Softwr

Cloud · head to head

Azure Functions vs DigitalOcean

Azure Functions logo

Azure Functions

Cloud

Event-driven serverless compute on Azure

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
DigitalOcean logo

DigitalOcean

Cloud

The developer cloud

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Azure Functions consumption plan free grant is capped at 1 million executions and 400,000 GB-seconds of resource consumption per month per subscription, billed per GB-second beyond that; DigitalOcean data transfer overage charged at $0.01 per GiB beyond included allowances

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Azure Functions and DigitalOcean actually diverge.

Attributes where Azure Functions and DigitalOcean differ
AttributeAzure FunctionsDigitalOcean
PlatformsWebLinux, Cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure backend)
FoundedUnknown2011

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (usage-based), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cloud).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Azure Functions

Nothing recorded that DigitalOcean does not also cover.

Only in DigitalOcean

  • Droplets (VPS)
  • Managed Kubernetes
  • App Platform
  • Managed Databases
  • Spaces (Object Storage)
  • Floating IPs
  • Load Balancers
  • Firewalls

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Azure Functions

  • Event-driven computingnot DigitalOcean
  • Serverless application backendnot DigitalOcean
  • Scalable API endpointsnot DigitalOcean

DigitalOcean

  • Developers seeking affordable VPS starting at $4/month for small applicationsnot Azure Functions
  • Teams deploying containerised workloads with Kubernetes starting at $12/month cluster costnot Azure Functions
  • Data scientists and ML engineers requiring NVIDIA GPU access at $1.91/GPU/hour (committed)not Azure Functions

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Azure Functions

  • Consumption plan free grant is capped at 1 million executions and 400,000 GB-seconds of resource consumption per month per subscription, billed per GB-second beyond that
  • The newer Flex Consumption plan's free grant is smaller still, at 250,000 executions and 100,000 GB-seconds per month
  • Premium plan avoids per-execution charges but bills continuously for allocated core seconds and memory regardless of invocation volume
  • Memory is rounded up to the nearest 128 MB and execution time to the nearest 1 ms for billing, so small overages round upward

DigitalOcean

  • Data transfer overage charged at $0.01 per GiB beyond included allowances
  • Free tier includes only 3 static sites; additional static sites require paid upgrade
  • Container registry free tier capped at 500 MiB storage; exceeding requires paid tier
  • Functions free tier allows 90,000 GiB-seconds monthly; overages billed on usage basis
  • GPU Droplets require minimum monthly commitment for lower hourly rates; on-demand significantly more expensive

Pricing, plan by plan

Azure Functions

Free
  • Consumption Plan$null/month
    • 1 million requests free monthly
    • 400,000 GB-seconds free monthly
    • Billed per second and executions
  • Flex Consumption Plan$null/month
    • 250,000 executions free monthly
    • 100,000 GB-seconds free monthly
    • Event-driven scaling
  • Premium Plan$null/month
    • No execution charges
    • At least one instance required
    • Includes automatic scaling and VNET access

DigitalOcean

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the DigitalOcean review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Azure Functions if

  • You want to start without paying.
Azure Functions review

Choose DigitalOcean if

  • You need droplets (vps).
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure backend).
  • You also want managed kubernetes.
DigitalOcean review

Questions people ask

Is Azure Functions or DigitalOcean better?
Neither clearly leads. Azure Functions starts at Free and DigitalOcean at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Azure Functions or DigitalOcean?
Azure Functions starts at Free and DigitalOcean at Free.
Does Azure Functions or DigitalOcean run on more platforms?
Azure Functions runs on Web. DigitalOcean runs on Linux, Cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure backend).
Can I use Azure Functions for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Azure Functions best used for?
Azure Functions is most often used for event-driven computing, serverless application backend, scalable api endpoints. Of those, event-driven computing and serverless application backend are not what DigitalOcean is typically brought in for.
What can Azure Functions do that DigitalOcean cannot?
DigitalOcean covers Droplets (VPS), Managed Kubernetes, App Platform, Managed Databases.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Azure Functions: Does Azure Functions have a free tier?

Yes, Azure Functions includes a monthly free grant of 1 million requests and 400,000 GB-seconds on the Consumption Plan, or 250,000 executions and 100,000 GB-seconds on Flex Consumption.

Source
DigitalOcean: How much does a DigitalOcean Droplet cost?

The cheapest Basic Droplet is $4.00 per month, or $0.00595 per hour, and includes 1 vCPU, 512 MiB of memory, 10 GiB of SSD and 500 GiB of transfer. The next step up is $6.00 per month with 1 GiB of memory, 25 GiB of SSD and 1,000 GiB of transfer.

Source
Azure Functions: What is Azure Functions' pricing model?

Azure Functions uses usage-based pricing. Consumption plans charge per second of resource consumption and per execution, measured in gigabyte-seconds and rounded to the nearest 128 MB.

Source
DigitalOcean: How is DigitalOcean billed?

Droplets are billed hourly as well as monthly, and DigitalOcean states that Bundled Plan and v5 Droplets are billed on a per second basis with a 60 second minimum charge.

Source
Azure Functions: What is the minimum execution time for Azure Functions?

The minimum execution time is 100 milliseconds on Consumption plans. Premium plans charge based on core seconds and allocated memory.

Source
DigitalOcean: What does the cheapest DigitalOcean plan include?

At $4.00 per month you get a single vCPU, 512 MiB of memory, 10 GiB of SSD storage and 500 GiB of outbound transfer. That is the smallest Basic Droplet DigitalOcean sells.

Source
Share

Related pages

More on Azure Functions

More on DigitalOcean

Keep looking

Other head to heads