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Cloud · head to head

DigitalOcean vs Northflank

DigitalOcean logo

DigitalOcean

Cloud

The developer cloud

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Northflank logo

Northflank

Cloud

The runtime platform for AI-native companies

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: DigitalOcean data transfer overage charged at $0.01 per GiB beyond included allowances; Northflank pricing complexity with multiple rate dimensions
  • They diverge on capability: DigitalOcean covers Droplets (VPS), Northflank covers Application deployments.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which DigitalOcean and Northflank actually diverge.

Attributes where DigitalOcean and Northflank differ
AttributeDigitalOceanNorthflank
Pricing modelusage-basedUnknown
PlatformsLinux, Cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure backend)AWS, GCP, Azure, On-premises
Founded2011Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), 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 DigitalOcean

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

Only in Northflank

  • Application deployments
  • GPU support
  • Preview environments
  • Database management
  • Multi-cloud support
  • GitOps integration

What people use each for

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

DigitalOcean

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

Northflank

  • Deploying AI inference models with GPU accelerationnot DigitalOcean
  • Running training workloads on distributed GPUsnot DigitalOcean
  • Building microservices with multi-cloud reliabilitynot DigitalOcean

Where each one falls short

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

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

Northflank

  • Pricing complexity with multiple rate dimensions
  • GPU costs can be expensive for large-scale deployments
  • Learning curve for Kubernetes concepts

Pricing, plan by plan

DigitalOcean

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the DigitalOcean review.

Northflank

Free
  • Sandbox (Free)Free
    • Always-on compute with no sleeping
    • 2 free services
    • 1 free database
  • Pay-as-you-go$undefined/usage
    • CPU: $0.01667 per vCPU per hour
    • Memory: $0.00833 per GB per hour
    • Network egress: $0.06 per GB
  • Enterprise$undefined/custom
    • Custom pricing with volume discounts
    • Invoice-based billing
    • Annual commitments

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Northflank if

  • You need application deployments.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on AWS, GCP, Azure, On-premises.
  • You also want gpu support.
Northflank review

Questions people ask

Is DigitalOcean or Northflank better?
Neither clearly leads. DigitalOcean starts at Free and Northflank at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, DigitalOcean or Northflank?
DigitalOcean starts at Free and Northflank at Free.
Does DigitalOcean or Northflank run on more platforms?
DigitalOcean runs on Linux, Cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure backend). Northflank runs on AWS, GCP, Azure, On-premises.
Can I use DigitalOcean for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is DigitalOcean best used for?
DigitalOcean is most often used for developers seeking affordable vps starting at $4/month for small applications, teams deploying containerised workloads with kubernetes starting at $12/month cluster cost, data scientists and ml engineers requiring nvidia gpu access at $1.91/gpu/hour (committed). Of those, developers seeking affordable vps starting at $4/month for small applications and teams deploying containerised workloads with kubernetes starting at $12/month cluster cost are not what Northflank is typically brought in for.
What can DigitalOcean do that Northflank cannot?
DigitalOcean covers Droplets (VPS), Managed Kubernetes, App Platform, Managed Databases. Northflank covers Application deployments, GPU support, Preview environments, Database management.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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
Northflank: What is included in the free Sandbox tier?

The Sandbox includes always-on compute, 2 free services, 1 free database, 2 free cron jobs, and is perfect for testing applications.

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
Northflank: How much does CPU cost on Northflank?

CPU costs $0.01667 per vCPU per hour on pay-as-you-go pricing.

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
Northflank: What GPUs are available?

GPU options include NVIDIA L4 at $0.80/hr through H100 at $2.74/hr.

Source
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