AWS vs DigitalOcean price comparison
Amazon Web Services vs DigitalOcean — on-demand VM list prices, side by side.
Comparing Amazon Web Services against DigitalOcean on equivalent workload tiers. At the entry level, Amazon Web Services starts cheaper at $0.0042/hour, while the more expensive side trades higher list price for broader catalogue and managed-service depth. At the common 2 vCPU / 4-8 GB tier, Amazon Web Services offers t4g.medium at $24.53/month versus DigitalOcean's s-2vcpu-4gb at $24.00/month. DigitalOcean wins on raw monthly price. Stepping up to 4 vCPU / 8-16 GB, Amazon Web Services's t4g.xlarge lists at $98.11/month against DigitalOcean's s-4vcpu-8gb at $48.00/month. DigitalOcean stays cheaper at this tier as well. Choose Amazon Web Services when ecosystem depth, regional breadth, or specific managed services matter; choose DigitalOcean when the priority is raw price/performance for steady-state workloads. Verify region availability and any reserved-capacity discounts before committing.
For entry-tier compute, AWS has the cheaper starting price — about 1.4x cheaper per hour than DigitalOcean at the smallest tier. At a typical 2 vCPU / 4-8 GB server, DigitalOcean is roughly 2% cheaper per month.
Amazon Web Services + DigitalOcean
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AWS vs DigitalOcean pricing — frequently asked
Is AWS cheaper than DigitalOcean?
On list price, AWS has the cheaper entry-tier instance in this dataset, roughly 1.4x cheaper per hour than DigitalOcean at the smallest tier. For steady-state workloads the gap usually widens once you factor in egress and committed-use discounts.
How much does a 2 vCPU server cost on AWS vs DigitalOcean?
At a typical 2 vCPU / 4-8 GB tier, AWS's t4g.medium lists at $24.53/month versus DigitalOcean's s-2vcpu-4gb at $24.00/month — about 2% less on the DigitalOcean side.
Which should I choose between AWS and DigitalOcean?
Pick AWS or DigitalOcean based on workload, not just sticker price: hyperscalers (AWS, GCP, Azure) win on global regions, managed services, and compliance, while lean providers (Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode) win on flat, predictable price/performance for steady-state compute. Always confirm region availability, egress allowance, and reserved-capacity discounts before committing.
Are these AWS and DigitalOcean prices up to date?
These are USD on-demand list prices captured in our latest snapshot and refreshed regularly. Promotional credits, spot/preemptible pricing, and committed-use discounts are not included, so always verify the live rate on the provider's own pricing page before purchase.