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DigitalOcean vs Scaleway: What are the differences?
Introduction
DigitalOcean and Scaleway are two popular cloud computing platforms that provide Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). While both offer similar services such as virtual machines, storage, and networking capabilities, there are several key differences that set them apart.
Pricing Models: DigitalOcean primarily follows a fixed monthly pricing model, where users pay a predetermined price for their chosen plan. In contrast, Scaleway offers a pay-as-you-go model, allowing users to only pay for the resources they consume. This can be beneficial for users with varying resource demands or those who are looking to minimize costs.
Data Centers: DigitalOcean has a larger global presence with data centers across various regions, including the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America. Scaleway, on the other hand, has a more limited geographical coverage, with data centers primarily located in Europe. This difference in data center availability may be a crucial consideration for users who require specific regional data residency or low latency.
Virtual Machine Types: Both DigitalOcean and Scaleway offer a range of virtual machine types to cater to different workload needs. However, Scaleway differentiates itself by providing a unique offering called "Bare Metal Cloud," which allows users to provision dedicated servers with direct access to physical hardware. This can be beneficial for users who require high-performance computing or have specific hardware requirements.
Managed Databases: DigitalOcean offers a range of managed database services, including PostgreSQL, MySQL, and Redis, which greatly simplifies database administration tasks. In contrast, Scaleway does not currently provide managed database services. Users on Scaleway would need to set up and manage their databases manually or rely on third-party solutions.
Object Storage: DigitalOcean offers an object storage service called Spaces, which provides scalable and cost-effective storage for various types of data. Scaleway also offers object storage called Object Storage with similar features. However, DigitalOcean Spaces provides more robust integration with their other services, making it a preferred choice for users heavily utilizing other DigitalOcean services.
Community and Documentation: Both DigitalOcean and Scaleway have active communities and extensive documentation to support their users. However, DigitalOcean has gained a reputation for its exceptional community-driven tutorials and documentation, which are often considered comprehensive and beginner-friendly. This extensive resource base can be particularly helpful for users who are new to cloud computing or require detailed step-by-step guidance.
In summary, key differences between DigitalOcean and Scaleway lie in their pricing models, geographical coverage, virtual machine types, managed database offerings, object storage integration, and community documentation support. Depending on specific requirements, users may prioritize factors such as cost, data residency, hardware access, managed services, integration, or the availability of comprehensive documentation and community support.
Albeit restricted to only a few places worlwide compared to its peers in the cloud segment, I am yet to find another provider capable of delivering a score over 5000 (Geekbench) in a benchmark on a single CPU machine, and each machine costs $6 a month. For homelab and experienced users who don't need DBaaS or IaaC's, it's a pretty straightforward choice. A more comprehensive review of Vultr's HF machines can be found here.
Chose Hetnzer over DigitalOcean and Linode because Hetzner provides much cheaper VPS with much better specs. DigitalOcean might seems like a good choice at first because of how popular it is. But in reality, if all you need is a simple VPS, you won't benefit much from the their oversubscribed datacenters which often underperform other competitors. Linode is also a good choice. They have cheaper options and performs slightly better than DigitalOcean. In the end, choosing a more affordable host helps you save money. That's important when you're running a tight ship.
While Media Temple is more expensive than DigitalOcean, sometimes it is like comparing apples and oranges. DigitalOcean provides what is called Virtual Private Servers ( VPS ). While you seem to be on your own dedicated server, you are, in fact, sharing the same hardware with others.
If you need to be on your own dedicated server, or have other hardware requirements, you do not really have as many options with DigitalOcean. But with Media Temple, the skies the limit ( but so is potentially the cost ).
DigitalOcean was where I began; its USD5/month is extremely competitive and the overall experience as highly user-friendly.
However, their offerings were lacking and integrating with other resources I had on AWS was getting more costly (due to transfer costs on AWS). Eventually I moved the entire project off DO's Droplets and onto AWS's EC2.
One may initially find the cost (w/o free tier) and interface of AWS daunting however with good planning you can achieve highly cost-efficient systems with savings plans, spot instances, etcetera.
Do not dive into AWS head-first! Seriously, don't. Stand back and read pricing documentation thoroughly. You can, not to the fault of AWS, easily go way overbudget. Your first action upon getting your AWS account should be to set up billing alarms for estimated and current bill totals.
Pros of DigitalOcean
- Great value for money560
- Simple dashboard364
- Good pricing362
- Ssds300
- Nice ui250
- Easy configuration191
- Great documentation156
- Ssh access138
- Great community135
- Ubuntu24
- Docker13
- IPv6 support12
- Private networking10
- 99.99% uptime SLA8
- Simple API7
- Great tutorials7
- 55 Second Provisioning6
- One Click Applications5
- Dokku4
- LAMP4
- Debian4
- CoreOS4
- Node.js4
- 1Gb/sec Servers3
- Word Press3
- Mean3
- LEMP3
- Simple Control Panel3
- Ghost3
- Runs CoreOS2
- Quick and no nonsense service2
- Django2
- Good Tutorials2
- Speed2
- Ruby on Rails2
- GitLab2
- Hex Core machines with dedicated ECC Ram and RAID SSD s2
- CentOS1
- Spaces1
- KVM Virtualization1
- Amazing Hardware1
- Transfer Globally1
- Fedora1
- FreeBSD1
- Drupal1
- FreeBSD Amp1
- Magento1
- ownCloud1
- RedMine1
- My go to server provider1
- Ease and simplicity1
- Nice1
- Find it superfitting with my requirements (SSD, ssh.1
- Easy Setup1
- Cheap1
- Static IP1
- It's the easiest to get started for small projects1
- Automatic Backup1
- Great support1
- Quick and easy to set up1
- Servers on demand - literally1
- Reliability1
- Variety of services0
- Managed Kubernetes0
Pros of Scaleway
- Scalable30
- Dedicated25
- Cost effective25
- Bare-metal21
- Open source14
- Arm architecture12
- Simple billing11
- Isolation9
- Security8
- Power6
- Cheap5
- Good at min money3
- Static IP3
- CentOS3
- Ubuntu2
- S3 compatible object storage2
- Terraform integration2
- OpenVPN2
- Additional SSD storage in demand2
- Local Networking1
- Imagehub1
- Reserve IP1
- Image Snapshots1
- Debian1
- Gentoo1
- Linux1
- Fedora1
- OpenSUSE1
- Arch Linux1
- Alpine Linux1
- Unmetered1
- SSH access1
- Simple UI1
- IPV61
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Cons of DigitalOcean
- No live support chat3
- Pricing3