DigitalOcean vs InMotion Hosting

A DigitalOcean Droplet is a Linux-based virtual machine (VM) that runs on top of virtualized hardware. Each Droplet is a new server you can use, either as a standalone server or as part of a larger cloud infrastructure. They are designed to be simple, scalable, and developer-friendly.

A Droplet is DigitalOcean's brand name for a virtual private server (VPS). Essentially, they are the same thing. A VPS is a virtualized server that mimics a dedicated physical server, providing you with your own set of resources and a dedicated operating system.

DigitalOcean Droplets are a form of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). This means you are provided with the virtualized hardware (computing, storage, and networking) and you are responsible for managing the operating system, applications, and data.

You can choose from a variety of popular Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian, Fedora, and CoreOS. You can also use pre-configured 1-Click Apps for LAMP, Docker, WordPress, and more.

By default, each Droplet you create comes with its own public IPv4 address. You can also assign Floating IPs to your Droplets for high availability. For Bundled Plans, a public IPv4 is included at no extra cost. Public IPv4 addresses for Droplets with v5 configurations are billed separately from the v5 configuration and appear as their own line item on your invoice. The introductory line-item price is currently $0.00/hour, but is subject to change in accordance with the DigitalOcean Terms of Ser

All Droplets use high-performance Solid State Drives (SSDs) for storage. This ensures fast disk I/O, which is crucial for the performance of your applications. For additional storage, you can use DigitalOcean Volumes Block Storage.

Each Droplet includes a generous amount of free outbound data transfer. The specific amount depends on the Droplet plan you choose, starting from 500 GiB/month. Inbound bandwidth is always free.

DigitalOcean Droplets are available at a variety of price points. Bundled Plans start from as low as $4 per month, with pricing based on the amount of RAM, CPU, SSD storage, and bandwidth included in your plan. v5 Droplets are priced hourly based on the resources you configure.

Bundled Plan and v5 Droplets are both billed on a per-second basis, with a 60-second minimum. Bundled Plans have a monthly cap, so you'll never pay more than the flat monthly price for that plan. v5 Droplets are billed on actual hours used each month and are not capped at 672 hours. Learn more about v5 Droplet pricing.

DigitalOcean often provides promotional credits for new users, which can be used to try out Droplets and other services for free. Check the DigitalOcean website for the latest offers.

Droplets are incredibly versatile and can be used for a wide range of applications, including:Hosting websites and web applications (e.g., WordPress, Node.js, Python)Development and testing environmentsDatabases (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB)CI/CD pipelinesVPN and proxy serversGame serversMachine Learning and AI applications (with GPU-optimized Droplets)

Yes, Droplets are a popular choice for hosting e-commerce websites. They provide the performance, scalability, and security needed to run online stores of all sizes.

DigitalOcean Droplets are often praised for their simplicity and developer-friendly interface, making them a great choice for individuals and small to medium-sized businesses. AWS EC2 offers a wider range of instance types and services, which can be more suitable for large enterprises with complex requirements. In terms of pricing, DigitalOcean is generally more affordable for comparable resources.

Similar to the comparison with AWS, Google Compute Engine (GCE) is a more enterprise-focused platform with a vast array of services. DigitalOcean Droplets are known for their straightforward pricing and ease of use, which makes them a popular choice for developers and startups.

Creating a Droplet is a quick and easy process. You can create a new Droplet from the DigitalOcean control panel in just a few clicks. Simply choose your operating system, Droplet plan, and datacenter region, and your new server will be up and running in under a minute.

You can connect to your Droplet using SSH (Secure Shell). You will need to use an SSH client and the root password or an SSH key to log in to your server.

DigitalOcean's core Droplet offering is unmanaged, which means you are responsible for managing the server. However, DigitalOcean offers a Managed Kubernetes service for containerized applications, and you can find managed hosting providers that specialize in managing DigitalOcean infrastructure.

DigitalOcean has data centers in multiple locations around the world, including San Francisco, Richmond, NYC, Kansas City, Atlanta, Toronto, Amsterdam, London, Frankfurt, Bangalore, Singapore, and Sydney. This allows you to choose a datacenter that is closest to your target audience for lower latency.

