Is DigitalOcean or Vultr more stable?

DigitalOcean has 4 recorded changes and is rated stable. Vultr has 0 recorded changes and is rated stable.

Can I use DigitalOcean and Vultr together?

While both are in the Cloud IaaS category, some teams use both for different workloads. Check each vendor's free tier limits to see if they complement your stack.

Compare DigitalOcean and Vultr free tiers side by side. Pricing, limits, change history, and risk assessment for developers.

DigitalOcean vs Vultr

Side-by-side free tier comparison. Catalogue dates here run to 2026-10-06.

13 other cloud iaas options →

Verdict

Vultr offers a free tier ("Free"). DigitalOcean has no ongoing free tier; what it offers is a credit grant that runs out ("Credits").

A verdict here is not a fixed property of the vendor. A one-off pricing event demotes a vendor while its recorded date falls in the last 180 days and then lapses on its own, with nothing about the vendor having changed; a standing condition — a free tier withdrawn and not restored, a product retired — does not lapse with time. A badge carrying a date states the record it rests on; a badge with no date rests on no record in force.

DigitalOcean profile → Vultr profile →

DigitalOcean

Riskstable

CategoryCloud IaaS

TierCredits

Verified2026-10-02

Last read2026-10-02

Changes4 recorded

New accounts get a $5 signup credit, applied automatically to the first team and expiring 90 days after signup; a payment method is required before creating resources. Basic Droplets from $4/mo (1 vCPU, 512 MB RAM, 10 GB SSD). Per-second billing (min 60s or $0.01). App Platform: 3 free static sites (1 GiB outbound/mo each). Functions: 90,000 GiB-seconds/mo free. Spaces: 250 GB + 1 TB transfer for $5/mo. Managed databases start at $15/mo (not free). No perpetual free compute tier

A powered-off Droplet is still billed, because its resources stay reserved; only destroying it ends billing. (From docs.digitalocean.com/products/droplets/details/pricing, read 2026-10-07.)

Vultr

Riskstable

CategoryCloud IaaS

TierFree

Verified2026-10-06

Last read2026-10-06

Changes0 recorded

Free Tier Program: a free cloud instance (1 vCPU, 512 MB RAM, 10 GB SSD, IPv4 address) in Miami, Seattle or Frankfurt, for applicants Vultr admits. Vultr calls it early access in limited quantities and admits eligible applicants at random, weighted by a score built from what they say about themselves and their intended use. New customers can also claim promotional credit, up to $300, with codes on Vultr's coupons page; it applies to select products only, cannot be combined with other offers, and expires. Paid Cloud Compute starts at $2.50/mo for 1 vCPU, 512 MB and 10 GB SSD on IPv6 only (New Jersey and Atlanta), $3.50/mo for the same plan without the IPv6-only restriction (New Jersey), and $5/mo for 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM and 25 GB SSD. Billed hourly.

Admission to the free instance is not guaranteed: Vultr grants it at random to eligible applicants in limited quantities, weighted by a score, and does not explain why an account was not admitted. (From vultr.com/free-tier-program, read 2026-10-06.)
Coupon credit is for new customers only, applies to select products only, and cannot be combined with any other offer. (From vultr.com/coupons, read 2026-10-06.)
A card or PayPal account must be linked to sign up and to be eligible for any promotion, Vultr allows one promotion per user, and promotional credit expires; the pages for the $200, $250 and $300 codes state no expiry period. (From vultr.com/faq, read 2026-10-06.)
A stopped instance is still billed, because its CPU, RAM, storage and IP addresses stay reserved; only destroying it ends billing. (From docs.vultr.com/support/platform/billing/are-stopped-instances-still-billed-on-vultr, read 2026-10-07.)

Pricing Change History

DigitalOcean

restricted effective 2026-05-13 medium impact

As of 2026-05-13, DigitalOcean's startup credits exclude Dedicated and Serverless Inference, third-party AI models, Paperspace Machines, Cloudways and Bare Metal GPUs as well as GPU Droplets and H100 GPU products, the two exclusions its page stated before. The page also now puts the monthly credit limit at $10,000; its April capture mentioned a monthly limit without an amount. Source ↗

reduced effective 2026-04-07 medium impact

DigitalOcean's new-account credit fell from $200 for 60 days to $5 for 90 days. Its pricing page changed between the Internet Archive's 2026-04-05 and 2026-04-07 captures. The $200 offer page (try.digitalocean.com/freetrialoffer/) was still up on 2026-05-15 and now redirects to the homepage. Source ↗

increased effective 2026-01-01 medium impact

Droplets moved from hourly to per-second billing (with a minimum charge of 60 seconds or $0.01, whichever is higher) Source ↗

increased effective 2025-01-22 medium impact

Hatch startup program expanded to up to $100K compute credits plus up to 3 months free H100 GPU access for AI/ML startups Source ↗

Vultr

No recorded pricing changes for Vultr.

Watch Both Vendors for Pricing Changes

We do not push notifications. Every change we record is readable the moment it lands, and the JSON answer carries an ETag — send it back as If-None-Match and an unchanged answer costs one 304.

curl https://agentdeals.dev/api/changes?vendor=DigitalOcean
curl https://agentdeals.dev/pricing-changes/feed.xml?vendor=DigitalOcean
curl https://agentdeals.dev/api/changes?vendor=Vultr
curl https://agentdeals.dev/pricing-changes/feed.xml?vendor=Vultr

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DigitalOcean vs Vultr

Verdict

DigitalOcean

Vultr

Pricing Change History

DigitalOcean

Vultr

Watch Both Vendors for Pricing Changes

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