Akamai Cloud
vs
DigitalOcean
Both sell VPS with managed databases, Kubernetes and object storage at similar prices. Akamai Cloud charges less for egress and reaches more countries, while DigitalOcean adds an app platform and datacenter GPUs.
What's good about each
- Wide range of VPS configurations including including GPU instances
- Managed PostgreSQL, MySQL, Kubernetes, and Object Storage
- Competitive pricing with generous per-instance egress allowances
- 30+ data center locations across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and South America
- Monthly price caps on bundled Droplet plans
- Nvidia and AMD GPU Droplets, plus bare metal
- Outbound traffic allowance shared across the whole account
- Large tutorial library and 1-click app marketplace
Price comparison
Closest matching configuration on each side, monthly list price in USD.
| Service | Akamai Cloud | DigitalOcean | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small VM | $5.00 /mo 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM (Shared) | $6.00 /mo 1 vCPU, 1 GiB RAM (Basic) | 17% cheaper on Akamai Cloud |
| Medium VM | $48.00 /mo 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM (Shared) | $48.00 /mo 4 vCPU, 8 GiB RAM (Basic) | Identical |
| Large VM | $144.00 /mo 8 vCPU, 16 GB RAM (Dedicated 16GB) | $168.00 /mo 8 vCPU, 16 GiB RAM (CPU-Optimized) | 14% cheaper on Akamai Cloud |
| Block storage | $10.00 /mo 100 GB | $10.00 /mo 100 GB | Identical |
| Object storage | $20.00 /mo 1 TB | $20.00 /mo 1 TB | Identical |
| PostgreSQL | $63.00 /mo 2 CPU, 4 GB RAM, 58 GB storage (Shared, 1 node) | $60.90 /mo 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 60 GB storage | Within 5% |
| Redis | -- Not listed | $15.00 /mo 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM (Valkey) | |
| Load balancer | $10.00 /mo | $12.00 /mo Regional HTTP, 1 node | 17% cheaper on Akamai Cloud |
| Serverless | -- Not listed | $34.69 /mo 25M invocations, 512 MB RAM, 150 ms duration | |
| Egress allowance | 1-20 TB / mo per instance | 500 GB - 12 TB / mo per instance, pooled | |
| Egress | $5.00 /TB $0.005 / GB | $10.00 /TB $0.01 / GB | 50% cheaper on Akamai Cloud |
Heads up: Figures take each provider's closest plan to a common setup, and vary by region and usage. Hover a service for the reference configuration. Verify before provisioning. More on how we price.
GPUs
Akamai Cloud offers 3 GPU models, while DigitalOcean offers 10. Cheapest listed price per GPU per hour; GPUs both providers sell come first.
| GPU | Akamai Cloud | DigitalOcean | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
RTX 4000 Ada
9 configs · 1 config
|
$0.52 /GPU/hr On-demand | $0.76 /GPU/hr On-demand | 32% cheaper on Akamai Cloud |
|
RTX PRO 6000
4 configs
|
$3.00 /GPU/hr On-demand | -- | Akamai Cloud only |
|
Quadro RTX 6000
4 configs
|
$1.50 /GPU/hr On-demand | -- | Akamai Cloud only |
|
H100
3 configs
|
-- | $3.26 /GPU/hr Reserved (12 mo) | DigitalOcean only |
|
B300
2 configs
|
-- | $7.94 /GPU/hr Reserved (12 mo) | DigitalOcean only |
|
H200
3 configs
|
-- | $3.40 /GPU/hr Reserved (12 mo) | DigitalOcean only |
MI355X
1 config
|
-- | $2.97 /GPU/hr Spot | DigitalOcean only |
|
MI300X
3 configs
|
-- | $1.91 /GPU/hr Reserved (12 mo) | DigitalOcean only |
|
L40S
1 config
|
-- | $1.57 /GPU/hr On-demand | DigitalOcean only |
|
RTX 6000 Ada
1 config
|
-- | $1.57 /GPU/hr On-demand | DigitalOcean only |
Akamai Cloud bills on-demand; DigitalOcean bills on-demand, spot and reserved (12 months). The line under each price names the billing type shown.
Services
Managed services each provider offers.
Compliance
Frameworks each provider states on its own site, each linked to its source.
| Framework | Akamai Cloud | DigitalOcean |
|---|---|---|
| SOC 2 | Yes | Type II |
| ISO 27001 | Yes | Data centers only |
| HIPAA | Yes | Yes |
| GDPR | Yes | Yes |
| PCI DSS | Yes | SAQ-A |
| FedRAMP | Yes | -- |
Heads up: Each entry links to the provider's own statement. An attestation can cover one tier, one region or the platform alone rather than every service. Verify the scope before you rely on it. A dash means we found nothing to link to, not that the provider lacks it.
Company details
| Fact | Akamai Cloud | DigitalOcean |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2003 | 2012 |
| Headquarters | USA | USA |
| Locations | 31 | 16 |
| Example customers | Panasonic, Best Buy, Wayfair and Giphy | Crisp, ScraperAPI, GHost, and CTO.ai |
| Website | www.akamai.com | digitalocean.com |
Alternatives to consider
Compare Akamai Cloud and DigitalOcean against other cloud providers.
Our data for Akamai Cloud was last updated on Oct. 1, 2026, and for DigitalOcean on Sept. 30, 2026.