Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs DigitalOcean: Complete 2026 Comparison
In-depth comparison of these two hosting providers across pricing, performance, features, and support.
Overall Winner
DigitalOcean
- Wins in 3 of 7 categories
- Top in: Best Price, Best Performance, Best for Beginners
- 4.2/5 overall rating
Category Winners
Best Price
DigitalOcean
$4.00/mo vs $5.00/mo
Best Value
Tie
Similar renewal pricing
Best Performance
DigitalOcean
99.99% uptime, 4.2/5 rating
Best Support
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Live chat, Phone
Best for WordPress
Tie
Similar WordPress features
Best for Developers
Tie
Similar developer features
Best for Beginners
DigitalOcean
Higher ease of use score (6.5/10)
Feature Comparison
| Feature | ||
|---|---|---|
| Essential Info | ||
| Hosting Type | Cloud Infrastructure | Cloud Infrastructure |
| Monthly Price | $5.00/mo | $4.00/mo |
| Renewal Price | $5.00 | $4.00 |
| Renewal Markup | 0% | 0% |
| Overall Rating | 3.5/5 | 4.2/5 |
| Uptime Guarantee | 99.99% | 99.99% |
| Trustpilot Rating | 1.3/5 | 4.6/5 |
| Trustpilot Reviews | 361 | 2,140 |
| Free SSL | ||
| Free Domain | ||
| Free Migration | ||
| Pricing Details | ||
| First Year Cost | $60.00 | $48.00 |
| Second Year Cost | $60.00 | $48.00 |
| Money Back Guarantee | — | 0 days |
| Setup Fee | Free | Free |
| Monthly Billing | ||
| Minimum Contract | 0 months | 0 months |
| Technical Specs | ||
| Storage | 40 GB | 25 GB |
| Storage Type | SSD | SSD/NVME |
| Bandwidth | 2000 GB | 1000 GB |
| Max Websites | — | — |
| Max Databases | — | — |
| PHP Versions | — | — |
| SSH Access | ||
| Git Deployment | ||
| Staging Environment | — | — |
| Cron Jobs | ||
| Redis Available | ||
| Programming Languages | ||
| Node.js Support | ||
| Python Support | ||
| Ruby Support | ||
| WordPress Features | ||
| WordPress Optimized | ||
| WordPress Auto-Install | ||
| WordPress Auto-Updates | ||
| WordPress Staging | ||
| WooCommerce Optimized | ||
| LiteSpeed Cache | ||
| Object Caching | ||
| WP Multisite | ||
| WP-CLI Access | ||
| Security | ||
| DDoS Protection | ||
| DDoS Protection Level | AWS Shield Standard (free); Shield Advanced ($3000/mo+) | Standard DDoS protection included on all Droplets |
| Malware Scanning | ||
| Malware Removal | ||
| Firewall Included | ||
| Backup Frequency | Manual/Snapshot-based | Weekly (20% extra) or Daily (30% extra) or Usage-based |
| Backup Retention | — | 7 days |
| Backup Restore Fee | Free | Free |
| On-Demand Backup | ||
| Two-Factor Auth | ||
| Wildcard SSL | ||
| Dedicated IP | ||
| Support | ||
| Support Channels | Ticket, Phone, Chat, Knowledge Base, Forums | Ticket, Live Chat (paid plans), Knowledge Base, Community Forum, Tutorials |
| Live Chat | ||
| Live Chat Hours | Paid support plans | 24/7 (Standard $99/mo and Premium $999/mo plans) |
| Phone Support | ||
| Phone Support Hours | 24/7 with paid support | — |
| Ticket Support | ||
| Priority Support | ||
| Support Languages | English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish | English |
| Knowledge Base Quality | 5.0/10 | 5.0/10 |
| Avg Support Wait | — | — |
| Email Accounts | ||
| Email Account Limit | 0 | 0 |
| Mailbox Size | — | — |
| Webmail Access | ||
| Spam Filter | ||
| Email Forwarding | ||
| Performance | ||
| CDN Included | ||
| CDN Provider | CloudFront (additional cost) | DigitalOcean CDN (additional product, paid) |
| Server Locations | US East (Virginia), US East (Ohio), US West (Oregon), US West (California), Canada (Central), Canada West (Calgary), South America (Sao Paulo), Europe (Ireland), Europe (London), Europe (Frankfurt), Europe (Paris), Europe (Stockholm), Europe (Milan), Europe (Spain), Europe (Zurich), Middle East (Bahrain), Middle East (UAE), Africa (Cape Town), Asia Pacific (Mumbai), Asia Pacific (Singapore), Asia Pacific (Sydney), Asia Pacific (Tokyo), Asia Pacific (Seoul), Asia Pacific (Osaka), Asia Pacific (Hong Kong), Asia Pacific (Jakarta), Asia Pacific (Melbourne), Asia Pacific (Hyderabad), China (Beijing), China (Ningxia), Israel (Tel Aviv), Thailand (Bangkok), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) | New York (NYC1, NYC2, NYC3), San Francisco (SFO2, SFO3), Toronto (TOR1), Amsterdam (AMS3), Frankfurt (FRA1), London (LON1), Bangalore (BLR1), Singapore (SGP1), Sydney (SYD1), Atlanta (ATL1) |
