Looking for a simple, cheap, and robust cloud computing platform that can host your site or app? Our DigitalOcean review (2023 update) will help you make an informed decision on whether or not you should buy cloud hosting from DigitalOcean.
DigitalOcean has quickly become one of the most popular cloud hosting providers, thanks to their cloud servers’ simplicity, robust and reliable infrastructure, and cheap prices.
DigitalOcean lets you create, automate, and manage a robust cloud server infrastructure with out-of-the-box features like floating IP addresses, shared private networking, Tier-1 bandwidth, team accounts, and SSD (solid-state drive) hard drives come as standard.
All of their cloud servers are provisioned in as little as 55 seconds and DigitalOcean’s cheapest cloud hosting plan is 5.00 per month.
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The mission statement of DigitalOcean revolves around simplicity. This is evident throughout their platform but is particularly noticeable in their main features.
Cloud servers (droplets) are usually provisioned in just 55 seconds. (DigitalOcean refers to servers as “droplets.” Each one you spin up is a server for your personal use.)
Overview of DigitalOcean Features
Digital Ocean’s 99.99% uptime makes it one of the most reliable resources available.
When added to high levels of security and data protection, it’s no wonder that so many clients use this platform.
The easily navigated control panel is a breath of fresh air for developers. The API facilities offer users the ultimate level of control. This offers a personal experience that ensures great results.
Pay Only for What You Use
Even the pricing strategy is simple. Clients are only billed for their actual usage. This means no excess spending on unused hours.
The monthly caps ensure that you’ll never exceed the maximum spending, regardless of how many droplets are produced.
Snapshot: What this Host Offers
Digital Ocean provides a fair amount of information to help you decide which plan you need:
- The host offers two types of Droplets (cloud servers): Standard and CPU Optimized. The kind of Droplet you need depends on factors including your traffic. For a growing blog, you could select a Standard Droplet
- Standard Droplets are the most flexible, in terms of pricing and use (you can use Standard Droplets for small testing to large production deployments)
- CPU Optimized Droplets are best for CPU-intensive tasks such as processing large data sets
- Standard Droplets function as part of a shared CPU, meaning there will be a slight difference in the amount of computing power you can access from time to time
- CPU Optimized Droplets have dedicated vCPU threads, and provide up to a 21% increase in speed compared to the Standard Droplets.
- Plans come with different bandwidth allocations so check the data transfer allocations to find the package that best suits your needs
- Droplets come with an allocation of free outbound data transfer, and inbound bandwidth is free
- You can’t roll transfers over from one month to the next
- All Droplet plans are available in all regions
Hosting Plans for Individuals, Small Businesses, Developers
DigitalOcean’s greatest selling point is the wide spectrum of available plans. This flexibility makes it the perfect option for individuals and companies. No developer will struggle to find a solution tailored to their specific needs.
Standard plans range from one server to four while memory can vary from 512 MB to 8 GB.
The TB transfer rate can be anywhere from 1 to 5 depending on the plan while the SSD Disk space starts at 20 GB and stretches to 80GB.
The most popular plan offers:
- 1 GB memory
- 1 core processor
- 30 GB SSD disk
- 2 TB transfer
Alternatively, DigitalOcean also offers high-volume plans for those developers that will need it.
What Types of Hosting Does DigitalOcean Provide?
There are a number of different types of hosting available for your business and each comes with a number of distinct advantages and disadvantages. Below we will take a look at two of the most popular hosting options available to you.
Shared Hosting
Shared hosting is one of the most popular hosting options available on the market. It is often the cheapest option available, however, it usually ranks lowest in terms of available resources and server performance. Shared hosting is when a single server is shared among a number of different websites, all competing with each other for space and resources.
Virtual Private Server (VPS)
VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting is usually seen as a step up from shared hosting. It may be the best choice for you if your business requires higher performance and resources than your shared hosting plan can offer.
It usually takes the form of a single server that has been split into a number of smaller virtual servers with each virtual server allocated exclusively to a website. As such, that website is not competing with others on the server for space and resources.
WordPress Hosting
WordPress is an ultra-popular content management system (CMS) used by over 60 million people across the globe.
DigitalOcean provides a one-click installation of WordPress hosting solutions.
The company claims that you can have WordPress up and running in just 55 seconds. The hosting company also offers a series of storage capacities and memory capacities depending on your company’s individual needs.
SSD (Solid-State Drive) Storage
One of the leading benefits of using DigitalOcean hosting is the fact that the company uses SSD storage on all of their servers.
SSD servers have no moving parts, unlike their HDD counterparts. Therefore, they work more quickly and perform exponentially faster than others. This is important for your business as it will allow customers to access your site quicker than rivals
Setting up Your Cloud Server
DigitalOcean is committed to simplicity, and this is clear in their setup processes too.
How to Create a Droplet
Follow these instructions to create a Droplet (cloud instance) using your DigitalOcean control panel:
- Log into the DigitalOcean control panel, and you can select to create a Droplet from your dashboard
- The next screen will be the Create Droplet page where you can specify your Droplet configuration
- The most popular defaults have already been selected so you can scroll to the end and Create Droplet
- If you want to customize your Droplet, the first step is to choose an image, which includes your operating system and any pre-installed apps.
- Choose the size of your droplet – the amount of RAM and storage
- Add block storage to create additional storage volumes you can attach to your Droplets
- Choose a datacenter region nearest to you and your customers
- Add SSH keys to provide additional security
- Finalize and create your Droplet
DigitalOcean Datacenters
Digital Ocean hosting has a wide range of data centers dotted around the globe.
There are currently 8 data centers across the world located in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany, The Netherlands, Singapore, and India.
This is useful for your business if many of your customers are based in a specific part of the globe and require high-speed servers close to their location. If a customer is geographically closer to a server then, in theory, the page loading speeds should be fast, allowing them to access your site quickly.
Excellent Customer Support and Help
As one of the market leaders, DigitalOcean boasts excellent support facilities.
Most notably, their website has an incredibly useful community area.
This is packed with tutorials, FAQs and other items that can be used to improve the client’s experience.
Meanwhile, an extensive help section provides the answers to almost any query imaginable. If those questions remain unanswered, a ticketing system allows customers to speak to technical experts.
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DigitalOcean Web Hosting Pros and Cons
There are a number of other items worth noting about DigitalOcean. They offer six popular Linux distributions. This gives them a large market.
The only potential downside for some developers will be the fact that payment is made via a credit card system. However, the use of hours and monthly spending caps compensates. Moreover, the fact you can pay by various methods, including PayPal, is a bonus.
DigitalOcean makes migrating to a cloud server quicker and easier than ever. With such a high degree of flexibility available too, they are easily amongst the best companies in the field.
