DigitalOcean vs Linode vs Vultr: Choosing the Best Cloud Hosting Provider For Your Business

Note: Pricing and product information are correct as of July 5, 2024, and subject to change

The concept of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) took shape in 1961 when John McCarthy at MIT proposed that computing could be organized as a public utility, just like the telephone system. Evolving from traditional data centers to sophisticated cloud platforms, IaaS offers scalable and flexible solutions for hosting, storage, and computing needs.

Today, the global IaaS market is projected to reach $411.9 billion by 2030 and is anticipated to grow significantly at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.6% from 2023 to 2030. Over the past decade, cloud service providers like DigitalOcean, Linode, and Vultr have emerged as key players, providing strong cloud infrastructure alternatives to hyperscalers such as AWS, Azure, and GCP. This article compares these three leading cloud hosting providers, examining their offerings, pricing, and support to help you choose the best fit for your cloud infrastructure.

Summary

1. DigitalOcean’s products provide a distinct advantage over competitors by providing a full suite of cloud products, minimizing the need for separate services, and simplifying the cloud management process.

2. Linode’s limited managed database offerings might restrict technology options and compel startups to handle database operations and maintenance, leading to additional overhead or potential vendor lock-in situations.

3. Though Vultr’s initial instance pricing appears cheaper, the overall costs might quickly escalate when considering its full product suite and additional features.

Overview of DigitalOcean vs Linode vs Vultr

DigitalOcean, founded in 2012, is a prominent cloud infrastructure provider known for its simplicity and developer-friendly approach. Headquartered in New York City, DigitalOcean’s mission is to make cloud computing accessible and easy for developers, ISVs, and SMBs. The company offers a range of services, including Droplets (virtual private servers), Managed Databases, Storage solutions, DigitalOcean Kubernetes(DOKS), Load Balancers, and App platforms. It’s a popular choice among beginners and small development teams due to its ease of use, extensive documentation, and transparent pricing model.

Linode, established in 2003, is one of the oldest cloud hosting providers known for its Linux servers. Based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Linode focuses on providing cloud hosting solutions, including standard and high CPU instances, Managed Kubernetes, Managed Databases, and Block storage. In February 2022, Linode was acquired by Akamai, a content delivery network and web services provider. Akamai specializes in optimizing edge delivery and security services. The full impact of Akamai’s acquisition on Linode’s future direction and customer experience is still unfolding.

Vultr, launched in 2014, is the flagship product of their parent company—Constant. Headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida, Vultr aims to provide scalable cloud solutions. The company offers services such as cloud computing instances, managed databases, networking, storage, Bare Metal (high-performance CPUs), and Kubernetes.

Comparing DigitalOcean vs Linode vs Vultr: Product offerings

When comparing cloud providers, the first step is to analyze their product offerings to determine which provider best meets your specific needs. What combination of databases, virtual machines, and storage solutions do we need to support business growth over the next two years? Understanding the range and capabilities of cloud services can impact your decision.

DigitalOcean products

Droplets — Linux-based virtual machines (VMs) that run on virtualized hardware, offering easy deployment and high scalability. DigitalOcean provides various Droplet plans tailored to different workloads, including Basic Droplets for general use, CPU-Optimized Droplets for compute-heavy tasks, and Memory-Optimized Droplets for memory-intensive applications.

DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) — Fully Managed Kubernetes service, which handles the provisioning, configuration, and maintenance of Kubernetes clusters. This reduces users’ operational burden, making deploying and managing Kubernetes environments easier.

Managed Databases — Offers a comprehensive range of managed databases, including relational databases like MySQL and PostgreSQL, document-oriented MongoDB, scalable in-memory caching with Redis®*, managed Kafka for data streaming, and managed OpenSearch for log management, search, and analytics capabilities.

Storage — Provides extensive cloud storage options with Volumes Block Storage and Spaces Object Storage. Block storage offers high-performance SSDs for persistent data storage that is independent of Droplet lifetimes, with volumes that can be attached or detached as needed. Spaces provide scalable, cost-effective storage compatible with AWS S3, ideal for serving static assets and storing backups. These storage solutions are easy to provision and integrate with load balancers and Content Delivery Network (CDNs).

