Inside this Article
What We Look For in the Best Alternatives to DigitalOcean1. Kamatera – Fully Customizable and Reliable Cloud VPS2. Liquid Web – Managed Hosting with Great Performance and Support, Guaranteed3. Cloudways – All the Benefits of Cloud Hosting with None of the Hassle4. Amazon Web Services – Great Performance and Reliable Uptime5. Microsoft Azure – A Secure Cloud Hosting Solution with Impressive Free Support6. Render – Developer-Oriented Hosting to Optimize Your ProductivityChoose the Right DigitalOcean Alternative for YouFAQ
Short on Time? These Are the Best DigitalOcean Alternatives in 2023:
- Kamatera – Completely customizable cloud VPS with amazing uptime.
- Liquid Web – Managed hosting with a 100% uptime guarantee and fast loading speeds.
- Cloudways – Great support for managed cloud hosting services.
What We Look For in the Best Alternatives to DigitalOcean
In my search for the best DigitalOcean alternatives, I looked for these features.- Reliable uptime. DigitalOcean often has periods of downtime. I chose hosts that provide much more reliable uptime.
- Better support. Since DigitalOcean is aimed at developers and advanced users, it provides very limited support. There’s no live support (unless you’re a large business that can afford the Premier Support plan), so all you get is ticket support, which can be slow. Many of the hosts below include much better support with their hosting plans.
- Usability. DigitalOcean takes a fully hands-off approach and lacks many features which make hosting easier – something as simple as creating a WordPress site involves accessing your server through SSH. Some alternatives on my list are more user-friendly.
- Managed service. Managed hosting can be a fantastic time-saver for developers, so I’ve included hosts that offer partial or full managed hosting.

Kamatera VPS Hosting
Plan NameStorageBandwidthCPURAMPrice
More detailsFeatures
- Preinstalled cPanel. If you’re looking to get a site up quickly, you can pay a monthly fee for a cPanel license. It’ll come preinstalled on your server, and from there you can use the Softaculous app installer to install any CMS (content management system) or web script that you need.
- Automatic daily backups. When creating your Cloud VPS, you can pay a small monthly fee to have your server’s data backed up daily to an external storage array. You can restore previous versions whenever needed.
- Premium firewall service. While it’d be nice if more security features were included for free, Kamatera offers a strong optional firewall for your server at a low monthly fee. It can be fully managed and customized for your particular needs.
- 30-day free trial. Kamatera’s long trial period includes access to one fully customizable Cloud VPS, which is free as long as your server costs don’t go over $100 for the month. You even get a designated account manager for the duration of the trial.
Hosting types | Cloud, VPS |
Data center locations | US, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, UK, Israel, Hong Kong |
Uptime guarantee | 99.95% |
Starting price | $4.00 |
2. Liquid Web – Managed Hosting with Great Performance and Support, Guaranteed

Liquid Web WordPress Hosting
Plan NameStorageBandwidthNumber of SitesPrice
More detailsFeatures
- Managed WordPress plans. If you’re looking to take the hassle out of managing your WordPress website, Liquid Web also offers managed WordPress hosting through its subsidiary company, Nexcess.
- Great control panel. Liquid Web’s proprietary control panel is incredibly easy to use, providing all the features you need in one place.
- Impressive global performance. With great loading speeds and near-perfect uptime, Liquid Web has no problems when it comes to performance.
- Robust security. All of Liquid Web’s servers include the Server Secure security solution for free. This automatically hardens your server and optimizes your security settings.
Hosting types | VPS, dedicated, cloud, managed WordPress, managed WooCommerce |
Data center locations | US, the Netherlands |
Uptime guarantee | 100% |
Starting price | $13.30 |

Cloudways Cloud Hosting
Plan NameStorageBandwidthCPURAMPrice
More detailsFeatures
- Staging environments. Every plan includes access to staging environments for free. These can be set up with a single click, allowing you to test changes without affecting your live site.
- Unlimited website migration. DigitalOcean lacks a site migration service, but Cloudways will migrate your first site for free. You can also transfer an unlimited number of WordPress sites with the free WordPress migrator plugin.
- Guaranteed support response times. Even the free tier of support guarantees a response time of 12 hours for normal priority issues, and three hours for high priority issues. If this guarantee isn’t fulfilled, you may be eligible for service credits.
- Free 3-day trial. Cloudways allows you to try out its service without risk for three days, so you can see for yourself whether it improves your experience of DigitalOcean.
Hosting types | Cloud |
Data center locations | US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Australia, Japan, South Korea, India, China, Singapore, Bahrain, South Africa, Brazil, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland |
Uptime guarantee | 99.999% |
Starting price | $10.00 |

