Digital Ocean pricing and plans guide for the UK (2025)

When it comes to cloud hosting providers, DigitalOcean is a popular choice among solo developers, startups, and small businesses. If you're looking to scale your cloud infrastructure in 2025, knowing the DigitalOcean pricing structure and what you're getting with each tier is the only way to seamlessly integrate it into your projects. We've compiled a comprehensive guide to the available plans to help businesses in the UK find the perfect fit.

Chances are, you're probably already managing several SaaS subscriptions, or at least planning to, with DigitalOcean being one of them. In such cases, international transactions can stack up unnecessary fees in no time, just because GBP needs to be converted. However, you can use the Wise Business multi-currency card to spend in 40+ currencies with no hidden markups, keeping every expense as transparent as possible.

💡 Learn more about Wise Business

DigitalOcean pricing overview

DigitalOcean launched back in 2012¹ with one simple product – the Droplet, an easy-to-use virtual tool. Over the years, the product range has expanded significantly. Today, DigitalOcean offers a wide range of computing, storage, AI, and networking solutions primarily designed for small businesses and startups, including the following:

• Droplets – Linux-based virtual machines (VMs)²
• Kubernetes – effective scaling solution
• Cloudways – cloud hosting management
• Gradient – building and scaling AI models
• App platform – building and deploying apps

With a product range so varied, it's no surprise that the DigitalOcean pricing structure is just as diverse. Some products are billed each month, while other solutions, such as Gradient GPU Droplets, are priced based on usage. It's a flexible pricing model, and you'll probably be using a mix of products, so the exact costs will depend on the usage and requirements of a particular business. Here are all the options available right now:

DigitalOcean Droplet Pricing

As we've just discussed, DigitalOcean offers a wide range of solutions. We're not going to cover each and every option in detail, but we'll take a closer look at some of the core products, kicking it off with the one that started it all – the Droplet.

The Droplet has a starting price of $4 per month. It has many options, with different memory, vCPU, transfer, and SSD, which affects the final cost³. There are also Gradient GPU Droplets, designed for AI/ML, which start at $1.49 per GPU per hour for multi-month contractual agreements. The on-demand pricing for this subscription plan starts at $0.76/GPU/hour⁴.

DigitalOcean Droplet Features

Droplets are highly efficient virtual machines that can deploy in mere seconds. They are scalable depending on the demand, and you can run them on any workload, from low-traffic websites to critical apps. However, when it comes to AI/ML workloads, DigitalOcean has developed a customised solution, the Gradient GPU Droplet. This virtual machine can process large data sets, as well as serve many additional use cases, including high-performance computing (HPC).

Is DigitalOcean Droplet right for my business?

Droplets are a great fit for startups, developers, and small businesses that need straightforward, scalable infrastructure without the need for larger cloud platforms. This solution works well with low-traffic websites, lightweight apps, and staging environments. For teams working on AI, machine learning, or HPC, the Gradient GPU Droplets are ideal for their data-heavy workloads.

DigitalOcean Kubernetes Pricing

Just like with Droplets, there are too many options to count when it comes to DigitalOcean Kubernetes. The basic package starts at $12 a month per node (variable workload), but there are other available solutions, including those optimised for CPU, memory, storage, and so on⁵. Here's an overview of the pricing structure:

DigitalOcean Kubernetes Features

Kubernetes allows you to deploy, scale, and manage containerised workloads. With the Basic option, you can use simple Kubernetes built for scale with a free control plane, bandwidth allowance, and more. This entry-level tier provides everything most teams need, while advanced users who handle more complex workloads can get additional features, such as autoscaling and GPU support.

Is DigitalOcean Kubernetes right for my business?

DigitalOcean Kubernetes are a great fit for startups and growing teams that are building containerised apps, need to scale quickly, or want to automate updates and deployments. If you need a developer-friendly platform with built-in support, and you'd rather skip the traditional route of cloud hosting, Kubernetes can be the right solution.

DigitalOcean Gradient Platform Pricing

We've touched upon a couple of solutions designed for workflows that heavily rely on AI, but DigitalOcean also offers a completely tailored tier for such requirements. It's called Gradient Platform, and as with other products, here you're also met with numerous options. The fee is paid based on a rate per million tokens, and it depends on the integrated AI model⁶. Here's a brief overview:

DigitalOcean Gradient Platform Features

With the Gradient Platform, you can seamlessly integrate AI into your applications, and there's plenty of room for flexible customisation. You can create custom AI agents and integrate Large Language Models (LLMs). Above all, this supported platform offers a straightforward way to scale and deploy.

