Top DigitalOcean Alternatives and Competitors for Best Cloud Servers 2021
DigitalOcean is a remarkable cloud hosting provider that offers fast services with maximum uptime. The company grows rapidly because it provides considerably stable servers at affordable pricing. But of course, it has some limitations which are why many users may seek its alternatives.
So, in that case, we did the research and analyzed dozens of companies to bring you the best possible DigitalOcean alternatives which also server similar services. Some of the below-listed hosts even offer cheapest cloud plans than DO but deliver the same quality as well uptime guarantee.
DigitalOcean lacks the Windows-based server which means if you want a cloud instance that runs on Windows then you surely need to look for other options
Moreover, with them, you’re solely responsible for managing all the things like updates and security patches yourself. So, you may need help frequently especially beginners. And here is the biggest con, as they do not have a live chat which may get you in trouble especially when facing serious problems.
Although they have reasonable pricing but now there are many companies that also offer stable services at cheaper rates than DigitalOcean hence deliver high money-value.
Top DigitalOcean Alternatives and Competitors 2021
Vultr – Cheap DigitalOcean Competitor
Undoubtedly the true as well as the cheap alternative to DigitalOcean. They are genuinely the global cloud hosting provider with having 15 datacenters for making sure the fastest delivery of contents. You can get your instance online in a matter of seconds. No matters if you need individual or enterprise level hosting Vultr will comply with your needs.
Instead of the simple cloud computing, Vultr also offers Dedicated cloud and Bare metal solutions to the customers that can bear heavy loads. You can launch your instance swiftly from the decent looking control panel. Just create an account, and you will be directed to their control panel. Here in the billing section just add your credit card credentials. They support multiple payment methods including Credit Card, PayPal, Bitcoin, and Alipay.
In the server section, you can choose the data center location, plan, adding SSH keys and many other crucial settings. They support both 64 and 32bit OS as well as tons of applications such as WordPress, GitLab, Joomla, and many others. The smallest package starts from $2.50/month, but for WordPress, you must deploy a $5 plan due to WordPress requirements. Their rock solid Intel CPU and complete SSD built infrastructure deliver 99.99% uptime and hasty services.
Vultr provides technical help to customers by ticketing system in which the response comes within 24 hours. Plus, there is a discussion forum and a rich knowledge base. Vultr has been in the industry for approx. 15+ years, they have a trusted and quite good reputation. As there are no long term contracts regarding hosting plans, so you billed on “month-to-month” and can cancel anytime. It’s our top recommendation for DigitalOcean alternative seekers to avail cheap cloud hosting with noteworthy features.
- Amazingly rock solid 99.99% uptime
- One click installer for installing applications such as WordPress, PrestaShop, and Joomla, etc.
- Get online in a fraction of seconds 40~60 sec
- Easy to use control panel saves a lot of your time
- Flexible scalability to add further resources
- Missing of live chat may be a deal breaker for some potential customers
CloudWays – Our Recommended Managed Cloud Service
Cloudways is the one-stop shop platform for managed cloud hosting services. The company started back in 2009 by establishing its headquarters in Malta. They offer fast and secure services with maximum uptime. The most important thing is, Cloudways not owned any data centers instead they provide cloud computes from other cutting-edge infrastructures like Vultr, DigitalOcean, Linode, Amazon, Google, and Kyup.
So you may think, why I shouldn’t directly buy from Vultr, Amazon, or Kyup? The answer is simple, unlike most of the cloud hosting providers, CloudWays offer in-house 24/7 live chat tech support. Moreover, as the cornerstone services like Amazon are super complicated to manage so, Cloudways grant you the opportunity to host on their infrastructure effortlessly. Also, for any inconveniences, Cloudways is answerable to you.
Furthermore, you will get a lot of exclusive features not included in DigitalOcean. For example, each plan of Cloudways contains free 1-Click SSL certificate. A team collaboration feature allows you to assign roles to your team members thus keep them within specific boundaries. There is also SSH & SFTP access, domain mapping, staging area, Two-Factor Authentication and much more.
