Comparison, 2026
Vultr vs DigitalOcean. Priced line by line, and a third option.
Two popular hourly clouds, compared on what each one publishes: plans, add-ons, rules and payment, dated and side by side.
Vultr, 8 GB with protection and backups
- Cloud Compute4 vCPU, 8 GB, 160 GB SSD$40
- DDoS protectionPer server, per month+$10
- Automatic backups20% of the server+$8
$58 a month, as published on 3 November 2026.
LiteKeep Lite 8
$12
- 8 vCPU
- 8 GB
- 160 GB NVMe
- DDoS included
- Crypto
- No ID
Daily backups add $1.15 a month, priced per GB of disk.
The short answer
At the same RAM, Vultr’s cheapest plans cost a little less than DigitalOcean’s: $10 against $12 for 2 GB, $40 against $42 for 8 GB. DigitalOcean includes DDoS protection and bills per second; Vultr charges $10 a month for DDoS protection. Both block outgoing mail by default, and both restrict crypto mining.
If those rules are why you’re comparing, a LiteKeep Lite is the third option: port 25 open, mining allowed, DDoS filtering included, paid in crypto, and 8 GB for $12.
Most “Vultr vs DigitalOcean” pages are written by one of the two, or compare plans from years ago.
So we read both price lists and rulebooks on the same day and put them side by side: the plan at each RAM size, the add-ons that change the bill, and the rules that decide what you can run.
In this guide you’ll learn
- Plans at the same RAM, from 2 GB to 32 GB
- Add-ons and billing: DDoS, backups, snapshots, traffic
- The rules: mail, mining and payment
- A full-month calculator for both, and a third option
Chapter 1
Plans at the same RAM
The cheapest plan each host lists at each memory size, from their own price lists on 3 November 2026.
| RAM | Vultr | DigitalOcean | LiteKeep |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 GB | 1 vCPU, 55 GB, 2 TB: $10 | 1 vCPU, 50 GB, 2 TB: $12 | Lite 2: 2 vCPU, 40 GB NVMe: $4 |
| 4 GB | 2 vCPU, 80 GB, 3 TB: $20 | 2 vCPU, 80 GB, 4 TB: $24 | Lite 6 (6 GB): 6 vCPU: $8 |
| 8 GB | 4 vCPU, 160 GB, 4 TB: $40 | 2 vCPU, 100 GB NVMe, 5 TB: $42 | Lite 8: 8 vCPU, 160 GB NVMe: $12 |
| 16 GB | 6 vCPU, 320 GB, 5 TB: $80 | 4 vCPU, 200 GB NVMe, 8 TB: $84 | Lite 16: 16 vCPU: $20 |
| 32 GB | 8 vCPU, 640 GB, 6 TB: $160 | 8 vCPU, 400 GB NVMe, 10 TB: $168 | Lite 32: 16 vCPU: $40 |
Chapter 2
Add-ons and billing
The plan price is where the bill starts.
| Vultr | DigitalOcean | |
|---|---|---|
| Billing | Hourly, capped at 672 hours a month | Per second (60-second minimum), capped at 672 hours |
| Powered-off servers | Still billed until destroyed | Still billed until destroyed |
| DDoS protection | $10 a month per server | Free, always on |
| Automatic backups | 20% of the server price | 20% weekly, 30% daily |
| Snapshots | $0.05 per GB a month | $0.06 per GB a month |
| Traffic past the allowance | $0.01 per GB | $0.01 per GiB, pooled across the team |
Chapter 3
The rules: mail, mining and payment
Often the deciding factor, and the one comparisons skip.
| Vultr | DigitalOcean | LiteKeep | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sending mail (port 25) | Blocked by default; ticket to request | Ports 25, 465 and 587 blocked on every Droplet | Open, reverse DNS on request |
| Crypto mining | Prohibited | Only with written permission | Allowed |
| Paying in crypto | Some coins via BitPay | Stablecoins only, limited, with name, address and a $25 authorization | BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC, SOL, BNB, XRP, XMR |
| Regions | About 32 to 34 | 16 datacenters in 13 cities | 15 countries, one price |
Chapter 4
A full month on both, and on a Lite
Pick the RAM and the traffic, and tick the add-ons you’d buy. Every charge is listed.
A full month on each
Vultr Cloud Compute, $34: 2 vCPU, 4 GB, 80 GB SSD. Server $20 + DDoS protection $10 + Automatic backups $4.
DigitalOcean Droplet, $31.20: 2 vCPU, 4 GB, 80 GB SSD. Server $24 + DDoS protection included + Daily backups $7.20.
LiteKeep Lite 6, $8.72: 6 vCPU, 6 GB, 100 GB NVMe. Server $8 + DDoS filtering included + Daily backups $0.72.
Each host’s cheapest plan with that RAM and its own add-on prices, as published on 3 November 2026, in US dollars.
Chapter 5
Where each one is strongest
A fair summary of both, then where LiteKeep fits.
- DigitalOcean’s strengths: managed databases, Kubernetes and App Platform, free DDoS protection and per-second billing.
- Vultr’s strengths: more regions and slightly lower plan prices.
- Where a LiteKeep Lite wins: when you want a plain server for a fraction of the price, with mail ports open, mining allowed, DDoS filtering included, and crypto payment with no ID.
Already decided to move? See our Vultr alternative and DigitalOcean alternative guides.
Now it’s your move
Vultr and DigitalOcean are close on price and differ on add-ons and managed products. Both block mail by default and restrict mining.
If you need a server rather than a platform, deploy a Lite next to either one and compare for an hour.