DigitalOcean

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.

Yes, each Droplet you create comes with its own public IPv4 address. You can also assign Floating IPs to your Droplets for high availability.

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, starting from as low as $4 per month. Pricing is based on the amount of RAM, CPU, SSD storage, and bandwidth included in your plan.

Droplets are billed on a per-second basis, with 60-second minimum and monthly cap. This means you only pay for what you use, and you'll never pay more than the monthly price for a Droplet.

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 datacenters in multiple locations around the world, including New York, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Singapore, London, Frankfurt, Toronto, Bangalore and Richmond. 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.

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

Check out the docs to learn how to destroy Droplets, Kubernetes clusters, Managed Databases clusters (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Caching), Spaces, Volumes , Firewalls , and Load Balancers.

Yes, you can set up billing alerts and we will email you if the monthly spending exceeds an amount you specify.