Yes, you can create a Droplet in the London (UK) datacenter. This is an excellent choice for businesses and developers who need to serve customers in the United Kingdom and Europe.

Yes, DigitalOcean has a datacenter in Bangalore, India. This is ideal for serving the rapidly growing Indian market and the surrounding regions.

v5 Droplets run on 5th Gen AMD EPYC™ processors with up to 30% higher per-core performance vs. prior-generation DigitalOcean Droplets (based on DigitalOcean internal testing). Configure vCPU, memory, and storage independently to match your workload, so you only pay for the resources you need. Bundled Plan Droplets offer fixed vCPU, memory, and storage ratios pre-configured for common workloads, like Basic, CPU-Optimized, or Memory-Optimized. Learn more about Droplet types.

As you configure a v5 Droplet, the Control Panel shows the per-increment price of vCPU, RAM, and boot disk for greater cost transparency. The resources still combine into a single line on your invoice for simplicity. Learn more about v5 Droplet pricing.

We accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, PayPal, Google Pay, and Apple Pay. Apple pay requires a Safari browser. For additional payment options, including wire transfer, purchase orders, and ACH, please contact us. Note that when you add a card, we may send a temporary pre-authorization request to the issuing bank. This pre-authorization charge is immediately released by DigitalOcean but may take a few days to clear from your card depending on the bank.

DigitalOcean billing cycles are monthly. Typically, on the first day of each month we invoice and automatically charge your account's primary payment method for the previous month's usage. In some cases, we might charge if your usage exceeds a threshold. You can also login and self pay the balance at any time.

No. Your card is only charged at the end of the billing cycle or upon exceeding a usage threshold. Pre-authorization charge: When you add a card, we may send a preauthorization request to the issuing bank. This is to verify that the card being added has been issued by the bank and that they will authorize any charges in future. These temporary pre-authorizations are typically $1 but can vary in range and are immediately canceled by us. Depending on your bank, it might take a few days for the cha

Shared Hosting is a web hosting solution where multiple websites share resources on a single server, making it a cost-effective option for businesses with moderate traffic levels. With Shared Hosting, your website resides alongside other sites on the same server infrastructure, while the hosting provider manages all server maintenance, security updates, and hardware management.

Shared hosting is the right fit if you’re launching a new site, running a business site with predictable traffic, or want a fully managed environment without the overhead of a VPS or dedicated server. The Pro plan extends that further for growing agencies, with WHM access, up to 4 isolated cPanel accounts, and a dedicated IP for managing multiple client sites under one plan. If you’re running a high-traffic ecommerce store, a resource-intensive web application, or a site regularly exceeding 500,

The number of websites you can host on your Shared Hosting plan varies depending on the plan you choose. Launch plans include 2 websites, Power plans support up to 10, and Pro plans cover up to 40 websites. The Pro plan also includes WHM access and multi-account isolation, which makes it the practical choice for agencies hosting client sites.

The Pro plan is built for exactly this use case. It supports up to 40 websites across up to 4 isolated cPanel accounts, includes WHM access for account-level management, and comes with a dedicated IP. That account isolation matters: it keeps client sites separated for both security and performance, without requiring a full reseller or VPS setup. For agencies managing a moderate number of client sites, it covers the core operational requirements cleanly.

No. InMotion does not use LiteSpeed, and that’s a deliberate choice. LiteSpeed is a proprietary, licensed web server. Hosting providers that use it are bound by its licensing terms, which limits how they can configure and optimize it for individual customer environments. InMotion runs UltraStack, a proprietary performance configuration built on open source software: NGINX, PHP-FPM, and OPcache. Because every component is open source, our engineering team can modify, tune, and optimize the stack

InMotion operates data centers in Virginia, California, and Amsterdam, Netherlands. During setup, you choose the location closest to your primary audience. Data center proximity can have a noticeable impact on the quality of your web hosting experience including speed, latency, infrastructure, and even SEO.

