DigitalOcean free tier includes New accounts get a $5 signup credit, applied automatically to the first team and expiring 90 days… Catalogue date August 2026.

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DigitalOcean Free Tier 2026 caution

Why caution: effective 2026-04-07 — 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 ↗ Full history ↓

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180 days and then lapses on its own, with nothing about the vendor having changed; a standing condition — a free tier withdrawn, a product retired — does not lapse with time. This one rests on a record effective 2026-04-07, so it lapses on 2026-10-05 unless we record something new first.

Limits, pricing history. Catalogue date August 2026. Last updated 2026-09-28.

DigitalOcean's free tier offers New accounts get a $5 signup credit, applied automatically to the first team and expiring 90 days after signup; a… We rate it caution — one recorded limit reduction, on 2026-04-07.

One of 12 Cloud IaaS services we track. See our full Cloud IaaS Free Tier Comparison →
⚠️ Pricing change: 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 ↗ (effective 2026-05-13) View in changelog →
Tier
Credits
Categories
Cloud IaaSStartup Perks
Pricing Page
Visit →
Catalogue date
2026-08-18
Last read
2026-09-19
The day we last read the vendor's page. Our last read of it, on 2026-09-19, found the page different from the terms we hold. We hold no confirmation of the terms we publish — the 2026-08-18 beside this date is not one we can source to a read that confirmed them.

Free Tier Details

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

We read that on 2026-09-19 from https://www.digitalocean.com/pricing, and our check recorded: the page names DigitalOcean as "digitalocean". A source check reads the cited page for the service's name and a price; the limits above are from our own record.

When You'll Outgrow DigitalOcean's Free Tier

Pricing Change History (8 recorded)

corrected effective 2026-09-28 low impact
Data correction - DigitalOcean's startup programme changed which services its credits cover on 2026-05-13, the date its page gives, not on 2026-08-28, and GPU Droplets were excluded before that. Our re-read of 2026-08-28 recorded it as a change dated the day it read the page. Source ↗
Before: Recorded 2026-08-28 as restriction, dated 2026-08-28
After: restriction, dated 2026-05-13 from the programme page ("As of May 13, 2026")
corrected effective 2026-09-26 medium impact
Data correction - DigitalOcean did not cut Basic Droplet prices in January 2026; its page listed the $4.00 Droplet in 2025 as well. Functions' free allowance is 90,000 GiB-seconds a month, not 25,000. Source ↗
Before: Recorded 2026-03-31 as: Basic Droplets down from $5/mo to $4/mo in January 2026, and Functions' free tier increased to 25,000 GiB-seconds/mo
After: Basic Droplets from $4.00/mo, as in the page's 2025 captures. "Use 90,000 GiB-seconds per month for free with DigitalOcean Functions."
increased discovered 2026-09-19 · effective date unknown medium impact
Retracted — this record was our error (2026-09-26). The page does mention a $5 free credit. Details are limited. App Platform is free for 3 static sites. Functions are free up to 90,000 GiB-seconds/month. Spaces pricing is $5/month for 250 GB + 1 TB transfer. Retracted 2026-09-26: DigitalOcean's Functions allowance did not grow. Its Functions pricing page stated "90,000 GiB-seconds of compute free per month per account" in September 2025 as well. The 25,000 in this record's before-state was our own error, corrected 2026-09-26. Source ↗
Before: $200 credit for 60 days for new accounts. 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: 25,000 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
After: DigitalOcean Functions offers 90,000 GiB-seconds per month for free.
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 ↗
Before: Credits came as a fixed amount each month over the 1-year programme, with a monthly credit limit of unstated amount, and could not be used on GPU Droplets or H100 GPU products (Internet Archive capture of 2026-04-11)
After: Credits cannot be used on GPU Droplets, NVIDIA H100 GPU Kubernetes, Bare Metal GPUs, Dedicated Inference, Serverless Inference, third-party AI models hosted outside DigitalOcean, Paperspace Machines or Cloudways services; participants generally have a $10,000 monthly limit
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 ↗
Before: $200 credit for 60 days for new accounts
After: $5 signup credit, applied automatically and expiring 90 days after signup
corrected effective 2026-03-21 medium impact
Managed databases are not part of the free tier. Pricing starts at $15/month. Previous listing incorrectly included '1 basic cluster' as a free tier benefit Source ↗
Before: Listed as: Free static sites (up to 3), functions (90K GiB-seconds/mo), and managed databases (1 basic cluster)
After: Free static sites (up to 3) and functions (90K GiB-seconds/mo). Managed databases start at $15/mo, not free
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 ↗
Before: Hourly billing
After: Per-second billing (with a minimum charge of 60 seconds or $0.01, whichever is higher) for Droplets
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 ↗
Before: Standard Hatch startup credits program
After: Up to $100K compute credits (12 months, excludes GPU). Separate GPU benefit: discounted H100 at ~$1.90/hr (vs $3.39 standard) plus up to 3 months free GPU access

View all 476 pricing changes across all vendors →

Recommended Migration Targets

These alternatives were identified from DigitalOcean’s pricing changes as recommended replacements.

Neon Free Supabase Free PlanetScale Retired AWS Activate Portfolio Hetzner Paid
Recompute today's order yourself. The order above is a permutation seeded only on the UTC date and the query key — no vendor name, slug, id or offer field is an input. The list above is every one of the 5 entries in that order, not a prefix of it. The algorithm is published, so anyone can reproduce this page's order without asking us.
date
2026-09-30
query_key
curated-alternatives:DigitalOcean
seed
6c5e95e274b0a7eecf27d802b5d4faa440e1cbb749ab71c49152ea98002006d9
tie_count
2

Comparisons

DigitalOcean vs Heroku for Startups Program DigitalOcean vs Startup with IBM DigitalOcean vs Google Compute Engine

Alternatives Guides Featuring DigitalOcean

Hetzner Alternatives After April 2026 Price Increase Heroku Alternatives Startup Credits Comparison 2026 DigitalOcean Free Tier Complete Guide 2026

Featured in Monthly Reports

September 2026 Report May 2026 Report April 2026 Report March 2026 Report January 2026 Report January 2025 Report

Referral Program

You Earn
$25 credit
They Get
No credit stated on the referral page
View program details →

Watch DigitalOcean for Pricing Changes

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Related Guides

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Query via MCP

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{ "tool": "search_deals", "arguments": { "query": "DigitalOcean", "limit": 5 } }

Frequently Asked Questions

Is DigitalOcean free?
Yes, DigitalOcean offers a free tier: Credits. 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 vCP...
What is DigitalOcean's free tier?
DigitalOcean's free tier is called "Credits". 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
Is DigitalOcean's free tier reliable?
DigitalOcean's free tier requires caution because of one specific recorded change, on 2026-04-07: 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: http://web.archive.org/web/20260407173809/https://www.digitalocean.com/pricing
Is DigitalOcean's free tier good for production?
DigitalOcean's free tier is usable for prototyping and development, but we rate it caution because of one recorded limit reduction, on 2026-04-07. Consider alternatives with more stable pricing for critical services.
What changed in DigitalOcean's pricing?
DigitalOcean has had 4 recorded pricing changes. Most recently: 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: https://www.digitalocean.com/startups (2026-05-13).
When will I outgrow DigitalOcean's free tier?
When your usage exceeds the free tier limits, you'll need to upgrade. When you outgrow the free tier, evaluate paid plans against alternatives — sometimes a competitor's free tier covers what you need.
What category is DigitalOcean in?
DigitalOcean is categorized under Cloud IaaS, Startup Perks on AgentDeals.

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