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DigitalOcean vs Google Compute Engine comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 16, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.1
Users generally found DigitalOcean cost-effective, noticing initial savings, though some lacked details to quantify exact financial impact.
Sentiment score
5.6
Some businesses achieved over 90% cost savings by switching to cloud and cheaper analytic tools despite budget challenges.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.5
DigitalOcean's customer service is responsive yet inconsistent, needing improved technical support and quicker resolutions compared to AWS.
Sentiment score
6.4
Google Compute Engine's customer service is positively rated for responsiveness, with various support tiers and effective online support channels.
DigitalOcean support is rated lower than AWS's because we encounter issues more frequently.
Lead Developer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
DigitalOcean is highly rated for scalability, offering tools to manage increased loads and easily add resources like RAM or CPUs.
Sentiment score
7.8
Google Compute Engine offers scalable resources and supports diverse workloads, with managed instances aiding easy scaling for businesses.
I have not tried vertical scaling yet, but from the documentation, it seems very easy to scale the system.
Senior Software Engineer at Checkit
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
DigitalOcean offers reliable stability, though some users note occasional downtimes and performance fluctuations based on extended use.
Sentiment score
8.2
Google Compute Engine is highly stable, achieving 99.99% uptime and favorable comparisons to other servers with minimal downtime.
DigitalOcean is quite stable, and I would rate its stability at nine out of ten.
Senior Software Engineer at Checkit
It is approximately 50 to 60% stable, reaching 60 to 70% depending on usage levels.
Lead Developer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
The stability of Google Compute Engine is on par with other servers, akin to using instances from AWS, as no one needs any downtime.
Cloud Engineer at Global Payments Inc.
 

Room For Improvement

DigitalOcean struggles with performance, customer dissatisfaction, and service issues, prompting calls for improved features and better support.
Google Compute Engine needs better user experience, automation, security, multi-region support, and simplified licensing for non-technical users.
The lack of a proper service provider model ultimately led us to cease operations with DigitalOcean.
Commercial Manager at Uranium For IT Solutions
There are issues where even with 8 GB RAM, the performance doesn't meet expectations.
Lead Developer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
DigitalOcean could offer a pay-as-you-go model similar to AWS, where I would pay for what I use rather than having fixed payments.
Senior Software Engineer at Checkit
I have noticed a positive impact since the deployment of Google Compute Engine; it is simpler.
Cloud Engineer at Global Payments Inc.
 

Setup Cost

DigitalOcean's pricing ranges from $5 to $50 monthly, with costs depending on configuration and perceived as competitive by some.
Google Compute Engine is cost-effective with pay-as-you-go pricing, but affordability varies by region and usage patterns.
DigitalOcean offers affordable pricing, especially for startups.
Senior Software Engineer at Checkit
It is difficult to recommend GCP due to its complex architecture.
Cloud Engineer at Global Payments Inc.
 

Valuable Features

DigitalOcean provides reliable, cost-effective servers with an intuitive interface, database management, flexible hosting, and easy installation.
Google Compute Engine offers flexible, cost-effective virtual machines with rich features, high availability, and seamless integration with Google Cloud services.
The droplet feature is valuable for hosting my applications as it is particularly cost-effective and serves my needs well.
Senior Software Engineer at Checkit
Some customers had compliance issues with Microsoft that did not exist in DigitalOcean, which provided more flexibility to use the solution.
Commercial Manager at Uranium For IT Solutions
The most significant aspect is that we can connect directly to the system from anywhere.
Lead Developer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
In GCP, there's a custom configuration feature unlike AWS and Azure.
Senior Cloud Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
What I like the most about Google Compute Engine is SSH access and the different price categories.
Cloud Engineer at Global Payments Inc.
 

Categories and Ranking

DigitalOcean
Ranking in Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Google Compute Engine
Ranking in Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)
14th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) category, the mindshare of DigitalOcean is 2.0%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Google Compute Engine is 1.2%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
DigitalOcean2.0%
Google Compute Engine1.2%
Other96.8%
Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)
 

Featured Reviews

VinodKumar9 - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Developer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Private cloud deployment offers cost-effective solutions but needs improved connectivity and issues mitigation
There are disadvantages, such as machines getting stuck or disconnected, requiring restarts. Sometimes we lose connection and need to check with the IT service provider from the DigitalOcean service team to reboot. There are issues where even with 8 GB RAM, the performance doesn't meet expectations. The lower cost comes with more issues and disadvantages.
AK
Cloud Engineer at Global Payments Inc.
SSH access has simplified my backend deployments but setup and architecture still need improvement
Currently, I have not found much value in the features or capabilities of Google Compute Engine because I only use SSH access, as I have not used many of their services. It is already set up by a different team, and I have been using them as it is a normal case, similar to a normal Linux server. I have noticed a positive impact since the deployment of Google Compute Engine; it is simpler. However, for those who are not very much familiar with Google Cloud, it can, at times, be difficult. Also, the freebies are not much from Google's side, referring to the credits, so that users can become more familiar since there is a limited amount or it is case-dependent. Without trying Google Compute Engine totally, I cannot tell you much about it. From my personal perspective, I suggest that while setting up Google Compute Engine, the process is hard compared to AWS. The complexity increases, especially if we want to access the things over the API; we need to explicitly set up things and can only access the CLI environment of GCP, which is sometimes a hectic task.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
University
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Media Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
32%
Performing Arts
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise2
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with DigitalOcean?
There are disadvantages, such as machines getting stuck or disconnected, requiring restarts. Sometimes we lose connection and need to check with the IT service provider from the DigitalOcean servic...
What is your primary use case for DigitalOcean?
We use DigitalOcean mostly for RDS services and cloud-related systems where we want to deploy codes and run them using nginx or other services where it is cheaper to use, and we use it to extract d...
What advice do you have for others considering DigitalOcean?
I am a lead developer, currently working in that role. We are a customer of DigitalOcean. They can reach me via email to confirm anything regarding my review. I am willing to be a reference for Dig...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Compute Engine?
Google resources are cheaper compared to AWS and Microsoft Azure. Among the three, Google is the cheapest option.
What needs improvement with Google Compute Engine?
Google has a lack of focus on their products. They have many products in various areas of the market, but they do not productize or appeal to the market effectively. They should concentrate on prod...
What is your primary use case for Google Compute Engine?
The main use case is for deploying any standard application. I simply use Compute Engine, which is comparable to a virtual machine. It is essentially a VM machine.
 

Also Known As

Digital Ocean
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

jQuery Foundation, Pertino, TaskRabbit, Compose, InfluxDB, The Able Few
Allthecooks, BetterCloud, Bluecore, Cosentry, Evite, Ezakus, HTC, Infectious Media, iStreamPlanet, Mendelics, SageMathCloud, Sedex, Treeptik, Wibigoo, Wix, zulily, Zync
Find out what your peers are saying about DigitalOcean vs. Google Compute Engine and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.