DigitalOcean vs Nebius Comparison
Compare DigitalOcean vs Nebius features, pricing, and more.
Last updated: November 2026
DigitalOcean
7.1/10
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.
Nebius
6.6/10
Nebius is an AI-focused cloud that rents NVIDIA GPU instances and clusters by the hour, with managed Kubernetes, Slurm, storage and inference services for ML teams.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 7.1/10 | 6.6/10 |
| Analytics | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Cost | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Customization | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Ease of Use | 9/10 | 6/10 |
| Integration | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Scalability | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Security | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Support | 5/10 | 5/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | $4/mo Basic Droplet 512 MiB | Contact for pricing |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $4/mo Basic Droplet 512 MiB | Contact for pricing |
| Features | ||
| Automatic Backups | Not listed | |
| Cloud Compute | ||
| Content Delivery Network | Not listed | |
| DDoS Protection | Not listed | |
| Git Deployments | Not listed | |
| API and CLI | ||
| Managed Databases | ||
| Managed Kubernetes | ||
| Multiple Regions | ||
| Object Storage | ||
| Serverless Functions | ||
| Uptime SLA | Not listed | |
| VPS Hosting | Not listed | |
| Managed WordPress | Not listed | |
| Shared Hosting | Not listed | |
DigitalOcean vs Nebius cost by team size
| Team size | DigitalOcean | Nebius |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB | Contact for pricing |
| 5 users | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB | Contact for pricing |
| 10 users | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB | Contact for pricing |
| 25 users | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB | Contact for pricing |
| 50 users | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB | Contact for pricing |
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 Integration score (7/10 vs 6/10)
- Better fit for small business (7/10 vs 3/10)
Why choose Nebius
- Higher Scalability score (8/10 vs 7/10)
- Higher Security score (8/10 vs 7/10)
- Better fit for enterprise (7/10 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.
Nebius
Pros
- Newest NVIDIA hardware, including B300 and GB300 NVL72, is listed with published per-hour prices.
- Network egress, ingress and public IPs are free, which removes a common hidden cost on hyperscalers.
- The certification list is broad: SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3, several ISO standards including 27001 and 42001, and CSA STAR.
- EU data centers in Finland and Paris help with GDPR and data residency.
- Infrastructure as code is fully supported through a CLI, a Terraform provider, gRPC and REST APIs, and SDKs.
Cons
- The catalogue is narrow outside AI. The only managed database is PostgreSQL, and there is no CDN or web hosting.
- Some users report slower support responses than AWS or CoreWeave.
- Users note documentation gaps for advanced setups.
- Kubernetes and Slurm workflows assume DevOps expertise.
- Commitment pricing and the largest clusters require contacting sales.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
DigitalOcean scores higher on our AI Software criteria: 7.1/10 against 6.6/10 for Nebius. The largest gap is in Ease of Use: 9/10 for DigitalOcean and 6/10 for Nebius.
No, neither DigitalOcean nor Nebius lists a free plan.
DigitalOcean is the better fit for small business: we rate it 7/10 for them, against 3/10 for Nebius.
