DigitalOcean vs Exoscale Comparison
Compare DigitalOcean vs Exoscale features, pricing, and more.
Last updated: November 2026
DigitalOcean
6.8/10
DigitalOcean is a developer-focused cloud platform offering Droplet VMs, managed Kubernetes, databases, object storage, App Platform and GPU compute for startups and small businesses.
Exoscale
6.4/10
Swiss-based European cloud provider that offers compute instances, managed Kubernetes, managed databases and S3-compatible object storage, aimed at businesses that need data sovereignty.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.8/10 | 6.4/10 |
| Analytics | 6/10 | 5/10 |
| Cost | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Customization | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Ease of Use | 9/10 | 6/10 |
| Integration | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Reliability | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Scalability | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Security | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Support | 5/10 | 6/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | $4/mo Basic Droplet 512 MiB | Contact for pricing |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $4/mo Basic Droplet 512 MiB | Free SKS Starter |
| Features | ||
| API and CLI | ||
| Cloud Compute | ||
| Managed Databases | ||
| Managed Kubernetes | ||
| Multiple Regions | ||
| Object Storage | ||
| Uptime SLA | ||
| VPS Hosting | ||
| Automatic Backups | Not listed | |
| Content Delivery Network | Not listed | |
| DDoS Protection | Not listed | |
| Git Deployments | Not listed | |
| Serverless Functions | Not listed | |
DigitalOcean vs Exoscale cost by team size
| Team size | DigitalOcean | Exoscale |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB | FreeSKS Starter |
| 5 users | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB | FreeSKS Starter |
| 10 users | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB | FreeSKS Starter |
| 25 users | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB | FreeSKS Starter |
| 50 users | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB | FreeSKS Starter |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose DigitalOcean
- Higher Ease of Use score (9/10 vs 6/10)
- Higher Analytics score (6/10 vs 5/10)
- Better fit for small business (7/10 vs 4/10)
Why choose Exoscale
- Has a free plan (DigitalOcean does not)
- Higher Security score (8/10 vs 7/10)
- Higher Support score (6/10 vs 5/10)
Pros & Cons
DigitalOcean
Pros
- Flat, published hourly and monthly rates with no promotional first-term pricing or renewal price jumps.
- A $4 per month entry Droplet and per-second billing make it cheap to test and run small workloads.
- One account covers a full set of managed services, including Kubernetes, databases, Spaces with CDN, load balancers, App Platform and Functions.
- Developers can automate everything through the API, the doctl CLI and a Terraform provider, and the tutorials are widely used.
Cons
- Free support is ticket-only with a target response under 24 hours, chat starts at $99 per month, and no plan includes phone support.
- Outbound SMTP ports 25, 465 and 587 are blocked on new Droplets, so you cannot self-host email.
- Raw compute costs noticeably more than budget providers such as Hetzner.
- No refunds, and Droplets on suspended accounts are deleted after a grace period.
Exoscale
Pros
- Data stays in Swiss and EU zones, backed by ISO 27001/27017/27018, BSI C5, SOC 2 and HDS certifications.
- Per-second billing with no commitment, plus about 1 TiB of free outbound traffic per instance each month.
- The Kubernetes control plane is free on the SKS Starter tier.
- A broad managed-database lineup includes Kafka, ClickHouse and OpenSearch.
- S3-compatible storage and Terraform support make migration from AWS easier.
Cons
- Its service catalogue is much smaller than AWS, Azure or OVHcloud.
- There is less community documentation than for the major clouds.
- Faster paid support starts at 50 per month and Enterprise support needs a 1,500 monthly minimum.
- There is no shared hosting, managed WordPress or CDN product for simple websites.
- Storage costs per GB are higher than at budget providers such as Contabo.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
DigitalOcean scores higher on our Hosting & Infrastructure criteria: 6.8/10 against 6.4/10 for Exoscale. The largest gap is in Ease of Use: 9/10 for DigitalOcean and 6/10 for Exoscale.
Exoscale has a free plan; DigitalOcean does not list one.
DigitalOcean is the better fit for small business: we rate it 7/10 for them, against 4/10 for Exoscale.
