DigitalOcean's 4 GB Basic Droplet costs $24.00 a month. Hetzner's CX23 has the same 2 vCPUs and 4 GB of RAM for $6.71 (€5.99), billed by the hour like a Droplet, and OVHcloud's VPS-1 has them for $5.03 (€4.49) on a monthly bill. At 8 GB the gap is wider: $48.00 at DigitalOcean against $10.07 at Hetzner or $6.16 at Contabo.
We checked these prices on 11 October 2026. For each Basic Droplet we looked for plans from other providers with at least the same vCPUs and RAM, on unmanaged Linux, and kept the cheapest.
The Droplets we are matching
| DigitalOcean Basic | vCPU | RAM | Storage | Transfer | Price per month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | 1 | 1 GB | 25 GB SSD | 1 TB | $6.00 |
| 2 GB | 1 | 2 GB | 50 GB SSD | 2 TB | $12.00 |
| 4 GB | 2 | 4 GB | 80 GB SSD | 4 TB | $24.00 |
| 8 GB | 4 | 8 GB | 160 GB SSD | 5 TB | $48.00 |
| 16 GB | 8 | 16 GB | 320 GB SSD | 6 TB | $96.00 |
All of these bill by the hour and renew at the same price. DigitalOcean also sells a 512 MB Droplet at $4.00.
The cheapest match for every size
| Droplet | DigitalOcean | Cheapest match, hourly billing | Cheapest match, monthly billing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | $6.00 | UpCloud Starter 1 GB, $3.36 | InterServer 1 Slice (2 GB), $3.00 |
| 2 GB | $12.00 | OVHcloud Public Cloud d2-2, $6.40 | InterServer 1 Slice, $3.00 |
| 4 GB | $24.00 | Hetzner Cloud CX23, $6.71 | OVHcloud VPS-1, $5.03 |
| 8 GB | $48.00 | Hetzner Cloud CX33, $10.07 | Contabo Cloud VPS 4, $6.16 |
| 16 GB | $96.00 | Hetzner Cloud CX43, $18.48 | netcup VPS Lite 3, $15.69 |
In percentage terms, the hourly matches cost 44% to 81% less than the Droplet, and the monthly ones 50% to 87% less. The saving grows with size: DigitalOcean doubles the price each time it doubles the RAM, while the others don't.
Like-for-like: Hetzner Cloud
Hetzner is the closest substitute, because it works the same way: hourly billing, an API, snapshots, and no contract.
| Hetzner plan | vCPU | RAM | Storage | Transfer | Price per month | vs Droplet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CX23 | 2 | 4 GB | 40 GB NVMe | 20 TB | $6.71 (€5.99) | 72% less than $24.00 |
| CX33 | 4 | 8 GB | 80 GB NVMe | 20 TB | $10.07 (€8.99) | 79% less than $48.00 |
| CX43 | 8 | 16 GB | 160 GB NVMe | 20 TB | $18.48 (€16.49) | 81% less than $96.00 |
The trade-offs are visible in the table: Hetzner gives you half the disk of the matching Droplet and far more transfer. The bigger difference is location. These plans are in Germany and Finland in our data, while DigitalOcean's Droplets are available in eight countries, including the United States, Canada, India, Singapore and Australia. If your users are in Europe, that is no loss. See the full DigitalOcean vs Hetzner comparison.
Cheapest on a monthly bill: OVHcloud, Contabo, netcup
If you don't need to create and delete servers by the hour, prices drop further.
- OVHcloud VPS-1: 2 vCPUs, 4 GB, 40 GB NVMe for $5.03 (€4.49). VPS-2 has 4 vCPUs, 8 GB and 75 GB for $9.51 (€8.49). OVHcloud has locations in nine countries in our data, including Canada, Singapore, Australia and India, so it is the option that keeps you closest to DigitalOcean's map.
- Contabo Cloud VPS 4: 4 vCPUs, 8 GB, 100 GB SSD for $6.16 (€5.50). Cloud VPS 8 has 8 vCPUs, 24 GB and 300 GB for $15.69 (€14.00), more RAM than the 16 GB Droplet at a sixth of the price. Contabo adds a location fee outside its home region.
- netcup VPS Lite 3: 8 vCPUs, 16 GB, 320 GB SSD for $15.69 (€14.00), matching the 16 GB Droplet spec for spec. It is hosted in Germany, Austria or the Netherlands and billed in two-month periods.
Same style of cloud, slightly cheaper: Vultr, Linode, UpCloud
If you want a provider that feels like DigitalOcean, with many regions and a similar product range, the savings are smaller:
- Vultr charges $5.00 for 1 GB and $10.00 for 2 GB, against $6.00 and $12.00. Its 4 GB plan is $20.00. It lists 19 countries for these plans, more than twice DigitalOcean's eight.
- Linode charges $5.00 for 1 GB and matches DigitalOcean at $12.00 and $24.00 for 2 GB and 4 GB, in 15 countries.
- UpCloud charges $3.36 (€3.00) for 1 GB and $6.72 (€6.00) for 2 GB with unmetered transfer, but its disks are small: 10 GB and 20 GB.
Compare them directly on DigitalOcean vs Vultr and DigitalOcean vs Linode.
What you give up by leaving DigitalOcean
The Droplet price is not only for the server. Before switching, check whether you use any of these:
- Managed services next to the Droplet. DigitalOcean sells managed databases, Kubernetes, object storage, block volumes and an app platform, all of which we track. Hetzner and OVHcloud have their own equivalents for some; Contabo, netcup and InterServer are mostly plain servers.
- Regions outside Europe. The cheapest matches are concentrated in Germany. OVHcloud and Vultr are the exceptions.
- Hourly billing. OVHcloud's VPS range, Contabo and netcup bill by the month or longer. Fine for a server that stays up, awkward for short-lived test machines.
- Disk size. Droplets come with more storage than Hetzner's matching plans. If you fill a 160 GB disk today, compare storage as well as RAM.
- Your tooling. If your deployments use DigitalOcean's API or a tool built around it, moving means reworking them.
If none of those apply and you run one or two ordinary servers, you are likely paying three to five times more than you need to.
FAQ
What is the cheapest alternative to a 4 GB DigitalOcean Droplet?
OVHcloud VPS-1 at $5.03 a month (€4.49) with the same 2 vCPUs and 4 GB. With hourly billing, Hetzner Cloud CX23 at $6.71 (€5.99). The Droplet is $24.00.
Is Hetzner really that much cheaper than DigitalOcean?
For the same vCPUs and RAM, yes: 72% to 81% less on the three sizes we compared. You get less disk, more transfer, and data centers in Germany and Finland rather than eight countries.
Which alternative has the most locations?
Vultr, with 19 countries in our data for its regular cloud plans, followed by Linode with 15. Both cost a little less than DigitalOcean at 1 GB and about the same above that.
Do these alternatives raise prices at renewal?
None of the plans named here do. Hetzner, OVHcloud, Vultr, Linode and UpCloud charge the same every month, and Contabo's and netcup's renewals match their monthly price.
The bottom line
For one or two servers in Europe, Hetzner gives you DigitalOcean's workflow at about a quarter of the price. On a monthly bill, OVHcloud's VPS-1 ($5.03) and Contabo's Cloud VPS 4 ($6.16) replace the $24.00 and $48.00 Droplets. Stay with DigitalOcean if you depend on its managed services or need its regions.
See every DigitalOcean plan we track, or sort all cloud servers by price on the cloud hosting page. Sizing by memory? Start with the cheapest 4 GB VPS plans and the 8 GB ones.
