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Paid plans start at $4/mo. There's also a free plan.
DigitalOcean lists free allowances for select services, not a free plan covering the full cloud. Functions includes 90,000 GiB-seconds per month, and Container Registry includes one repository with 500 MiB of storage. Droplets start at $4 per month. From there, costs depend on compute size, requests or tokens, storage, backups and network use. The vendor lists monthly billing, with usage typically invoiced on the first day of the following month.
01Every plan, line by line
| Plan | Billed annually | Billed monthly | Built for |
|---|---|---|---|
| DigitalOcean Harness Runtime | — | $0.05 | AI coding agent workloads |
| Action Gateway | — | $0.10 | Teams connecting agents to tools |
| Inference | — | $0.05 | Teams using hosted AI models |
| GPU Droplets | — | $1.91 | AI training and inference workloads |
| Additional GPU Options | — | Quote | Teams needing other GPU compute |
| Evaluations | — | Quote | Teams evaluating LLM outputs |
| App Platform | — | $0 | Teams deploying managed apps |
| Droplets | — | $4 | Teams needing virtual machines |
| Kubernetes | — | $12 | Teams running managed Kubernetes |
| Functions | — | $0 | Teams running serverless apps |
| Cloudways Managed Hosting | — | $11 | WordPress and PHP businesses |
| Backups | — | Quote | Teams protecting Droplet data |
| Databases | — | $15 | Teams needing managed databases |
| Spaces | — | $5 | Teams needing object storage |
| Network File Storage | — | $0.15 | Teams sharing files across Droplets |
| Volumes | — | $10 | Teams needing block storage |
| Container Registry | — | $0 | Teams storing private container images |
| Load Balancers | — | $12 | Teams distributing application traffic |
| Support Plans | — | $0 | Teams testing ideas and small apps |
| Virtual Private Cloud | — | $0 | Teams isolating cloud network traffic |
| Uptime | — | $0 | Teams monitoring endpoints |
| Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) | — | $0 | Teams monitoring cloud security posture |
Add-ons and overages
- Action Gateway code execution and paid tools are billed separately; tool search is included.
- GPU Droplets: $0.76/GPU/hour on demand; $1.91/GPU/hour is based on a multi-month commitment.
- Backups: weekly at 20% or daily at 30% of Droplet cost; usage-based storage from $0.01/GiB/month.
- Network File Storage high-performance tier: $0.30/GiB/month.
- Public internet egress overage: $0.01/GiB; inter-datacenter VPC peering: $0.01/GiB.
- VPC NAT Gateway: $40/node, including 100 GiB; overage is $0.01/GiB.
- Marketplace 1-Click Apps incur the cost of the underlying compute.
02What the plan grid doesn't tell you
Outbound transfer
Droplets include free outbound transfer starting at 500 GiB per month; public internet egress overage is $0.01 per GiB.
Backup charges
Weekly backups cost 20% of Droplet cost and daily backups 30%; usage-based backup storage starts at $0.01 per GiB per month.
GPU commitment pricing
GPU Droplets list $0.76 per GPU-hour on demand; $1.91 per GPU-hour is based on a multi-month commitment.
Network and tool extras
Inter-datacenter VPC peering costs $0.01 per GiB. Action Gateway code execution and paid tools are billed separately; tool search is included.
03Which plan should you buy?
| If you are… | Get | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Side project | Droplets | A basic Droplet starts at $4 per month, with per-second billing and a 60-second minimum or $0.01, whichever is higher. |
| AI application team | Inference | Hosted model usage is billed per million tokens, starting at $0.05, with one API for accessing models. |
| Production app team | Kubernetes | Managed Kubernetes starts at $12 per month and includes a free control plane and free bandwidth allowance. |
04Is DigitalOcean worth the money?
DigitalOcean can be cost-effective for a small application when a low-cost Droplet or a service’s free allowance covers the workload. For production, model token use, GPU hours, backups and outbound transfer can change the bill; estimate each separately rather than treating the starting price as a total. The free allowances suit limited usage, not an entire production stack. Self-hosting open-source components on Droplets can reduce dependence on managed services, but it transfers operations and recovery work to your team.
DigitalOcean pricing FAQ
How does DigitalOcean billing work?
DigitalOcean lists monthly billing, and usage is typically invoiced on the first day of each month for the prior month. Individual services use different units, including per-second compute, per-million-token inference, per-call tool access and per-GiB storage.
Is there a free DigitalOcean plan?
The pricing page lists free allowances for select services, including Functions, Container Registry, VPC and email support. It does not describe a free plan that covers the full cloud. A Droplet starts at $4 per month.
What is the cheapest DigitalOcean Droplet?
The pricing information lists Droplets starting at $4 per month. Droplets use per-second billing, with a 60-second minimum or $0.01, whichever is higher. Check the current Droplet options and add network or backup costs to your estimate.
How much does DigitalOcean Inference cost?
Inference is listed at $0.05 per million tokens. Your total depends on token usage. GPU Droplets are priced separately: the listed on-demand rate is $0.76 per GPU-hour, while $1.91 per GPU-hour is based on a multi-month commitment.