Along with chat, help is also given with emails and phone support. All of the hosting packages enabled with SSD storage, HTTP/2, NGINX, Apache, and Varnish Cache. Their smallest plan cost $7/mo. In a nutshell, Cloudways is not a just seller they are the best IaaS with its dedicated employees and exclusive tech experts. Presently they offer a free 3-days trial account.
Most Basic Plan: 1core CPU, 512MB RAM, 20GB storage and 1TB bandwidth at $5/month
Datacenter locations: Depends as per your selected infrastructure. Overall there are 25+ locations.
- Well-reputed, trusted company that offer speedy services
- Allow you to host on the complex infrastructure of Amazon and Google etc. easily even if you are a beginner
- Contains 1-click SSL and Apps
- 24/7 technical live chat, email, and phones support
- 3-days trial account with no credit card
- They keep up-to-date with security patches on their end
- There is not even a cPanel as an add-on
- They charge a pretty high amount, especially when buying Amazon, Google, and Kyup cloud.
Host1Plus/Heficed – Best for Developers and Tech-Savvy
Recently named to Heficed, It was launched in 2008, Host1Plus is a UK based company offers multiple web hosting services with a variety of plans. Their datacenters are spread around the globe from where you can pick one near to your audience for faster latency. Most importantly their all plans integrated with KWM virtualization for higher performance, stability and security. They support both Linux and Windows OS based cloud server.
They enable you to host your project on the latest infrastructure built with RAID storage, SSDs, 10G network, DDR4 RAM. Plus, you will get root access to your machine. It is an unmanaged web host where all task required command lines. It means if you want to install an application like Joomla or WordPress then you’ll have to do it with commands. You don’t get 1-click installer like in Vultr. All the plans equipped with IPv4 and IPv6 at no extra fee.
Host1Plus provides DNS managing control, SSH keys and just like the Vultr you can upload a custom ISO file. There are several additional add-ons like cPanel and backup etc. which makes them the best Digital Ocean alternative. The cloud packages start from $8/mo. But if you buy for a longer period i.e. 1-year the price lower down to $6.40/mo. So opting their packages for the shorter duration will cost more.
As it is an unmanaged platform, so you may need expert help more frequently that you can avail via 24/7 live chat and ticketing. They do have phone support which only provided to managed cloud users. Live chat is mainly for sales chat, but when needed they will help for technical issues. You get a 14 days money back guarantee as well.
Most basic Plan: 1core CPU, 512MB RAM, 20GB storage and 2TB bandwidth = $6.40/month
Datacenter Locations: Frankfurt, Chicago, São Paulo, Johannesburg and more coming soon.
- 99.9% uptime with SSD servers reliability
- Offer abundant bandwidth plans for heavy traffic loads
- They support CentOS, Debian, Fedora, and Ubuntu OS templates
- Availability of live chat and ticketing for customer help
- High scalability add more resources instantly on the go
- Lack of dedicated machines
- No phone support for unmanaged users
- Selecting a data center in Brazil and South Africa costs more than others
CloudSigma – Best On the Go Cloud Plans
CloudSigma is enjoying a good reputation due to its high performance cloud architecture with exceptional customer support services. Founded in 2009 by establishing its headquarter in Switzerland. It’s not kind of a big company like DigitalOcean, but CloudSigma surely is the alternative due to its performance, flexibility, support, tons of allowed OS, auto-scaling and many other features at competitive prices.
CloudSigma enables you crafting a fully custom plan to meet particular needs and thus to avoid any additional resources. More significantly they have ISO 27001 certification that ensures data security and privacy. Developers can hands-on elegant API, straightforward web interface and more. There are also several integrations such as coreOS, OpenStack Heat, pycloudsigma and more. They have almost 10 datacenters.
