DigitalOcean vs Cloudways
Cheapest entry plan: DigitalOcean at $4.00/mo, versus Cloudways at $14.00/mo.
Quick verdict
| DigitalOcean | Cloudways | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan | $4.00/mo | $14.00/mo |
| Entry RAM | 0.5 GB | 1 GB |
| Entry bandwidth | 0.5 TB | 1 TB |
| Regions | 11 | 10 |
| Free credit | $200 | - |
| HQ | US | MT |
| Founded | 2011 | 2011 |
| Best for | Solo developers, Indie SaaS, Managed database workloads | WordPress agencies, WooCommerce stores, Managed Laravel apps |
Try DigitalOcean Try Cloudways
DigitalOcean plans
| Plan | vCPU | RAM | Storage | Bandwidth | Monthly | $/GB RAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic 1vCPU 0.5GB | 1 | 0.5 GB | 10 GB SSD | 0.5 TB | $4.00 | $8.00 |
| Basic 1vCPU 1GB | 1 | 1 GB | 25 GB SSD | 1 TB | $6.00 | $6.00 |
| Basic 1vCPU 2GB | 1 | 2 GB | 50 GB SSD | 2 TB | $12.00 | $6.00 |
| Basic 2vCPU 2GB | 2 | 2 GB | 60 GB SSD | 3 TB | $18.00 | $9.00 |
| Basic 2vCPU 4GB | 2 | 4 GB | 80 GB SSD | 4 TB | $24.00 | $6.00 |
| Basic 4vCPU 8GB | 4 | 8 GB | 160 GB SSD | 5 TB | $48.00 | $6.00 |
Cloudways plans
| Plan | vCPU | RAM | Storage | Bandwidth | Monthly | $/GB RAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DO Standard 1GB | 1 | 1 GB | 25 GB SSD | 1 TB | $14.00 | $14.00 |
| DO Standard 2GB | 1 | 2 GB | 50 GB SSD | 2 TB | $28.00 | $14.00 |
| Vultr HF 1GB | 1 | 1 GB | 32 GB NVMe | 1 TB | $16.00 | $16.00 |
| Vultr HF 2GB | 1 | 2 GB | 64 GB NVMe | 2 TB | $28.00 | $14.00 |
| DO Standard 4GB | 2 | 4 GB | 80 GB SSD | 4 TB | $50.00 | $12.50 |
DigitalOcean pros
- Best-in-class developer documentation and tutorials
- Predictable flat pricing across all global regions
- Mature managed services (DBaaS, K8s, App Platform)
- $200 free credit for new sign-ups
Cloudways pros
- Managed WordPress on top of any of 5 IaaS providers
- Free SSL, staging, automated backups
- Object cache, Redis, ElasticSearch one-click
- Highest-paying VPS affiliate in the agency space
DigitalOcean cons
- Slightly higher base prices than Vultr/Hetzner
- Premium NVMe plans cost more than regular Droplets
- No data center in mainland Japan (Singapore is closest in APAC)
Cloudways cons
- Markup over raw IaaS pricing
- DO/Vultr nodes only, no Hetzner
- Vendor lock-in via custom control panel
Affiliate disclosure: some outbound links on this page are referral links. If you sign up through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Pricing data is sourced from each provider's public pricing pages or APIs and refreshed daily.