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AWS vs DigitalOcean
DigitalOcean offers a simpler set of cloud resources aimed at developers, with fewer services than AWS’s 240+ portfolio.
Short answer: Pick AWS if you want comprehensive cloud infrastructure and services; pick DigitalOcean if you want full-stack cloud with integrated AI inference. DigitalOcean has a free plan.
AWSAmazon's cloud platform: compute, storage, databases and more
DigitalOceanCloud for developers: droplets, databases and app hostingWhich to pick
Pick AWS if you want…
- Comprehensive cloud infrastructure and services
Pick DigitalOcean if you want…
- Full-stack cloud with integrated AI inference
- Developer-friendly cloud hosting
Side by side
- What it is
- AWS:AWS is Amazon’s cloud platform offering compute, storage, databases and over 240 services on a pay-as-you-go model.
- DigitalOcean:DigitalOcean provides a unified cloud platform with compute, storage, managed databases, and AI/ML services for building and scaling applications.
- Best for
- AWS:Comprehensive cloud infrastructure and services
- DigitalOcean:Full-stack cloud with integrated AI inference
- Who it’s for
- AWS:Developers, startups and enterprises building and scaling applications in the cloud
- DigitalOcean:Developers and teams building AI agents, web apps, and data-intensive workloads.
- Pricing
- AWS:Pay-as-you-go
- DigitalOcean:Freemium
- Free plan or trial
- AWS:Free trial
- DigitalOcean:Free plan (App Platform)
- Plans
- AWS:—
- DigitalOcean:DigitalOcean Harness Runtime $0.0535/hr per hour · Action Gateway $0.10/1,000 calls · Inference $0.05/M tokens · GPU Droplets $1.91/GPU/hour per hour · App Platform $0/month
- Works with
- AWS:—
- DigitalOcean:Kubernetes, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Valkey, OpenSearch, Prometheus, Grafana
AWS features
- Pay-as-you-go pricing. You only pay for the services you consume, similar to utilities, with no long-term contracts.
- Free Tier credits. New accounts receive up to $200 in free credits and $100-$200 in Free Tier usage for up to 6 months.
- Global infrastructure. 124 Availability Zones across 39 regions with edge locations for low-latency access.
- Broad service portfolio. Over 240 services covering compute, storage, AI, networking, security and more.
- Pricing Calculator. Estimate monthly costs for single or multiple services using the AWS Pricing Calculator.
- Savings Plans & tiered pricing. Commit to usage for discounts and get volume-based price reductions as usage grows.
DigitalOcean features
- Managed Agents. Run production AI agents on the same stack as data, inference and infrastructure without cross-vendor hops.
- Inference Engine. Serverless, dedicated or batch inference on 70+ models with an intelligent router that selects the best model per call.
- Core Cloud Compute. Droplets, GPU Droplets, Managed Kubernetes and App Platform for any workload, with per-second billing.
- Managed Databases & Vector Stores. Fully managed PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Valkey, OpenSearch and vector databases with automated backups.
- Functions & Serverless. Event-driven serverless functions that scale automatically and charge only for usage.
- Networking & Security. Load balancers, VPC, firewall, CSPM and global CDN with flat pricing and free data transfer within regions.
AWS vs DigitalOcean FAQ
What is the difference between AWS and DigitalOcean?+
DigitalOcean offers a simpler set of cloud resources aimed at developers, with fewer services than AWS’s 240+ portfolio.
Should I use AWS or DigitalOcean?+
Pick AWS if you want comprehensive cloud infrastructure and services. Pick DigitalOcean if you want full-stack cloud with integrated AI inference or developer-friendly cloud hosting.
Is AWS or DigitalOcean free?+
DigitalOcean has a free plan (App Platform) and paid plans.
On DevHunt
Based on each tool's website and DevHunt data. Details may change; check the official sites.