| Server Location Count | 38 | 15 |
| Choose Server Location | ||
| HTTP/2 Support | ||
| Brotli Compression | — | |
| Uptime SLA Credit | ||
| Platform Support | ||
| Drupal Support | ||
| Joomla Support | ||
| Magento Support | ||
| Laravel Support | ||
| Django Support | ||
| Next.js Support | ||
| Rails Support | ||
| Static Site Support | ||
| Control Panel | ||
| cPanel Included | ||
| Control Panel | AWS Console / Lightsail Console | DigitalOcean Control Panel |
| Softaculous | ||
| Website Builder | ||
| Builder Name | — | — |
| Migration | ||
| Migration Websites Limit | 0 | 0 |
| Migration Turnaround | — | — |
| Paid Migration Cost | — | — |
| Migration Quality | — | — |
| Compliance | ||
| GDPR Compliant | ||
| PCI Compliant | ||
| HIPAA Compliant | ||
| Data Center Certs | SOC 1, SOC 2, SOC 3, ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, ISO 9001, PCI DSS Level 1, HIPAA, FedRAMP | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, PCI-DSS |
| Ratings | ||
| Value for Money | 3.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| Performance Rating | 5.0/10 | 4.5/10 |
| Support Quality | 2.0/10 | 3.5/10 |
| Security Rating | 5.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| Features Rating | 5.0/10 | 4.5/10 |
| Ease of Use | 2.5/10 | 4.5/10 |
| Transparency Rating | 2.0/10 | 4.5/10 |
| Suitability Scores | ||
| For Bloggers | 2.0/10 | 2.0/10 |
| For E-commerce | 4.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| For Agencies | 4.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| For Developers | 5.0/10 | 5.0/10 |
| For Beginners | 1.0/10 | 2.0/10 |
| For Enterprise | 5.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| Policies | ||
| Bandwidth Overage | 2TB included on $5 Lightsail; overage $0.09/GB | Outbound transfer included per plan (500GiB-11TB); $0.01/GiB overage; Inbound always free |
| Storage Overage | Pay for additional volumes/snapshots | Pay for additional Block Storage at $0.10/GiB/month |
| Adult Content Allowed | ||
| Gambling Sites Allowed | ||
| Crypto Sites Allowed | ||
| Reseller Hosting | ||
| White Label | ||
| API Access | ||
| Company Info | ||
| Year Founded | 2006 | 2012 |
| Headquarters | United States | United States |
| Parent Company | Amazon.com Inc. (subsidiary) | Independent (publicly traded NYSE: DOCN since March 2021; major investors include Access Industries, BlackRock, Vanguard) |
| Green Hosting | — | |
| Instant Activation | ||
| Managed WordPress | ||
| Managed WP Available | ||
| Pricing Model | — | — |
| Monthly Visit Limit | — | — |
| Visit Overage Cost | — | — |
| PHP Workers | — | — |
| Plugin Restrictions | — | — |
| Dev Environment | — | — |
| Dev Env Name | — | — |
| Regional Info | ||
| Best Countries | United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Brazil, India, Canada | United States, Germany, United Kingdom, Netherlands, India, Singapore, Canada, Australia |
| Local Currencies | USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, AUD, SGD, BRL, INR, CAD | USD |
| Support Languages | English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish | English |
| Data Sovereignty | GDPR, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, FedRAMP, SOC 2, ISO 27001 | GDPR, SOC 2, PCI-DSS |
| External Ratings | ||
| G2 Rating | 4.6/5 | 4.6/5 |
| BBB Rating | NR | D- |
| Advanced Technical | ||
| Inode Limit | — | — |
| Max DB Size | — | — |
| Max Upload Size | — | — |
| Database Type | MySQL/MariaDB/PostgreSQL/MSSQL/Oracle | MySQL/PostgreSQL (managed available) |
| Elasticsearch | ||
| Image Optimization | — | — |
| PHP Switching | — | — |
| Subdomains | — | — |
| FTP Accounts | — | — |
| Additional Pricing | ||
| Free Domain Duration | — | — |
| Money Back Exclusions | Pay-as-you-go; No traditional refund; Free tier available for 12 months | No money-back guarantee; Pay-as-you-go with per-second billing (60-second minimum); Can destroy resources anytime; Unused credits remain in account |
