DigitalOcean Kubernetes vs Scaleway Instances
Scaleway Instances is cheaper across every workload modelled here.
List prices checked
Rate cards side by side
Only the axes at least one of them bills on. A dash means that provider does not charge for it.
| Billing axis | DigitalOcean Kubernetes | Scaleway Instances | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | $12.00/mo | $4.20/mo | 2.9× Scaleway Instances |
| Compute | — | $0.0060/vCPU-hr | — |
| Data transfer out | $0.010/GB | $0.010/GB | Same |
| Free tier | Yes | No | — |
Source: DigitalOcean pricing (May 2026) · Scaleway pricing (May 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.
Monthly cost for three real workloads
The rate cards applied to identical usage. This is where the winner changes.
| Workload | DigitalOcean Kubernetes | Scaleway Instances | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Side projectA personal site or small app with modest traffic, a few gigabytes of assets, and one small always-on process. | $13 | $5.38 | Scaleway Instancessaves $7.62/mo (59%) |
| Growing SaaSA funded product serving a few thousand daily users, with an image-heavy frontend and two application servers. | $34 | $19 | Scaleway Instancessaves $15/mo (45%) |
| Media-heavy siteA publisher or video product where delivery dominates the bill and compute is almost an afterthought. | $112 | $104 | Scaleway Instancessaves $7.62/mo (7%) |
Workload definitions are identical on every comparison page, so figures here can be read against any other pair in the same category.
What each one is for
DigitalOcean Kubernetes
by DigitalOcean
Managed Kubernetes with no charge for the control plane on the standard tier, so you pay only for worker nodes — unlike the hyperscalers, which bill roughly $70 per month per cluster.
Free tier: Control plane free on the standard tier
Scaleway Instances
by Scaleway
French-hosted compute with EU data residency, billed per second, sitting between the budget hosts and the hyperscalers on price.
Common questions
- Is DigitalOcean Kubernetes or Scaleway Instances cheaper in 2026?
- Scaleway Instances is cheaper in all 3 modelled workloads.
- Which has the better free tier, DigitalOcean Kubernetes or Scaleway Instances?
- DigitalOcean Kubernetes does — Control plane free on the standard tier. Scaleway Instances bills from the first unit of usage.
- What do these estimates not include?
- Committed-use and reserved discounts, regional price variation, per-request API charges, support plans, and minimum retention periods. All of those move real invoices, sometimes by a lot. These figures compare published list prices for the same workload, which is the comparison the rate cards alone cannot give you.