Cloudsigma pricing structure is a little bit different than others. The packages on their pricing page are given just for example. There is a simple calculator at the bottom of the page. Just choose the location and your currency and enter the values of RAM, CPU, storage, etc. and then calculate. After that, create a new account and add funds. They support Credit Card, Bank Transfer, and Paypal. Then you can purchase resources from Usage and Billing, finally launch your virtual cloud machine from “Compute” section. That’s all it is dead simple. Moreover, if you have any confusion the live instant support helps you out.
Their control panel is friendly and easy to operate. There are auto-scaling options that save you from shortcomings that will possibly come due to insufficient resources. With KVM virtualization they ensure the delivery of dedicated resources. Apart from the live chat, there is also ticketing, community support, and tutorials available. So CloudSigma is a nice easy to use cloud service provider that comes with the flexibility of resources and root access.
Data center locations: Frankfurt, Warsaw, Zurich, Honolulu, Miami, San Jose, Washington, Manila, Melbourne, Perth
- Easy to navigate control panel provides full control over features
- Offers great customizability as well as scalability
- ISO certified 27001 for security initiatives
- Helpful 24/7 live chat and ticket support
- Free 7-days trial account
- Allow four different currencies for billing
- The purchasing process is not straightforward – They should give simple plans on their website
ToggleBox – Great Choice for Windows Servers
ToggleBox has been offering web hosting services along with cloud storage for a while. When you search high performance cloud computing that delivers excellent customization, ToggleBox stands as the top Digitalocean alternative. Your ordered account get ready in a few minutes thus enable to start working immediately.
They bring you great value especially when it comes to handling heavy loads or traffic. All server built with SSD drives and KVM virtualization. They make sure high availability where if a server (cluster) failed the standby node start working automatically. They support tons of OS templates such as Windows, Linux, and FreeBSD, etc. And if you want to move your data on ToggleBox servers they will gladly help you.
Host1Plus provides the opportunity to create self-tailor instances right accordingly to your requirements. You have to sign-up first and pay $1 to get started. Once sign-up, you’ll be logged into the Billing Panel, and an invoice of $1 will be automatically generated. And when you pay the invoice of $1, you will receive access to another control panel from where you can deploy cloud machine. Using that, you can create desired servers with required resources by dragging the bars, datacenter location, select OS templates and more.
Another great thing is you don’t have to pay in advance for the consumed resources like DigitalOcean. You can upgrade/ downgrade system configurations at any time and the cost will be calculated accordingly from the next hour itself. So at the end of the month, you only paid for what you consumed. They offer technical customer support via chat, phone, and emails.
- A fabulous web hosting with flexible and scalable cloud solutions
- By activating the account with $1 you have the option to pay after the month, not in advance
- Availability of domain registering services as well
- Numerous add-ons are available at one place like cPanel, domain services, and SSL, etc.
- Support Windows, Linux, and FreeBSD various templates
- Help available 24/7 on live chat, phone, and email
- The so much flexibility, multiple controlling interfaces are great for experienced users but may confuse newcomers
- Not as much popular host as the others on this list but they surely does the job very well.
You inevitably come across the name Linode when reviewing cloud host similar to DigitalOcean. Linode started back in 2003, the company grows very well in virtualized hosting solutions. They offer a vast array of plans, as well as exclusively designed plans for those, want memory abundant packages. They cater a lot of tools for developers seeks unmanaged Linux servers.
As it is an unmanaged service so you can mainly work through the command line. So it’s not a good idea for beginners who want to host a website. Linode built on the state of the art hardwares like SSDs, 40 GBPS network connectivity, and Intel E5 processors. All plans packed SSH access and root access to the server which allow app developers to work freely. The services are backed by 99.9% uptime guarantee. If any hardware failed more than 0.1%, you can request for pro-rated credits.
You can start as low as $5. Just sign in and directed to the Linode’s simple control panel. Here choose your plan and server location. They support tons of OS images including CentOS, Debian, Gentoo, Fedora, and Ubuntu, etc. Their datacenters positioned in the Asia Pacific, North America, Europe regions. Moreover, resizing resources is quick as well as instant. Additional services include NodeBalancer, Cloning, DNS managed and IPv6 Support.