Three worth knowing before you buy: Shared resources. CPU, RAM, and bandwidth are distributed across accounts on the same server. A traffic spike from a neighboring site can create latency for yours. Shared IP address. Your site shares an IP with others on the server. If a neighboring site gets flagged for spam, that can affect email deliverability for your domain. The Pro plan includes a dedicated IP, which eliminates this. Software restrictions. Shared environments have limits on what applica

InMotion’s shared hosting is backed by a 99.99% credit-backed uptime SLA, 24/7 security monitoring, and infrastructure we own and operate directly. That last part matters: because we manage the hardware and network ourselves, security and performance issues can be addressed at the infrastructure level without routing through third parties.

VPS Hosting is the natural next step. With a VPS, your resources are no longer shared; you get dedicated CPU, RAM, and storage, along with root access and more control over your server environment. InMotion’s migrations team can handle the transfer using a cPanel backup, and 24/7 human support is available throughout the process. All website migration services are available via our migrations team. If you choose to transfer your website, we have a comprehensive support center with extensive step

VPS Hosting, short for Virtual Private Server Hosting, is a versatile solution that balances the benefits of shared hosting and dedicated servers. It involves dividing a physical server into multiple virtual servers, each with its dedicated resources like CPU, RAM, and storage. VPS hosting is ideal for businesses needing more control and resources than shared hosting but without the complexity of a dedicated server. As the stepping stone between Shared Web Hosting and Dedicated Hosting, VPS Host

You or your business needs VPS hosting when you have a large website or online application that requires more resources, control, security, and scalability. Here are some situations where VPS hosting may be necessary: Your website or application receives high traffic: If your website or application receives a large amount of traffic, shared hosting may not be able to handle the load. VPS hosting can provide dedicated resources to ensure that your website or application runs smoothly even during

Managed VPS Hosting is a plan that offers complete hands-off management of your server. The management of the server such as OS security patches, cPanel or CWP, and WHM updates, is overseen by a team of in-house experts. Managed VPS plans also include Premier 24/7 Live Support, Launch Assist, cPanel, and Web Host Manager (WHM). Self-managed VPS has cheaper options, as they do not come with cPanel, nor other graphical user interface (GUI) software for server management, only SSH. These servers ar

InMotion Hosting offers new customers access to High Availability server clusters, delivering exceptional speed and performance at no extra cost. Our cutting-edge NVMe technology provides more than double the link speed of traditional HDD drives, with 3-6x faster data transfer rates between storage devices and hardware components. With InMotion’s VPS infrastructure, businesses can significantly enhance the performance of their website or web application. For small businesses, developers, and des

The number of websites you can run on a VPS depends on the plan you choose and the resources required by each site. A robust VPS web hosting plan can host multiple websites, including those with dynamic content, high traffic, or complex applications. With VPS hosting with cPanel, managing multiple domains is simple, and you can efficiently allocate resources across websites, making it an excellent option for businesses, agencies, or developers.

The traffic your website can handle on a VPS depends on the plan’s allocated resources, such as CPU, RAM, and storage. High-performance VPS hosting is designed to manage more traffic than shared hosting, making it suitable for websites that experience regular spikes in visitors or have consistent high traffic. When you buy VPS hosting from a reliable VPS provider, you’ll get scalable resources that grow with your needs, ensuring your site remains fast and responsive even as traffic increases.

Yes, one of the main advantages of virtual server hosting is the ability to install custom software. With VPS hosting, especially Linux VPS hosting, you have root access to your server, giving you the freedom to install, configure, and run any software you need. This flexibility makes VPS hosting ideal for developers, businesses, and anyone requiring specific software not available on standard hosting plans.