Functions — Serverless functions enable developers to accelerate their work without the burden of managing infrastructure. These serverless solutions allow developers to concentrate on rapidly deploying features rather than maintaining servers.

App platform — A fully managed platform-as-a-service (PaaS) simplifying application deployment, management, and scaling. It supports multiple programming languages and frameworks, allowing developers to build and deploy applications directly from their repositories. The platform automates infrastructure management, including provisioning, scaling, and security.

Managed Hosting — Improves web performance by provisioning optimized, auto-scaling servers for WordPress and PHP applications through Cloudways. This managed hosting solution, trusted by over 90,000+ businesses, eliminates the need for server administration, allowing users to focus on their applications.

DDoS Protection — Uses advanced mitigation techniques, including traffic monitoring, anomaly detection, and intelligent traffic filtering, to identify and mitigate distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks in real time.

Backups — DigitalOcean’s backup solution allows users to back up files, applications, and databases from DigitalOcean and other cloud providers. It offers a range of backup options, from daily to every five minutes. Users can consolidate backups into a single job and easily restore previous versions of files or entire applications. Additionally, SnapShooter provides easy single-click backup support.

Paperspace by DigitalOcean — Combines AI/ML model training and deployment capabilities by utilizing GPU-powered virtual machines, enabling the efficient scaling of AI applications.

Linode products

Linode Instances — Virtual Private Servers (VPS) offer scalable computing resources with SSD storage. These instances are available across multiple data centers, ensuring flexibility and performance for various workloads.

Linode Kubernetes Engine (LKE) — Facilitates the creation and management of Kubernetes clusters, offering features like automatic upgrades and scaling for containerized applications and simplifying the deployment and maintenance of Kubernetes environments.

Storage — Linode provides storage solutions in the form of Block storage Volumes and Object Storage buckets. Block storage volumes are network-attached disks that can be resized and shared among different Compute Instances. The Object storage service offers S3-compatible buckets across Linode data centers, ensuring reliable and scalable storage options.

Managed Databases — Fully managed database services, including MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB. These managed databases relieve users of administrative tasks, allowing them to focus on their applications.

Key differences between DigitalOcean and Linode:

Linode’s managed database offerings provide reliable, fully managed services for PostgreSQL, MySQL, and MongoDB. However, certain limitations might become apparent compared to DigitalOcean.

DigitalOcean extends its fully managed support to PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis®*, Kafka, and managed OpenSearch, whereas Linode requires users to self-manage Redis and does not offer Kafka and managed OpenSearch.

DigitalOcean’s scalable storage options allow for upgrades without downtime, unlike Linode, which necessitates deploying new instances and migrating data, potentially causing service interruptions. This enables developers to focus more on application development, making DigitalOcean particularly well-suited for startups and SMBs looking for a hassle-free, efficient, and growth-oriented cloud experience.

Vultr products

Bare Metal Servers — Vultr provides bare metal servers for users who require dedicated hardware. These servers offer high performance without virtualization, making them suitable for resource-intensive tasks.

GPU Compute — Compute instances designed for high-performance computing tasks such as AI and machine learning. These instances use powerful GPUs to accelerate computational workloads.

Managed Databases — Offers managed database services, including support for MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Redis®*.

Managed Kubernetes — Managed Kubernetes service simplifies the deployment and scaling of containerized applications.

Storage — Vultr provides object scalable storage solutions that stores unstructured data and is compatible with S3. Vultr’s block storage offers high-performance, network-attached storage that can be easily resized and managed. It is ideal for applications requiring persistent storage.

Load Balancers — Vultr offers load balancers to distribute traffic across multiple instances. This service helps improve application availability and performance by balancing the load and providing redundancy.

DDoS Protection — Vultr provides DDoS protection as a paid add-on. This service helps protect applications from distributed denial-of-service attacks, ensuring greater security and uptime.

Key differences between DigitalOcean and Vultr:

Vultr offers a one-click deploy feature, which allows users to quickly deploy various applications and development environments with minimal setup. This includes popular applications and various content management systems.

