startups, providing easy-to-use virtual machines with predictable pricing. Ideal for deploying web applications, hosting websites, and running small to medium-sized workloads. A developer-friendly cloud platform.

DigitalOcean Droplets are virtual machines (VMs) that run on top of DigitalOcean's infrastructure. They are designed to be simple to use and easy to scale. Users can choose from a variety of operating systems and pre-configured applications. DigitalOcean offers predictable pricing and a developer-friendly interface. Droplets are a popular choice for developers, startups, and small businesses. You get solid performace.

7
Top Alternatives
10
User Reviews
4.2
Avg. Rating

Recent Reviews

AJ
Alice Johnson
Software Engineer

"DigitalOcean Droplets have been a game-changer for my development workflow. The simplicity of deployment combined with t..."

BW
Bob Williams
DevOps Engineer

"DigitalOcean Droplets are a solid choice for hosting various applications and services. The provisioning speed is excell..."

CB
Charlie Brown
Freelance Developer

"DigitalOcean Droplets provide a decent starting point for freelance developers. The pricing is attractive, and the basic..."

DigitalOcean Droplets

digitalocean.com

DigitalOcean Droplets are simple, scalable virtual machines. Ideal for developers and small businesses. Offers easy-to-use interface and predictable pricing. Good choice.

Platform Highlights

  • Simple and easy to use
  • Predictable pricing
  • Developer-friendly interface
  • Limited enterprise features
  • Less global presence than AWS/Azure/GCP
Global Rank
#4
Monthly Users
Millions
Founded
2011
Model
Fixed Pricing
Revenue Share
N/A
Content Policy
N/A
Creator Satisfaction 74%

Based on 9,000+ creator reviews

DigitalOcean Droplets Alternatives

Compare top cloud hosting platforms with detailed reviews and ratings

Filter by:
7

Amazon EC2

Professional

Amazon EC2 offers scalable compute capacity in the cloud. It provides virtual servers with different OS, databases, and more. Pay only for what you use.

Web, Linux, Windows
Paid Option
aws.amazon.com
4.5 (10 reviews)
80% recommend
AB
Alice Brown
Software Engineer

"Amazon EC2 has been a game-changer for our development team. The ability to quickly provision and scale resources based..."

Match Score
55%
2

Cloudways

Professional

Cloudways offers managed cloud hosting on top of popular infrastructure providers. It simplifies server management and provides optimized performance for PHP-based applications like WordPress and Magento.

Web
Paid Option
cloudways.com
4.6 (4 reviews)
85% recommend
AS
Adrian Sterling
CTO

"Cloudways has been a game-changer for our cloud hosting needs. The platform's simplicity in managing complex server conf..."

Match Score
51%
4

SiteGround

Professional

SiteGround provides managed WordPress hosting known for speed, security, and outstanding customer support. They offer various plans for small to medium-sized businesses and individual users.

Web
Paid Option
siteground.com
4.6 (4 reviews)
85% recommend
AF
Alistair Finch
Freelance Web Developer

"SiteGround has been a game-changer for my freelance business. Migrating my clients' websites to their cloud hosting plat..."

Match Score
51%
5

UpCloud

Professional

UpCloud delivers high-performance cloud servers with SSD storage. Their focus is on speed, reliability, and cost-effectiveness, offering transparent pricing and scalable resources for businesses.

Web
Paid Option
upcloud.com
4.5 (4 reviews)
80% recommend
MC
Marcus Chen
Senior Developer

"UpCloud has been a solid choice for our cloud hosting needs. The performance is definitely noticeable, especially the fa..."

Match Score
51%
6

Liquid Web

Professional

Liquid Web provides premium managed hosting solutions, catering to businesses that require robust performance, high availability, and expert support. Specializing in managed VPS, cloud, and dedicated servers.

Web
Paid Option
liquidweb.com
4.5 (4 reviews)
82% recommend
FH
Franklin Hawthorne
Freelance Web Developer

"Liquid Web's dedicated server solutions are reasonably priced, and the initial setup was straightforward. However, I fou..."

Match Score
51%
3

Linode Pro

Professional

Linode Pro is designed to give performance for CPU intensive tasks. It is great for data analysis. The CPUs have been enhanced.