All Managed VPS Hosting plans paired with cPanel or Control Web Panel include free website transfers and server setup through Launch Assist. Launch Assist is a service we offer for our high-end plans to help customers easily transfer or launch your site. A VPS with an added control panel comes with two free hours of dedicated support with a trained SysAdmin who can help migrate or customize your server. Take advantage of Launch Assist for zero-downtime, fully-managed website migrations, and cust

Upgrading and downgrading your VPS hosting plan is simple and easy. If you’ve outgrown or underutilized your current plan, you can easily sign in to your Account Management Panel to upgrade or downgrade your plan to match your current hosting needs. InMotion Hosting is more than just a VPS hosting provider. From WordPress and Shared Hosting to Dedicated Servers, our full suite of solutions is built to support your business at every stage. Flexible billing options make it easy to choose the plan

The choice between cPanel, CWP, or no panel depends on your specific business needs and preferences. If you prefer a more standardized and widely used control panel or if you require specific features that are only available in cPanel, then cPanel may be the better choice for you. If cost is a major consideration, then Control Web Panel (CWP) may be a better option for your business. Keep in mind, using any control panel can make it easier to manage your website and hosting environment, especia

InMotion Hosting offers VPS Hosting within our data center locations in California and Virginia, USA, as well as within a European data center in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Absolutely. Tier 3 support is our highest level of technical support, included with all InMotion Hosting VPS plans with Premier Care. Our Tier 3 team consists of senior system administrators who handle complex server issues like advanced configurations, application deployments, security hardening, and performance optimization. When you contact our Advanced Product Support (APS) team, your issue goes right to the Tier 3 experts who are available 24/7.

A dedicated server is a single-tenant physical server that is assigned to a single person or organization. InMotion Hosting dedicated servers have enterprise-grade hardware and software, high-bandwidth, and increased physical resources that outperform other web hosting products. All of InMotion Hosting dedicated web servers come with higher RAM and faster CPUs compared to our Virtual Private Servers or Shared Hosting servers. Dedicated Server grade CPUs have more features and have higher frequen

A dedicated server is a resource-rich machine that organizations with heavy traffic or multiple websites typically use. The dedicated server ensures end users have the best visit to your or your client’s website. With hyperfast load times, no downtime, and plenty of storage and memory available, your visitors enjoy fast website speeds. As your business grows, you also want to ensure your website has everything it needs to flourish, including memory, storage, and resources. Dedicated server hosti

InMotion Hosting has two types of dedicated hosting services, managed InMotion Hosting with Premier Care and unmanaged Bare Metal. With a Premier Care dedicated server plan, you have all the resources of the machine managed by a team of in-house technical professionals. In contrast, an unmanaged bare metal server is ideal for advanced users such as system administrators, web developers, and IT administrators. Bare metal server users control their entire server via command line code and are respo

InMotion Hosting provides Dedicated Servers in our data center facilities situated in California and Virginia within the United States, along with a European data center located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Yes, InMotion Hosting offers Managed Dedicated Server plans with Premier Care. These plans come with a high level of support and management, meaning we handle many operational responsibilities so you can focus on your business rather than server maintenance. Our managed dedicated servers with Premier Care include: Automated OS updates and patching Real-time network monitoring DDoS protection (via Corero) built in 24/7 human support Hardware-level maintenance and replacement Free migration setup

We make migration as smooth as possible. Here’s how the process works (and what you’ll need to plan): Choose a dedicated server plan Pick a configuration that meets or exceeds the requirements of your current website/application (CPU, memory, disk, bandwidth). Backup your website/data On your current host, take fresh backups of files, databases, email/router settings, and any configuration files. Transfer files & databases Import your files and databases into the new server (e.g. via cPanel/

Security is a major area we invest in. Here’s what you get when you host a dedicated server with InMotion Hosting: Corero-based DDoS protection All managed dedicated servers include real-time DDoS mitigation through Corero systems. We detect and block malicious traffic to protect server availability. Network monitoring & automated mitigation Our infrastructure is monitored 24/7. If an attack is detected, mitigation strategies are enacted immediately (e.g. traffic filtering, reroutes). Firewall

Tier 3 support is our highest level of technical support, included with all InMotion Hosting Dedicated Server plans with Premier Care. Our Tier 3 team consists of senior system administrators who handle complex server issues like kernel optimizations, security hardening, and complex application troubleshooting. When you contact our Advanced Product Support (APS) team, your issue goes right to the Tier 3 experts. Our Tier 3 specialists are available 24/7.