Is DigitalOcean Gradient Platform right for my business?

If you're looking for a way to efficiently integrate AI into your workflow, the Gradient Platform offers a great solution in more ways than one. For those looking for a virtualised environment to help them scale, the already mentioned GPU Droplets are the right option. If it's a containerised environment that requires more flexibility, start with GPU for Kubernetes. For more complex, multi-node deployments, DigitalOcean offers Bare Metal, which can handle even the most demanding projects⁷.

How much do DigitalOcean add-ons cost?

We've just scratched the surface when it comes to the possibilities DigitalOcean offers. For example, if you need scalable object storage, you should look into DigitalOcean Spaces pricing. Those who are building apps can also benefit from a designated tier, and like with other plans, the DigitalOcean App Platform pricing is pretty reasonable.

The options are endless, and it's no different when it comes to the add-ons you can use⁸. Here are just some of the supported add-ons, along with their associated costs:

• Plesk – $16 per month
• SnapShooter – $19 per month plus usage
• JetBackup – $9 per month
• Better Uptime – $30 per month
• WP Guardian – $5 per month for each website

What is the pricing currency?

DigitalOcean payments can only be made in USD with standard methods like Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Apple Pay, and others. You can also do bank transfers, but for this, you will need to get in touch with the sales team directly. If you want to know the cost of your payments in GBP, you can use the Wise currency converter to get the most accurate rates every time.

How to save on your DigitalOcean bill next month

With so many different options and flexible pricing in all tiers, you've also got the chance to mix and match your package depending on your requirements, and save something on the side each month. To make sure you're getting the most out of the service, do plenty of research when it comes to the solutions you'd like to integrate, whether it's a simple Droplet or comprehensive DigitalOcean VPS pricing for a private server.

Startups and small businesses should start with a Droplet size that meets their requirements, and scale up only when there's a real need for more capacity. You should also regularly audit your teams' usage to see if you're paying for some features that aren't actually valuable for the workflow. For example, if your projects don't involve machine learning, you probably don't need GPU-enabled Droplets, which are more expensive.

Also, when you're paying your fees in USD from the UK, your bank or card issuer can also add conversion fees and other charges tied to the exchange rate. Luckily, there's a smart solution to bypass this. With a Wise Business account and multi-currency card, you can handle payments in 150+ countries, all without these unnecessary fees.

Get started with Wise Business 🚀

DigitalOcean vs. Vultr - price comparison

DigitalOcean and Vultr offer similar cloud tools, including virtual CPUs, GPUs, Kubernetes, and storage, and the pricing model is just as complex. Let's take regular CPUs, for example. With Vulture, they start at a monthly payment of $2.50⁹, whereas DigitalOcean charges $4 per month. This doesn't mean that Vultr is the overall cheaper solution. The price difference fluctuates across the wide range of available tiers. Guided by your specific requirements, compare the two, and you'll surely find the one that fits your needs and budget the best.

FAQ - DigitalOcean Pricing

Does DigitalOcean have a free plan?

While there are some DigitalOcean plans that start at $0, chances are your operations will need to upgrade the features sooner or later. However, when you open an account, you automatically get $200 of credit to use for the first 60 days.

Does DigitalOcean have an API?

Yes, DigitalOcean offers four different APIs with which you can programmatically interact and manage various components of the platform.

How much does DigitalOcean cost for a small business?

Obviously, the monthly fee depends on the usage and the required resources. That being said, the typical pricing range would be somewhere between $1,000 and $22,000 per year for most small businesses.

Choose the right DigitalOcean plan and optimise your payments with Wise

Few can compete with the range of products and services DigitalOcean offers. For most businesses, this provider will find its way into the workflow in more ways than one. Whether you're planning to get just a couple of Droplets or looking at the DigitalOcean storage pricing, when you've got what you need, it will improve your workflow tenfold.

And once the bills start rolling in, make sure to dodge those unnecessary exchange rate fees. With Wise Business, you'll always be paying the mid-market exchange rate while also getting 0.5% cashback. Handling payments across borders has never been quite as rewarding.

Get started with Wise Business 🚀

Sources used in this article:

Sources last checked 15/08/2025