They provide customer support through the ticketing system. Besides, there is FAQs, community forums and IRC channel available which is, in fact, a community chat. So overall Linode is an ideal choice for tech-savvy and developers. From the security point of view, the company is very cautious and took strict protocols. Your funds are secure by seven days money back guarantee.
- Deploy your virtual machine immediately
- Latest hardware to ensure max. uptime and speed. Also, they offer uptime guarantee
- Servers are well spread around for lowest latency
- Wide range of packages
- Lots of Linux OS distributions
- You can hire a managed cloud hosting on their infrastructure
- They don’t have live chat support– However, community chat is also confusing regarding interface. In unmanaged services, this might be a problem
- No Windows server – Only Linux
- Short money back guarantee – only seven days
- In 2012 hacker hacked 8 Linode accounts and stole away 40K bitcoins. Since now the company adopted 2-factor authentication.
VPSie is another top-rated alternative to DigitalOcean. It is one of the major cloud hosting providers that brings cloud solutions by utilizing fast SSD. You’ll get more value on the cheaper pricing compared to DigitalOcean. They do provide console access to your server and allow easy snapshot as well as automatic daily backups.
The purchasing and setting up process is pretty simple. Just sign up, and you will be presented with a control panel where you can decide on the settings like hosting package, datacenter, and OS. VPsie offers various versions of Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu, CentOS, OpenSuSE, and Windows. Moreover, you can add a custom ISO image. There are 1-click plentiful apps such as WordPress, Prestashop, GitLab, and Docker, etc.
You don’t need to shift to another plan for upgrading or downgrading the resources as you can adjust the resources like storage and RAM easily with merely a few mouse clicks. Their intuitive dashboard provides exceptional control over the features. Like DNS section where you can manage domains as well as create PTR record effortlessly. On top of all, if you want a dedicated environment the private cloud will be activated by pressing a single button.
Although there is no free backup service like Digital Ocean but you can activate it by paying a low amount of just $0.20/GB per month. The backup is stored on a separate server for safety. VPSie technical and other related support services are given mainly by ticketing. You can start with them by adding a few credits using PayPal and credit card. Same as CloudSigma, you pay for what you consume rather than paying for unused or bundled resources.
- VPSie has a super easy to manage cloud hosting perspectives – User friendly
- A great VPS based cloud with amazing 99.99% uptime
- Your server will ready in seconds (40-50sec) with selected pre-installed application like WordPress
- Provides secure solution with fast network speed
- Choices for 1-click app, plentiful OS versions and even upload custom ISO image
- Affordable hosting compared to Digital Ocean
- Also, allow x86 based templates and full DNS management
- Availability of Windows and Linux cloud machines
- Customer support only provided by tickets
- For Windows-based plan, disk scaling requires additional fees
Amazon Lightsail – Backed by Giant Infracture AWS
Amazon Lightsail is a part of the giant Amazon Web Services (AWS). Lightsail presents the affordable hosting solution somewhat similar to DigitalOcean both in pricing and specifications. Getting benefit from AWS robust infrastructure is an excellent opportunity for hosting seekers. Unfortunately, AWS platform is a bit overwhelming and the users especially beginners could frustrate due to complexity. Here Amazon Lightsail comes into the scene and offers cluttered-free cloud VPS with economical pricing.
Lightsail provides plenty of pre-designed plans, and by comparing with DigitalOcean, you will see that Lightsail has competitive pricing where the smallest package starts at $5/month. So far Digital Ocean only supports Linux OS while Amazon makes available of both Windows and Linux. Furthermore, you can choose CMS applications such as WordPress, Drupal, Lamp Stack, etc. with pre-installation.