| Payment Methods | Credit Card, Debit Card, ACH Direct Debit, Wire Transfer, AWS Credits | Credit Card, Debit Card, PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay |
| Auto Renewal Default | ||
| Domain Privacy Included | — | |
| Domain Privacy Cost | — | — |
| SSL Provider | AWS Certificate Manager (free SSL for AWS resources) | Self-managed (Let's Encrypt recommended) or Load Balancer SSL |
| Dedicated IP Cost | — | $4/mo |
| Additional Support | ||
| Phone Support Countries | Global | — |
| Priority Support Cost | — | — |
| Community Forum | ||
| Support Outsourced | ||
| Object Cache Type | — | — |
| Business & Affiliate | ||
| Affiliate Program | ||
| Commission Type | Per sale | Recurring percentage |
| Commission Amount | Varies by service; AWS Partner Network available | 10% recurring commission for 12 months per referred customer; 30-day cookie; No minimum payout; Via Impact Radius |
| Additional Policies | ||
| File Hosting Allowed | ||
| Proxy/VPN Allowed | ||
| Bandwidth Overage Cost | $0.09 | $0.01 |
| Account Suspension Policy | Violation of ToS; non-payment; abuse | Violation of ToS; fraud detection; non-payment after grace period; abuse reports |
| Malware Removal Cost | — | — |
| Downloadable Backups | ||
| Additional Platforms | ||
| PrestaShop | ||
| Ghost | ||
| Shopify Migration | ||
| Wix Migration | ||
| Squarespace Migration | ||
| Webflow Export | ||
| Editorial Info | ||
| Best For | Enterprise deployments needing AWS ecosystem; Developers comfortable with cloud infrastructure; Businesses needing compliance certifications (HIPAA, PCI, FedRAMP); Global deployments with 38 regions; Those already invested in AWS ecosystem | Developers and startups wanting reliable cloud infrastructure; Teams valuing excellent documentation and tutorials; App Platform users wanting PaaS simplicity; Kubernetes users; Companies needing PCI compliance; Users wanting predictable transparent pricing; API-first automation workflows |
| Avoid If | Beginner wanting simple hosting; Need included support; Want managed WordPress; Budget-conscious without cloud expertise; Need predictable billing | Need managed WordPress hosting; Want phone support; Beginner requiring hand-holding; Need included email hosting; Want cPanel included; Budget-constrained (free support limited); Need many global locations (only 15 vs Vultr's 32) |
| Known Issues | Extremely poor Trustpilot rating (1.3) due to billing complaints and support issues; Complex pricing can lead to unexpected bills; Support costs extra (free tier has no support); Not beginner-friendly; EC2 pricing confusing; Lightsail less flexible than competitors | No phone support; Free support tier limited (24hr+ response); No managed WordPress; Billing issues reported causing resource deletion without warning; Backups and support plans add significant cost; No cPanel/Plesk included; GPU droplets require commitments; Some report occasional hardware failures; Limited data center count (15) vs some competitors |
| Unique Selling Point | Market-leading cloud provider with 38 regions, most compliance certifications, and Lightsail for simplified VPS at $5/month | Best-in-class documentation and tutorials with App Platform PaaS and developer-first approach |
| Ideal Customer | Enterprise or developer needing global cloud infrastructure with extensive compliance certifications and AWS ecosystem integration | Developer or startup wanting reliable cloud infrastructure with excellent documentation and transparent pricing |
| Best Alternative To | Google Cloud Platform | AWS Lightsail |
| Primary Competitors | Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, DigitalOcean, Vultr | Vultr, Linode, AWS Lightsail |
We strive for accuracy, but pricing and features change frequently. Some data may be outdated. Report an error and we'll update it promptly.
Our Verdict
Choose Amazon Web Services (AWS) if you...
- Need phone support
- Need enterprise-grade features
- Want more server locations (38 available)
Choose DigitalOcean if you...
- Want to save money ($4.00/mo vs $5.00/mo)
- Want higher-rated hosting (4.2/5)
- Are new to web hosting