However, DigitalOcean Marketplace allows users to deploy various applications easily. DigitalOcean’s App Platform (a fully managed PaaS) provides a more comprehensive solution for ongoing application management. The benefits of automated scaling, load balancing, regular updates, and strong security features make DigitalOcean a superior choice for cloud businesses looking to streamline their workflows and focus on coding rather than infrastructure management.

Vultr can set up self-hosted serverless functions using OpenFaaS on a Vultr Kubernetes Engine (VKE) cluster. However, DigitalOcean provides a flexible native serverless functions platform, enabling developers to build and deploy code without managing servers.

The table below compares Vultr’s self-hosted serverless functions and DigitalOcean’s serverless functions, making DigitalOcean an attractive option for developers looking for a strong and versatile cloud platform:

DNS management

Domain Name System(DNS) management is an important aspect of cloud services, as it ensures efficient and reliable routing of internet traffic to your domains. Proper DNS management can improve website performance, security, and user experience, making it an essential consideration when choosing a cloud provider.

DigitalOcean’s policy of permitting only publicly recognized top-level domains (TLDs) in their Domains and DNS management service offers a significant advantage. This measure strengthens security and builds trust by reducing the potential for malicious activities, such as phishing or malware distribution, through using non-standard or unofficial TLDs. By adhering to industry standards, this policy helps prevent associations with suspicious domain names.

In contrast, Linode and Vultr do not impose similar restrictions on their DNS services, which potentially might expose their customers to greater security risks.

Content Delivery Network (CDN)

A CDN is essential for accelerating content delivery and enhancing web performance by caching static assets closer to end-users around the globe. When comparing CDN options among popular cloud providers, DigitalOcean stands out with its unique offering.

DigitalOcean provides a CDN service at no additional cost when you use Spaces (S3-compatible object storage solution). This integration means that you can easily cache and serve static website assets globally without incurring extra charges, making it a cost-effective solution for businesses with a global customer base or those looking to optimize web application speed and responsiveness.

In contrast, Linode requires integrating with third-party CDN providers. Linode’s approach might involve additional setup complexity and costs associated with third-party services. On the other hand, Vultr offers a CDN service priced at $10 per month. While this provides straightforward pricing, it does add to the overall expenditure for CDN services.

Pricing

When evaluating cloud providers’ pricing, consider their complete setup instead of spending separately on each add-on. DigitalOcean’s integrated services provide a cohesive and cost-effective solution, allowing you to focus on growing your business rather than managing multiple service providers and incurring additional costs. Here is a comparison of the pricing for major products DigitalOcean, Linode, and Vultr offer to help you make an informed decision:

DigitalOcean and Linode offer distinct pricing models, with DigitalOcean focusing on affordability and flexibility across its product range. DigitalOcean’s Droplet pricing starts at just $4 per month for a basic configuration, making it an economical choice for startups and smaller workloads. The platform’s hourly billing and generous RAM-to-vCPU ratios for higher-spec instances further improve its value proposition.

In contrast, Linode’s pricing is based solely on hardware resources, with shared CPU instances starting at $5 per month. Additionally, to access unshared dedicated CPUs, Linode’s premium plans might be significantly more expensive compared to DigitalOcean’s shared instances, which often meet the needs of lighter workloads.

DOKS and LKE both offer High Availability (HA) control planes but with a notable difference in pricing. DOKS charges $40 per cluster per month for the HA control plane, while LKE’s HA offering comes at $60 per cluster per month. This pricing disparity can be particularly impactful for small teams that typically manage only a few Kubernetes clusters, as the recurring HA add-on cost may make production-grade resilience an expensive proposition, especially for small to medium-sized businesses.

There are notable differences between DigitalOcean and Vultr’s pricing. DigitalOcean’s virtual machines start at $4.00 monthly for 1 vCPU, 512 MB memory, 500 GB transfer, and 10 GB SSD storage. In comparison, Vultr offers a similar machine for $2.50 per month, but it is only available with IPv6 support. Meanwhile, Vultr’s lower-end virtual machines are slightly cheaper than DigitalOcean’s.

