Complete guide to DigitalOcean pricing and free tier in 2026. $5 free credits for 90 days, App Platform free static sites, per-second billing, Functions serverless, and comparison with AWS, GCP, and Azure.
Published 2026-03-31 · Not yet reviewed · Figures compiled 2026-03-31, not re-checked since · 8 of 8 figures in the “Recent DigitalOcean Changes” table come from our records for 1,580 developer tools · 3 DigitalOcean entries tracked
Different model than the Big Three. Unlike AWS, GCP, and Azure which offer always-free compute tiers, DigitalOcean's free offering is limited to $5 in trial credits (90 days), 3 free static sites on App Platform, serverless Functions (90,000 GiB-seconds/month), and free DNS management. There is no perpetual free compute — after credits expire, the cheapest Droplet is $4/month.
The value proposition is simplicity and price. DigitalOcean's 2026 pricing changes made it significantly more competitive: per-second billing (minimum 60 seconds or $0.01). For developers who want straightforward cloud infrastructure without the complexity of AWS/GCP/Azure, DigitalOcean trades free-tier generosity for operational simplicity.
Best for: Developers who value simplicity over free tiers, small-to-medium projects that outgrow free hosting, teams that want managed infrastructure without enterprise complexity. Not ideal for bootstrapped projects that need to stay at $0/month indefinitely.
Comparing clouds? See our Cloud Free Tier Comparison for a side-by-side matrix of AWS vs GCP vs Azure vs DigitalOcean.
New DigitalOcean accounts get a $5 signup credit, applied automatically to the first team and valid for 90 days after signup. It covers all products except SaaS Add-Ons, and you must add a payment method before you can create Droplets or other resources. Until April 2026, new accounts got $200 for 60 days.
These services are free forever, no credit card trial involved. DigitalOcean's permanent free tier is narrower than the Big Three but covers static hosting, serverless, and DNS.
| Service | Free Limits | Category |
|---|---|---|
| ★ App Platform (Static Sites) | 3 static site apps, 1 GiB outbound transfer/month each, automatic HTTPS | Hosting |
| ★ Functions (Serverless) | 90,000 GiB-seconds/month | Compute |
| DNS Management | Up to ~50 domains, no active Droplet required, free for all accounts | Networking |
| Monitoring & Alerting | Built-in metrics, uptime checks, and alerting for all resources — no extra charge | Monitoring |
| VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) | Free private networking between resources in same datacenter | Networking |
| Cloud Firewalls | Free inbound traffic filtering rules for Droplets | Security |
| Container Registry | Starter plan: 1 repo, 500 MB storage (free with account) | Containers |
DigitalOcean introduced per-second billing. Here are the key price points developers should know.
| Service | Price | Specs | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Droplet | $4/mo | 1 vCPU, 512 MB RAM, 10 GB SSD, 500 GB transfer | |
| Basic Droplet | $6/mo | 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 25 GB SSD, 1 TB transfer | |
| Basic Droplet | $12/mo | 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 50 GB SSD, 2 TB transfer | |
| Spaces Object Storage | $5/mo | 250 GB storage + 1 TB outbound transfer | S3-compatible, CDN included |
| Managed Database (PostgreSQL) | $15/mo | 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 10 GB storage | Not free tier — starts at $15 |
| Managed Kubernetes | $12/mo | Free control plane + $4/mo per worker node (Basic) | Per-second billing applies |
| App Platform (Web Service) | $5/mo | 1 container, 512 MB RAM, auto-deploy from Git | Static sites are free |
Where DigitalOcean shines compared to the Big Three clouds. These recommendations combine free and paid services for the best value.
App Platform free static site + $4/mo Basic Droplet for API. Total: $4/mo. Simple, Git-based deploys for both frontend and backend. Compare with: Vercel free + Railway $5/mo, or Cloudflare Pages + Workers (free).
$6/mo Droplet (1 GB RAM) + $15/mo Managed PostgreSQL + free DNS. Total: $21/mo. One-click app marketplace for WordPress, Ghost, Node.js, Django. Compare with: Railway (~$10/mo), Render ($7/mo + $7/mo DB).
Free DOKS control plane + 3× $12/mo Droplet workers. Total: $36/mo. Managed Kubernetes with free control plane is unique — AWS EKS charges $72/mo for the control plane alone. See our hosting alternatives for more options.
Spaces at $5/mo (250 GB + 1 TB transfer, S3-compatible, built-in CDN). Compare with: AWS S3 ($0.023/GB, no bundled CDN), Cloudflare R2 (10 GB free, zero egress). Spaces is simpler but less flexible than S3.
DigitalOcean Functions: 90,000 GiB-seconds/mo free. For light workloads (webhooks, cron jobs, API endpoints). Compare with: AWS Lambda (1M req/mo free), Cloudflare Workers (100K req/day free). DO Functions is newer and less mature but integrated with App Platform.
