DigitalOcean
vs
UpCloud
Both sell VPS, managed Kubernetes, databases and GPUs on four continents. DigitalOcean adds an app platform, serverless and AMD GPUs, while UpCloud charges less for VMs and runs them on MaxIOPS storage.
What's good about each
- 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
- Wide range of VPS options at competitive prices
- Good selection of managed services, from databases to object storage to Kubernetes
- Offers a 100% SLA with 50x compensation for service outages
- Based in the EU, may ease GDPR compliance
Price comparison
Closest matching configuration on each side, monthly list price in USD.
| Service | DigitalOcean | UpCloud | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small VM | $6.00 /mo 1 vCPU, 1 GiB RAM (Basic) | $3.50 /mo 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 10 GB storage (Starter) | 42% cheaper on UpCloud |
| Medium VM | $48.00 /mo 4 vCPU, 8 GiB RAM (Basic) | $24.00 /mo 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 40 GB storage (Starter) | 50% cheaper on UpCloud |
| Large VM | $168.00 /mo 8 vCPU, 16 GiB RAM (CPU-Optimized) | $92.00 /mo 8 vCPU, 16 GB RAM (Cloud Native) | 45% cheaper on UpCloud |
| Block storage | $10.00 /mo 100 GB | $25.00 /mo 100 GB (MaxIOPS) | 60% cheaper on DigitalOcean |
| Object storage | $20.00 /mo 1 TB | $20.00 /mo 1 TB | Identical |
| PostgreSQL | $60.90 /mo 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 60 GB storage | $69.00 /mo 2 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 10 GB storage (Standard) | 12% cheaper on DigitalOcean |
| Redis | $15.00 /mo 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM (Valkey) | $8.00 /mo 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM (Valkey) | 47% cheaper on UpCloud |
| Load balancer | $12.00 /mo Regional HTTP, 1 node | Free 1 node, 1,000 sessions (Essentials) | Free on UpCloud |
| Serverless | $34.69 /mo 25M invocations, 512 MB RAM, 150 ms duration | -- Not listed | |
| Egress allowance | 500 GB - 12 TB / mo per instance, pooled | -- Not listed | |
| Egress | $10.00 /TB $0.01 / GB | Free within fair usage policy 1-48 TB per instance, then reduced bandwidth |
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
DigitalOcean offers 10 GPU models, while UpCloud offers 5. Cheapest listed price per GPU per hour; GPUs both providers sell come first.
| GPU | DigitalOcean | UpCloud | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
H100
3 configs · 8 configs
|
$4.41 /GPU/hr On-demand | $1.89 /GPU/hr On-demand · sold out | 57% cheaper on UpCloud |
|
L40S
1 config · 22 configs
|
$1.57 /GPU/hr On-demand | $1.19 /GPU/hr On-demand | 24% cheaper on UpCloud |
|
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 |
|
RTX 6000 Ada
1 config
|
$1.57 /GPU/hr On-demand | -- | DigitalOcean only |
|
B200
8 configs
|
-- | $3.90 /GPU/hr Spot · sold out | UpCloud only |
|
RTX PRO 6000
8 configs
|
-- | $1.41 /GPU/hr Spot | UpCloud only |
|
L4
22 configs
|
-- | $0.68 /GPU/hr Spot · sold out | UpCloud only |
DigitalOcean bills on-demand, spot and reserved (12 months); UpCloud bills on-demand and spot. 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 | DigitalOcean | UpCloud |
|---|---|---|
| SOC 2 | Type II | Data centers only |
| ISO 27001 | Data centers only | Yes |
| HIPAA | Yes | -- |
| GDPR | Yes | Yes |
| PCI DSS | SAQ-A | -- |
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 | DigitalOcean | UpCloud |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2012 | 2011 |
| Headquarters | USA | Finland |
| Locations | 16 | 15 |
| Example customers | Crisp, ScraperAPI, GHost, and CTO.ai | Aiven, Xensam, HackTheBox, LeadDesk |
| Website | digitalocean.com | upcloud.com |
Alternatives to consider
Compare DigitalOcean and UpCloud against other cloud providers.
Our data for DigitalOcean was last updated on Oct. 1, 2026, and for UpCloud on Oct. 2, 2026.