Web
Paid Option
linode.com
4.6 (4 reviews)
81% recommend
AL
Astrid Lindholm
Data Scientist

"Linode Pro has been a game-changer for my data analysis workflows! The enhanced CPU performance is immediately noticeabl..."

Match Score
49%
1

Vultr HF

Recommended Professional

Vultr HF provides high frequency compute optimized servers for demanding applications. It offers faster CPUs and memory for performance intensive applications.

Web
Paid Option
vultr.com
4.7 (4 reviews)
82% recommend
WC
Wesley Cartwright
DevOps Engineer

"Vultr HF has been a game-changer for our cloud hosting needs. The high frequency CPUs noticeably improved the performanc..."

Match Score
48%
User Reviews

What users say about DigitalOcean Droplets

Real experiences from our community of users who have tried DigitalOcean Droplets and its alternatives.

4.2
Average Rating
10
Total Reviews
74%
Would Recommend
AJ
Alice Johnson
Software Engineer • 1 month ago
Verified User

DigitalOcean Droplets have been a game-changer for my development workflow. The simplicity of deployment combined with the powerful performance makes it an ideal choice for both personal projects and production environments. The pricing is also transparent and competitive, and I really appreciate the comprehensive documentation that helps resolve any issues quickly. Setting up my server was a breeze, and the scalability options are fantastic.

Verified Purchase
BW
Bob Williams
DevOps Engineer • 1 month ago
Verified User

DigitalOcean Droplets are a solid choice for hosting various applications and services. The provisioning speed is excellent, and the control panel is intuitive. While I occasionally encounter minor networking hiccups, their support team is usually quick to address them. The integration with other DigitalOcean services like Spaces and Load Balancers is seamless, streamlining our infrastructure management. Overall, a reliable and cost-effective solution for small to medium-sized deployments.

Verified Purchase
CB
Charlie Brown
Freelance Developer • 1 month ago
User

DigitalOcean Droplets provide a decent starting point for freelance developers. The pricing is attractive, and the basic configurations are sufficient for smaller projects. However, I sometimes find the performance inconsistent, especially during peak hours. While their documentation is helpful, navigating the control panel can be a bit clunky at times. It's a good option for budget-conscious developers, but be prepared to potentially upgrade as your needs grow and plan accordingly for scaling.

DD
Diana Davis
System Administrator • 1 month ago
Verified User

We've been using DigitalOcean Droplets for our staging and production environments for over two years, and we've been consistently impressed with their stability and performance. The ability to quickly spin up new instances and scale our resources on demand has been invaluable. The team also appreciates the detailed monitoring tools available. We would strongly recommend DigitalOcean as a platform for anyone seeking reliable and scalable cloud infrastructure. It saves us time and money.

Verified Purchase
EE
Ethan Evans
Backend Developer • 1 month ago
User

DigitalOcean Droplets are a simple and straightforward solution for deploying backend applications. I appreciate the clean interface and the ease of configuring different operating systems. While the range of pre-built images is somewhat limited compared to other providers, it's still sufficient for most common use cases. The networking capabilities are also well-designed. If you're looking for a no-frills cloud platform, DigitalOcean is definitely worth considering for your web application or project.

FF
Fiona Ford
Data Scientist • 1 month ago
Verified User

I use DigitalOcean Droplets for running data analysis and machine learning workloads. The ability to easily provision instances with powerful CPUs and ample RAM is a major advantage. I do occasionally encounter some difficulties setting up specific software dependencies, but the community support is generally helpful in resolving these issues. Overall, it's a cost-effective option for handling computationally intensive tasks and I'm generally satisfied. Good value for money.

Verified Purchase
GG
George Green
Full-Stack Developer • 1 month ago
Verified User

DigitalOcean Droplets offer the perfect balance of simplicity and power. The user interface is intuitive and easy to navigate, making it a breeze to manage my servers. The performance is consistently excellent, and I've never experienced any major downtime. Plus, their API is well-documented and easy to integrate with my development tools. I use it daily for deploying and maintaining my projects, and I couldn't be happier with the experience. I'd wholeheartedly recommend.

Verified Purchase