DigitalOcean is simpler than AWS/GCP/Azure, but these costs still catch developers off guard. The biggest issue: no perpetual free compute tier means you can't run a project at $0/month after the trial ends.
Unlike AWS (Lambda 1M req/mo), GCP (e2-micro VM), or Azure (Functions 1M executions), DigitalOcean has no always-free compute tier. The $5 credit expires after 90 days. After that, even the cheapest Droplet is $4/month.
Droplet plans include transfer allowances (500 GB–10 TB). Excess bandwidth costs $0.01/GiB for outbound. Inbound is free. This adds up fast for media-heavy apps.
Per-second billing sounds great, but there's a 60-second minimum charge ($0.01). Creating and destroying Droplets rapidly still costs money — each creation incurs at least $0.01.
Free static sites don't include build minutes for dynamic apps. Web service builds consume resources and the free tier only covers static content. Dynamic apps start at $5/mo.
Spaces includes 1 TB outbound transfer, but CDN bandwidth beyond that is $0.01/GiB. If you're serving files through the CDN, monitor your transfer usage.
Despite the free credits, managed databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, MongoDB, Kafka) start at $15/month with no free tier. This is the #1 gotcha — AWS, GCP, and Azure all offer always-free database options.
Droplet backups cost 20% of the Droplet price. A $4/mo Droplet's backup is $0.80/mo. Snapshots are $0.06/GiB/mo. Neither is included in the base price.
The $5 credit is applied automatically, but you must add a valid payment method before you can create Droplets or other resources. If you forget to cancel or exceed limits during the trial, charges begin immediately.
DigitalOcean's strength is simplicity and competitive pricing, not free tier generosity. Here's how it compares. See our AWS, GCP, and Azure free tier guides for detailed breakdowns of each.
| Provider | Key Free Tier | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| AWS | Always Free: Lambda 1M req/mo, DynamoDB 25 GB, 30+ services | Enterprise, serverless, broadest ecosystem |
| GCP (Google Cloud) Source ↗ | Always Free: e2-micro VM, BigQuery 1 TiB, Cloud Run 2M req/mo | Side projects needing always-free compute |
| Azure Source ↗ | Always Free: Functions 1M req/mo, Cosmos DB 25 GB, 65+ services | .NET apps, enterprise auth, Cosmos DB |
| Hetzner Unconfirmed | No free tier — cheapest orderable plan is CPX12 at €11.99/mo (1 vCPU, 2 GB) | European hosting, raw compute power |
| Vultr No record | Free DNS hosting on any account, cheapest VPS at $2.50/mo | Low-cost VPS, multiple regions Sign up via our referral link and get $300 in credit What you have to do to get it
|
| Railway Source ↗ | $5 free trial credit, usage-based pricing | Quick prototypes, hobby projects Sign up via our referral link and get $20 in credits What you have to do to get it
|
| Render Source ↗ | Free web services (512 MB RAM), free PostgreSQL (30 days) | Heroku replacement, small apps |
| Cloudflare Source ↗ | Workers 100K req/day, R2 10 GB, D1 5 GB, Pages unlimited | Edge computing, static sites, storage |
DigitalOcean's startup program is one of the most accessible cloud startup programs available.
Credits for 12 months in an amount that varies by startup, usable up to $10,000 a month. They do not cover GPU Droplets, H100 GPU products, inference or third-party AI models; GPU credits are a separate benefit for selected startups. 15 months of free Standard-tier support.
Raised $10M or less, not a service business, and new to DigitalOcean credits. Apply through a partner accelerator, incubator or VC, or directly. See our Startup Credits guide for a full comparison of all programs.
AWS Activate: up to $200K (Portfolio needs an Activate Provider Org ID). Google for Startups: up to $200K, or $350K for AI-first startups; a $2K Start tier needs no funding. Microsoft for Startups: up to $150K (no investor needed). Microsoft's program is the easiest to qualify for.
DigitalOcean pricing changes we've tracked. See the full timeline for all 424 tracked changes across all providers.
| Date | Service | Change | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| effective May 13, 2026 | DigitalOcean | 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 ↗ | MEDIUM |
| effective Apr 7, 2026 | DigitalOcean | 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 ↗ | MEDIUM |
| effective Jan 1, 2026 | DigitalOcean | Droplets moved from hourly to per-second billing (with a minimum charge of 60 seconds or $0.01, whichever is higher) Source ↗ | MEDIUM |
| effective Jan 22, 2025 | DigitalOcean | Hatch startup program expanded to up to $100K compute credits plus up to 3 months free H100 GPU access for AI/ML startups Source ↗ | MEDIUM |
A source check reads each cited page for that service's name and a price. The figures in the tables above are from our own records, except for the services whose entry below dates them to a read of the vendor's own page.
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