Amazon Web Services (AWS) VPS Hosting
Plan NameStorageBandwidthCPURAMPrice
More detailsFeatures
- Static IP and DNS management. Included in all Lightsail plans are a static IP and DNS management, at no extra charge.
- AWS Trusted Advisor. All AWS services have access to the Trusted Advisor tool, which tests your server for any basic security and performance flaws. It will then help guide you on how to best rectify them.
- One-click installations. The Lightsail plans also include the ability to install various OSs, CMSs, and development stacks with one click. These all come preconfigured and ready to use.
- Extensive free trial. AWS offers a three-month trial for its Lightsail service, allowing you to test out its cloud VPS for up to 750 hours of runtime per month. You also get 12 month of access to AWS’s free tier, allowing you to try out a handful of its powerful cloud solutions.
Hosting types | Cloud |
Data center locations | Data centers serve a total of 245 countries and territories |
Uptime guarantee | 99.99% |
Starting price | $3.50 |
5. Microsoft Azure – A Secure Cloud Hosting Solution with Impressive Free Support

Microsoft Azure Cloud Hosting
Plan NameStorageBandwidthCPURAMPrice
More detailsFeatures
- Great knowledge base. While Microsoft Azure can be difficult to use, its extensive knowledge base can guide you along while you learn the interface.
- Responsive support. When testing its free ticketing support, I was quite impressed that I received a response in minutes. There’s also premium levels of support available for even quicker response times and greater scope of support.
- Managed databases and storage. Microsoft Azure offers a premium managed SSD storage service specifically for its virtual machines. There are also premium managed SQL database plans available, which include automated backups and patches.
- Extensive free trial. Microsoft Azure has a 30-day free trial with $200 credit to try out its services. Once this is up, you still have access to many of its features for 12 months, including a virtual machine for up to 750 hours of runtime per month.
Hosting types | Cloud |
Data center locations | US, Canada, Brazil, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, UK, France, Norway, China, Singapore, Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, South Africa, UAE |
Uptime guarantee | 99.99% |
Starting price | $0 |
6. Render – Developer-Oriented Hosting to Optimize Your Productivity

Render Cloud Hosting
Plan NameStorageCPURAMPrice
More detailsFeatures
- Persistent block storage. With Render disks, you’re able to store persistent data across deploys and restarts. These are simple to set up, and are perfect for databases and content management systems (CMSs).
- Private services. If you want to create a database or cache that is inaccessible to the public, you can easily create a private service. The data will only be accessible by the other services on your Render account.
- Unlimited static sites. Unlike DigitalOcean, Render allows you to create an unlimited number of static sites for free. These benefit from a fully managed TLS certificate and unlimited collaborators. There is a monthly bandwidth limit of 100GB.
- 7-day free trial. Render allows you to sign up for a trial period without the need for a credit card, so you can try its services completely risk free.
Hosting types | Cloud |
Data center locations | US, Germany |
Uptime guarantee | No legal uptime guarantee |
Starting price | $7.00 |
Choose the Right DigitalOcean Alternative for You
The best DigitalOcean alternative depends on your particular needs. If you’re looking for complete customizability in your hosting environment, I’d recommend Kamatera. Its performance is on par with DigitalOcean, and through its Express service, you can deploy preconfigured servers in minutes. However, if you prefer to have a more hands-off approach to hosting, Liquid Web’s core-managed plans will save you the time you’d normally spend on maintaining your server. And if you ever run into any hiccups, Liquid Web’s responsive customer support is available around the clock to help out. Another great host that specializes in managed hosting is Cloudways. Cloudways can give you the best of all worlds: powerful cloud computing solutions with fully managed services. If you’re still unsure, you can check out the following table for a side-by-side comparison.Standout feature | Free trial? | Managed | Starting Price | ||
Kamatera | Fully customizable and scalable cloud VPS plans | 30 days | Available | $4.00 | |
Liquid Web | Fast loading speeds and near-perfect uptime | 14 days (for Managed WordPress only) | Core managed, fully managed available | $13.30 | |
Cloudways | Fully managed cloud hosting with 24/7 support | 3 days | Fully managed | $10.00 | |
Amazon Web Services | Fast, reliable hosting with free trials | 3-month and 12-month free trials, plus always free plans for selected services | Available | $3.50 | |
Microsoft Azure | Extensive security with responsive support | 3-month and 12-month free trials, plus always free plans for selected services | Available | $0 | |
Render | Reliable cloud hosting focused on developers | 7 days | Fully managed postgreSQL databases available | $7.00 |