Alternatives · Web Hosting
DigitalOcean alternatives
As of Nov 12, 2026, the highest-graded DigitalOcean alternative is Northflank (2.6 GPA). It's also the best free one.
DigitalOcean compared with 12 alternatives: Akamai Linode, Vultr, Hetzner, Cloudways, Render and 7 more.
DigitalOcean has a free plan. Paid plans start at $4 per month (Droplet), billed per second. 2 of the 12 alternatives are free or have a free plan. 3 more offer a free trial.
Listings checked up to Nov 12, 2026 · Where the facts come from
Black Friday: is there a DigitalOcean sale?
At a glance
| Tool | Price | Free plan | Runs on |
|---|---|---|---|
| DigitalOceanThis tool | Free plan · from $4/mo | Yes | Web |
| Akamai Linode | From $5/mo | No | Web |
| Vultr | From $2.50/mo | No | Web |
| Hetzner | From €1.60/mo | No | Web |
| Cloudways | Free trial · from $11/mo | Trial only | Web |
| Render | Free plan · from $25/mo | Yes | Web |
| Contabo | From $5.28/mo | No | Web |
| Fly.io | Free trial · from $2.19/mo | Trial only | Web |
| Heroku | From $5/mo | No | Web |
| Kamatera | Free trial · from $4/mo | Trial only | Web |
| Koyeb | From $29/mo | No | Web |
| Laravel Forge | From $12/mo | No | Web |
| Northflank | Free plan · from $12/mo | Yes | Web |
Price against what you get
DigitalOcean starts at $4 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. 2 of the 12 alternatives on this chart score higher and start lower: Hetzner and Fly.io.
Akamai Linode, Cloudways, Render, Heroku, Kamatera, Koyeb and 2 more score higher without starting lower. Vultr starts lower without scoring higher.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
How each one differs from DigitalOcean
Akamai Linode
Linux virtual servers from $5 a month on Akamai Cloud
- Akamai Linode starts at $5 per month (Nanode 1GB), billed hourly.
- Akamai Linode has no free plan, unlike DigitalOcean.
Suits: Developers who want plain Linux servers at a fixed monthly price
Vultr
Cloud servers, bare metal and GPUs billed hourly or monthly
- Vultr starts at $2.50 per month (IPv6-only 512MB Cloud Compute).
- Vultr has no free plan, unlike DigitalOcean.
- Vultr does not cover databases, which DigitalOcean does.
Suits: Developers who want inexpensive servers across many locations
Hetzner
German hosting: web hosting, cloud servers and dedicated servers
- Hetzner starts at €1.60 per month excl. VAT (Webhosting S).
- Hetzner has no free plan, unlike DigitalOcean.
- Hetzner also covers file sharing.
- Hetzner does not cover databases, which DigitalOcean does.
Suits: Buyers in Europe who want German data centers and euro billing
Cloudways
Managed cloud hosting on DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS or Google
- Cloudways starts at $11 per month for a 1 GB DigitalOcean server, billed hourly.
- Cloudways has no free plan, only a free trial, unlike DigitalOcean.
- Cloudways also covers malware protection.
- Cloudways does not cover databases, which DigitalOcean does.
Suits: Sites that have outgrown shared hosting but do not want to run a server
Render
Cloud hosting for web services, databases and workers
- Render starts at $25 per month plus compute (Pro workspace).
- Render also covers workflow automation.
Suits: Teams moving off Heroku-style platforms that want services and Postgres in one place
Contabo
Low-priced VPS and dedicated servers from a German host
- Contabo starts at $5.28 per month excl. VAT, 24-month subscription (Cloud VPS 4).
- Contabo has no free plan, unlike DigitalOcean.
- Contabo does not cover databases, which DigitalOcean does.
Suits: Buyers who want a lot of RAM and storage for little money
Fly.io
Virtual machines and databases in 18 regions, billed per second
- Fly.io starts at $2.19 per month for the smallest Machine, pay as you go.
- Fly.io has no free plan, only a free trial, unlike DigitalOcean.
- Fly.io also covers AI agents.
Suits: Developers who want VMs placed in several regions
Heroku
Platform for deploying apps in containers called dynos
- Heroku starts at $5 per month for an Eco dyno plan.
- Heroku has no free plan, unlike DigitalOcean.
Suits: Developers who want to deploy an app from Git without running servers
Kamatera
Configurable cloud servers from $4 a month in many data centers
- Kamatera starts at $4 per month for a Basic server.
- Kamatera has no free plan, only a free trial, unlike DigitalOcean.
- Kamatera also covers system monitor.
- Kamatera does not cover databases, which DigitalOcean does.
Suits: Developers who want to size CPU, RAM and storage separately
Koyeb
Serverless platform for apps, APIs and GPU workloads
- Koyeb starts at $29 per month plus compute (Pro).
- Koyeb has no free plan, unlike DigitalOcean.
- Koyeb does not cover databases, which DigitalOcean does.
Suits: Teams deploying containers and web services with autoscaling
Laravel Forge
Server management and deploys for Laravel, PHP and Node apps
- Laravel Forge starts at $12 per month (Hobby, monthly billing).
- Laravel Forge has no free plan, unlike DigitalOcean.
- Laravel Forge also covers workflow automation.
- Laravel Forge does not cover databases, which DigitalOcean does.
Suits: Laravel developers who want flat-rate server management
Northflank
Container platform for services, jobs, databases and GPUs
- Northflank starts at $12 per month for 0.5 vCPU and 1 GB, billed by the second.
- Northflank does not cover databases, which DigitalOcean does.
Suits: Teams that want container hosting billed by the second
Limits worth knowing in DigitalOcean
- Free App Platform apps can only use static site components; any container, worker or job makes the app paid.
- Bandwidth beyond a Droplet's included transfer is billed at $0.01 per GiB.
- A Droplet is an unmanaged server: updates and security setup are the buyer's job.
- Many of the listed prices are starting points; larger Droplet, database and GPU sizes cost more.
Common questions
What are the alternatives to DigitalOcean?
The alternatives to DigitalOcean in this directory are Akamai Linode, Vultr, Hetzner, Cloudways, Render, Contabo, Fly.io, Heroku, Kamatera, Koyeb, Laravel Forge and Northflank. Each one has a side-by-side comparison with DigitalOcean.
Is there a free alternative to DigitalOcean?
Yes. Render and Northflank have a free plan alongside paid ones.
When were these prices checked?
Each listing shows its own date. On this page they run from Oct 17, 2026 to Nov 12, 2026. Vendors change prices without notice, so confirm on their site before you buy.