Cloud & Infrastructure · head to head
Vault vs DigitalOcean
Vault
Cloud & Infrastructure
Manage Secrets and Protect Sensitive Data
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Vault vault 1.15.0 and later is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1, not an OSI open source licence, with IBM Corporation as licensor; DigitalOcean data transfer overage charged at $0.01 per GiB beyond included allowances
- They diverge on capability: Vault covers Secrets management, DigitalOcean covers Droplets (VPS).
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Vault and DigitalOcean actually diverge.
| Attribute | Vault | DigitalOcean |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | open-source | usage-based |
| Platforms | Linux, Windows, Mac, Cloud | Linux, Cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure backend) |
| Founded | 2015 | 2011 |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cloud & Infrastructure).
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 Vault
- Secrets management
- Authentication
- Authorization
- Audit logging
- API access
- High availability
- Replication
- Ansible
Only in DigitalOcean
- Droplets (VPS)
- Managed Kubernetes
- App Platform
- Managed Databases
- Spaces (Object Storage)
- Floating IPs
- Load Balancers
- Firewalls
Both cover
- Encryption
- Kubernetes
- Terraform
- Docker
- Encryption
- Cloud deployment
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Vault
- Centrally storing and rotating secrets, API keys and database credentialsnot DigitalOcean
- Issuing short-lived dynamic credentials to applications instead of static passwordsnot DigitalOcean
- Encryption as a service and PKI certificate issuancenot DigitalOcean
DigitalOcean
- Developers seeking affordable VPS starting at $4/month for small applicationsnot Vault
- Teams deploying containerised workloads with Kubernetes starting at $12/month cluster costnot Vault
- Data scientists and ML engineers requiring NVIDIA GPU access at $1.91/GPU/hour (committed)not Vault
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Vault
- Vault 1.15.0 and later is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1, not an OSI open source licence, with IBM Corporation as licensor
- The Additional Use Grant forbids offering Vault to third parties on a hosted or embedded basis in a paid product that competes with IBM's paid versions of Vault
- Each version only converts to MPL 2.0 four years after that version is published, and the Change Date is tracked per version
- Replication, HSM support, namespaces, performance standby nodes, FIPS builds, control group authorisation, multi-factor authentication, secrets sync and lease count quotas all require a Vault Enterprise licence
- A Vault Enterprise licence must be applied to the cluster before any Enterprise feature can be used
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
Vault
Free- Open SourceFree
- Secrets management
- Encryption as a service
- Identity management
- EnterpriseFree
- Advanced features
- Premium support
- Dedicated updates
DigitalOcean
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the DigitalOcean review.
Which should you pick?
Choose Vault if
- You need secrets management.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, Windows, Mac, Cloud.
- You also want authentication.
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 Vault or DigitalOcean better?
- Neither clearly leads. Vault 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, Vault or DigitalOcean?
- Vault starts at Free and DigitalOcean at Free.
- Does Vault or DigitalOcean run on more platforms?
- Vault runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Cloud. DigitalOcean runs on Linux, Cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure backend).
- Can I use Vault for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Vault best used for?
- Vault is most often used for centrally storing and rotating secrets, api keys and database credentials, issuing short-lived dynamic credentials to applications instead of static passwords, encryption as a service and pki certificate issuance. Of those, centrally storing and rotating secrets, api keys and database credentials and issuing short-lived dynamic credentials to applications instead of static passwords are not what DigitalOcean is typically brought in for.
- What can Vault do that DigitalOcean cannot?
- Vault covers Secrets management, Authentication, Authorization, Audit logging. DigitalOcean covers Droplets (VPS), Managed Kubernetes, App Platform, Managed Databases. Both handle Encryption, Kubernetes, Terraform, Docker.