Software · head to head
Vagrant vs DigitalOcean
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Vagrant vagrant 2.4.3 and later is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1 with IBM Corporation as licensor, not an OSI open source licence; DigitalOcean data transfer overage charged at $0.01 per GiB beyond included allowances
- They diverge on capability: Vagrant covers Box management, DigitalOcean covers Droplets (VPS).
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Vagrant and DigitalOcean actually diverge.
| Attribute | Vagrant | DigitalOcean |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | open-source | usage-based |
| Platforms | Linux, Windows, Mac | Linux, Cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure backend) |
| Founded | 2010 | 2011 |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).
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 Vagrant
- Box management
- Provider support
- Multi-machine setups
- Provisioners
- Networking
- Synced folders
- Snapshots
- Plugins
Only in DigitalOcean
- Droplets (VPS)
- Managed Kubernetes
- App Platform
- Managed Databases
- Spaces (Object Storage)
- Floating IPs
- Load Balancers
- Firewalls
Both cover
- Docker
- Cloud deployment
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Vagrant
- Reproducible local development environments defined in a Vagrantfilenot DigitalOcean
- Provisioning identical VMs across VirtualBox, VMware and Hyper-V for a teamnot DigitalOcean
- Sandboxing multi-machine setups on a developer laptopnot DigitalOcean
DigitalOcean
- Developers seeking affordable VPS starting at $4/month for small applicationsnot Vagrant
- Teams deploying containerised workloads with Kubernetes starting at $12/month cluster costnot Vagrant
- Data scientists and ML engineers requiring NVIDIA GPU access at $1.91/GPU/hour (committed)not Vagrant
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Vagrant
- Vagrant 2.4.3 and later is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1 with IBM Corporation as licensor, not an OSI open source licence
- The Additional Use Grant forbids offering Vagrant to third parties on a hosted or embedded basis in a paid product that competes with IBM's paid versions of Vagrant
- Each version converts to the MPL 2.0 Change License only four years after that version is first published
- Uses that fall outside the Additional Use Grant require a separately negotiated licence from the licensor
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
Vagrant
Free- Open SourceFree
- Development environment provisioning
- Multiple providers
- Provisioner support
DigitalOcean
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the DigitalOcean review.
Which should you pick?
Choose Vagrant if
- You need box management.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, Windows, Mac.
- You also want provider support.
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.
Questions people ask
- Is Vagrant or DigitalOcean better?
- Neither clearly leads. Vagrant 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, Vagrant or DigitalOcean?
- Vagrant starts at Free and DigitalOcean at Free.
- Does Vagrant or DigitalOcean run on more platforms?
- Vagrant runs on Linux, Windows, Mac. DigitalOcean runs on Linux, Cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure backend).
- Can I use Vagrant for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Vagrant best used for?
- Vagrant is most often used for reproducible local development environments defined in a vagrantfile, provisioning identical vms across virtualbox, vmware and hyper-v for a team, sandboxing multi-machine setups on a developer laptop. Of those, reproducible local development environments defined in a vagrantfile and provisioning identical vms across virtualbox, vmware and hyper-v for a team are not what DigitalOcean is typically brought in for.
- What can Vagrant do that DigitalOcean cannot?
- Vagrant covers Box management, Provider support, Multi-machine setups, Provisioners. DigitalOcean covers Droplets (VPS), Managed Kubernetes, App Platform, Managed Databases. Both handle Docker, Cloud deployment.