Crusoe Cloud vs DigitalOcean Comparison
Compare Crusoe Cloud vs DigitalOcean features, pricing, and more.
Last updated: November 2026
Crusoe Cloud
6.6/10
Crusoe Cloud is a GPU-focused AI cloud that offers NVIDIA and AMD GPU instances, managed Kubernetes, storage and managed inference to AI teams and enterprises.
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.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.6/10 | 7.1/10 |
| Integration | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Analytics | 5/10 | 6/10 |
| Customization | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Ease of Use | 7/10 | 9/10 |
| Support | 8/10 | 5/10 |
| Cost | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Scalability | 8/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | Contact for pricing | $4/mo Basic Droplet 512 MiB |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Contact for pricing | $4/mo Basic Droplet 512 MiB |
| Features | ||
| API and CLI | ||
| Object Storage | ||
| Uptime SLA | ||
| Serverless Functions | ||
| Managed Kubernetes | ||
| Cloud Compute | ||
| Automatic Backups | Not listed | |
| Content Delivery Network | Not listed | |
| DDoS Protection | Not listed | |
| Git Deployments | Not listed | |
| Managed Databases | Not listed | |
| Multiple Regions | Not listed | |
| VPS Hosting | Not listed | |
Crusoe Cloud vs DigitalOcean cost by team size
| Team size | Crusoe Cloud | DigitalOcean |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | Contact for pricing | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB |
| 5 users | Contact for pricing | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB |
| 10 users | Contact for pricing | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB |
| 25 users | Contact for pricing | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB |
| 50 users | Contact for pricing | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB |
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 Crusoe Cloud
- Higher Support score (8/10 vs 5/10)
- Higher Scalability score (8/10 vs 7/10)
- Better fit for enterprise (8/10 vs 5/10)
Why choose DigitalOcean
- Higher Ease of Use score (9/10 vs 7/10)
- Higher Integration score (7/10 vs 6/10)
- Better fit for small business (7/10 vs 3/10)
Pros & Cons
Crusoe Cloud
Pros
- SemiAnalysis gave it a ClusterMAX Gold rating and praised how easy the console is to use, along with its fault management.
- Reviewers describe hands-on, white-glove engineering support.
- It covers NVIDIA H100 through B300 and AMD MI355X GPUs, with InfiniBand clusters.
- CPU, storage and Kubernetes rates are published openly, for example $0.10 per Kubernetes cluster-hour.
- Developers get a CLI, a Terraform provider, an API and an MCP server for automation.
Cons
- There are few independent user reviews on G2, Capterra or Gartner.
- It has fewer managed services and a narrower geographic footprint than the hyperscalers.
- Self-serve GPU rates on the pricing page are set to rise from December 1, 2026.
- Service terms reportedly exclude HIPAA-regulated workloads.
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.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
DigitalOcean scores higher on our AI Software criteria: 7.1/10 against 6.6/10 for Crusoe Cloud. The largest gap is in Support: 8/10 for Crusoe Cloud and 5/10 for DigitalOcean.
No, neither Crusoe Cloud nor DigitalOcean lists a free plan.
DigitalOcean is the better fit for small business: we rate it 7/10 for them, against 3/10 for Crusoe Cloud.