However, when factoring in additional features, the cost dynamics shift. DigitalOcean includes DDoS protection at no extra cost, whereas Vultr charges an additional $10 monthly for this feature. This makes Vultr’s offering more expensive when considering the need for comprehensive protection, making DigitalOcean more cost-effective for users who require DDoS protection as part of their infrastructure security.

Backup pricing

Backup pricing directly impacts the cost of protecting your data and ensuring business continuity. Understanding the backup pricing structure of each cloud provider helps you choose a solution that balances cost and data security.

DigitalOcean charges 20% of the Droplet cost for weekly backups and 30% for daily backups. This percentage-based pricing ensures that costs scale predictably with the size and cost of your Droplet. Additionally, DigitalOcean charges $0.06 per GB per month for Droplet Snapshots, providing an economical option for snapshot storage.

In comparison, Linode offers backup services starting at $2 per month for a 1 GB Shared CPU compute instance and snapshot at $0.10 per month.

Vultr, on the other hand, adds a 20% increase to an instance’s base monthly or hourly fee for automatic backups and $0.05/GB per month. These pricing strategies can be more predictable and cost-effective for smaller instances but may become less advantageous as instance sizes and costs increase.

Support plans

When issues occur with your cloud infrastructure, prompt support from your provider is crucial in minimizing downtime and avoiding prolonged operational disruptions. Evaluating factors like the availability of Technical Account Managers (TAMs) provides valuable insights to help you choose the cloud provider that best meets your business’s support needs and uptime requirements.

DigitalOcean

DigitalOcean offers a tiered support system to cater to different levels of customer needs. The standard free support includes access to community resources, documentation, and an email support channel support system with a response time of less than 24 hours and an average resolution time of 48 hours.

DigitalOcean provides the following three paid plans for more comprehensive support:

For businesses with large customer bases deploying mission-critical applications, DigitalOcean offers a premium support plan for $999 per month, which includes:

• A dedicated team of technical account managers (TAMs) and business advisors

• A direct Slack channel for fast and efficient communication

• Expedited response times within 30 minutes and prioritized ticket handling

Linode

Linode provides a “no-tier” support model that includes 24/7 customer support via email and phone for all customers, regardless of their plan. Linode also offers a Managed Services plan for $100/month, which includes proactive monitoring, system administration, assistance with server management tasks, and a 24/7 incident response team offering more hands-on support for users in need.

Vultr

Vultr provides support through FAQs, documentation, and a ticketing system. Vultr’s support is generally well-regarded but may not be as extensive or hands-on as other cloud providers’ support services.

For users seeking flexible and scalable support options, DigitalOcean offers the best overall value with its tiered support plans. This allows users to select the level of assistance that best suits their needs.

In contrast, Linode lacks a tiered support structure, offering a single Managed Services plan at $100 monthly. While this plan includes proactive monitoring and system administration, it may not provide the same flexibility for users who only require basic support or more extensive, customized assistance.

Similarly, Vultr’s support options are less comprehensive. They offer support through FAQs, documentation, and a ticketing system, but their website does not specify if their support team is available 24/7, nor do they provide a guaranteed response time. This may leave users without the timely and scalable support options that are available with DigitalOcean.

Build your business with DigitalOcean

When choosing between DigitalOcean vs Linode vs Vultr, DigitalOcean stands out as an excellent option tailored for developers, startups, ISVs, and SMBs. DigitalOcean’s product suite allows businesses to simplify operations, increase cloud ROI, and focus on core competencies. Our transparent, predictable pricing, without hidden fees, makes it financially viable for tight budgets, accurately forecasting costs.

Plus, DigitalOcean provides extensive documentation, an active community for support, premium assistance channels, a global data center presence with 15 data centers across 9 regions, ensuring high availability, and a 99.99% uptime SLA emphasizing reliability.

Try DigitalOcean for free and get $200 of credit to try our products over 60 days!

*Redis is a registered trademark of Redis Ltd. Any rights therein are reserved to Redis Ltd. Any use by DigitalOcean is for referential purposes only and does not indicate any sponsorship, endorsement, or affiliation between Redis and DigitalOcean.