DigitalOcean Review
A wide, independently-configurable Droplet lineup with per-second billing.
DigitalOcean's cheapest Droplet starts at $4/mo for 1 vCPU, 512MB RAM, and 10GB SSD, with a $5 free credit for new signups confirmed in its own FAQ. Its lineup spans well beyond basic Droplets into CPU-, memory-, and storage-optimized families, with the storage-optimized line reaching nearly 4.7TB of SSD.
DigitalOcean's pricing page doesn't mention DDoS protection as a Droplet feature at all, and describes entry-tier storage simply as "SSD" without specifying NVMe.
Specs, as published by DigitalOcean
| Price | $4.00/mo — Basic Droplet, 1 vCPU / 512MB RAM / 10GB SSD, 500GB transfer. Billed per-second ($0.00595/hr). New signups get a $5 free credit per DigitalOcean's own FAQ. |
| vCPUs / RAM | 1 vCPU / 0.5GB RAM |
| Storage | 10GB SSD |
| Free trial credit | $5 |
| Root access | Yes |
| DDoS protection | Not stated |
| Datacenter locations | 12 named cities (NYC, San Francisco, Toronto, Amsterdam, London, Frankfurt, Bangalore, Singapore, Sydney, and others) — no single total-count figure stated |
Pros
- Very low entry price with a $5 free credit
- Wide selection of instance families (CPU/memory/storage-optimized, GPU)
- Per-second billing
- Root access confirmed for full server control
Cons
- No DDoS protection mentioned anywhere on the Droplet pricing page
- Storage stated only as "SSD," not explicitly NVMe, on the entry tier
- 512MB RAM at the cheapest tier is thin for most real workloads
Best for: Developers who want a wide range of configurable instance types and predictable per-second billing
Prices, plans, and features on this page are set by each provider and can change without notice — what's shown here reflects what was confirmed as of the date noted per provider, not necessarily today's live pricing. Always verify current details on the provider's own site before purchasing.