Just like other hosts, they also provide a broad range of operating systems and apps choices to choose from. The major OS templates include Ubuntu, FreeBSD, Debian, and OpenSuSE. They have worldwide coverage and data centers located in the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Europe zones. Same as DigitalOcean, they also cater static IP address, DNS management, SSH access, and friendly management console to make necessary settings and statistics monitoring.
Their services are flexible – you can add block storage as well. It can well incorporate with other AWS products. Amazon Lightsail support can be reached through ticket. There is no live chat right now but as it is simple to use so almost anyone can operate it. These bunch of features and strong reputation surely make it the solid alternative against DO. So why not to give them a try as they also offer 1-month FREE account.
- Backed by AWS – having millions of customer in 190+ countries
- Offer free 1-month trial period
- Multiple choices for OS, Apps, and stacks
- Various data centers all around the globe
- They offer both Windows and Linux
- Better security protocols
- Easy scalability to expand or integrate with AWS seamlessly
- Does not support IPv6
Atlantic.net – Most Experienced DigitalOcean Competitor
One of the experienced and oldest hosts operating since 1994. The company has its headquarter in Orlando, Florida. They offer a wide variety of products including cloud storage, private cloud, dedicated, Managed and Hybrid, etc. Atlantic.net provides Linux, Windows, and FreeBSD on SSD based servers with flexible scalability. Moreover, the company has a significant name like Puma, KIA, and Lenovo in their severed client’s list.
The best thing, Atlantic hold a wide range of plans optimized for storage, memory, and CPU. It’s fantastic because if you need storage or memory reach plan, you can choose the appropriate one. Deploying is as simple as eating a cake and won’t take more than 30 seconds. Atlantic.net provide a sophisticated control panel that allows setting up things like DNS, SSH keys, and information related to API, etc. They do give console access either you are a Linux or Windows user.
The host assures the lowest latency by offering multiple data centers. With one-click, you can install application effortlessly including WordPress, Docker, Node.js, LAMP, and LEMP. In addition, you can also integrate cPanel but remember it’s an additional add-on. Although they claim to provide 100% uptime, in reality, it’s quite impossible. With minor shortcomings, they efficiently deliver 99.99% uptime which is an outstanding and above industry average.
We really appreciate Atlantic.net customer efforts. You can ask for help via live chat, Phone, and email. Although sometimes live chat takes a while to connect but in rare cases. Furthermore, they maintain a beneficial community that contains how-to-guides and related articles – great material for self-help and learning.
Most basic plan: 1GB RAM, 1 CPU, 40GB SSD storage, 3TB bandwidth at $8/month or $0.0119/hr
Datacenter Locations: Toronto, New York, Dallas, San Francisco, Orlando, London and more are coming soon.
- Quick cloud server deployment
- A bunch of cloud hosting packages
- They have both Windows and Linux options
- Availability of cPanel (additional fee applies)
- Support various one-click apps
- Plenty of location to select from
- Live chat support is not always promising
- Just seven days refund period on annual
- Costs more money for shorter duration subscription
- IPv6 available at extra fees
Conclusion – Which DigitalOcean Alternative is Best?
The above companies are the very closed DigitalOcean alternatives offer robust cloud infrastructure with unique features. Different providers come with different specialties where some deliver exceptional customer support and others allow a variety of operating systems.
So it’s up to you that, what’s your purpose for searching alternatives?
You can address that Vultr is the dominant host here due to low pricing with sufficient specs. Its cutting edge infrastructure provides outstanding 99.99% uptime and delivers more money value than Digital Ocean. Moreover, there are tons of apps available to install with one click feature. Most importantly they also support Windows platform as well.
On the other hand, you should go for CloudSigma which is slightly higher priced (smallest plan starts at $4.39/mo) but of course bring more value like integrated SSL, team collaboration, and other in-house tools. And most importantly they have 24/7 live tech support. So in case of any inconvenience, you can get immediate assistance.
We strongly encourage you to choose a DigitalOcean alternative by considering your needs. For any query feel free to ask via comments or contact.