DigitalOcean Droplets alternatives

14 compute providers compared against DigitalOcean Droplets on per vCPU-hour. DigitalOcean Droplets is kept in the table and highlighted, because it is the number everything else here is measured against.

List prices checked

Ranked by per vCPU-hour

Cheapest first. "vs DigitalOcean Droplets" shows how many times cheaper or dearer each one is on the same axis.

#ServiceProviderper vCPU-hourvs DigitalOcean DropletsFree tier
1Vultr Cloud ComputeVultr$0.00401.5× cheaperNone; the $2.50 IPv6-only plan is the entry point
2Hetzner CloudHetzner$0.00521.1× cheaper20 TB of traffic included with every server
3DigitalOcean Dropletsyou are hereDigitalOcean$0.0060—500 GB to 1 TB of pooled egress per Droplet
4Scaleway InstancesScaleway$0.0060sameNone
5UpCloudUpCloud$0.00741.3× dearerNone
6Linode (Akamai Cloud)Akamai$0.00751.3× dearer1 TB of egress included on the $5 plan
7Oracle Cloud ComputeOracle$0.0101.7× dearer4 Arm cores, 24 GB RAM, and 10 TB egress per month, always free
8AWS EC2Amazon Web Services$0.04210× dearer750 hours per month of a t-class micro instance for 12 months
9Google Compute EngineGoogle$0.04810× dearerOne e2-micro instance per month, always free
10Azure Virtual MachinesMicrosoft$0.05210× dearer750 hours per month of a B1s instance for 12 months
11IONOS Cloud ServersIONOS—Infinity× dearerUnlimited traffic included
12OVHcloud VPSOVHcloud—Infinity× dearerUnmetered traffic on most VPS plans
13AWS LightsailAmazon Web Services—Infinity× dearerThree months free on the smallest plan
14Contabo VPSContabo—Infinity× dearerUnlimited traffic, throttled after 32 TB
15DigitalOcean KubernetesDigitalOcean—Infinity× dearerControl plane free on the standard tier

Source: DigitalOcean pricing (August 2026). Published list prices only — committed-use discounts, regional variation, and per-request charges are not included. Not yet independently re-checked against the vendor’s page.

Questions

What is the best alternative to DigitalOcean Droplets in 2026?
On per vCPU-hour, Vultr Cloud Compute is the cheapest alternative — roughly 1.5× cheaper than DigitalOcean Droplets. Cheapest is not automatically best: check the free tier, the region list, and what each one does not charge for before switching.
How many alternatives to DigitalOcean Droplets are there?
14 in this dataset, all compute providers with published list prices. The table ranks every one of them on per vCPU-hour with DigitalOcean Droplets highlighted in place, so you can see exactly where it sits rather than taking a "top 5" on trust.
Is switching from DigitalOcean Droplets worth it?
It depends on which axis dominates your bill. Virtual machines billed by the hour or by the month. Two pricing models coexist here: flat monthly plans with bundled traffic, and per-hour on-demand rates with metered egress on top. The second looks cheaper per vCPU and is usually not. Run your own volumes through the comparison pages linked below before migrating — a provider that is cheaper per unit can still be more expensive for your particular usage shape.
Are there free alternatives to DigitalOcean Droplets?
12 of them publish a free tier — they are marked in the table. Check whether each is permanent or a 12-month trial; the two look identical on a pricing page and are very different a year in.

Compare DigitalOcean Droplets directly