DigitalOcean vs Gcore Comparison
Compare DigitalOcean vs Gcore 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.
Gcore
6.8/10
Luxembourg-based edge and cloud provider offering CDN, virtual machines, bare metal, managed Kubernetes, object storage, AI GPU cloud, and DDoS/WAF security for businesses.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 7.1/10 | 6.8/10 |
| Analytics | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Cost | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Customization | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Ease of Use | 9/10 | 6/10 |
| Integration | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Scalability | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Security | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Support | 5/10 | 5/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | $4/mo Basic Droplet 512 MiB | €390/mo DDoS Protection Start |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $4/mo Basic Droplet 512 MiB | €390/mo DDoS Protection Start |
| Features | ||
| Automatic Backups | Not listed | |
| Cloud Compute | ||
| Content Delivery Network | ||
| DDoS Protection | ||
| 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 | |
| Dedicated Servers | Not listed | |
DigitalOcean vs Gcore cost by team size
| Team size | DigitalOcean | Gcore |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB | €390/moDDoS Protection Start |
| 5 users | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB | €390/moDDoS Protection Start |
| 10 users | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB | €390/moDDoS Protection Start |
| 25 users | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB | €390/moDDoS Protection Start |
| 50 users | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB | €390/moDDoS Protection Start |
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)
- Better fit for startups (9/10 vs 6/10)
Why choose Gcore
- Has a free plan (DigitalOcean does not)
- Higher Analytics score (7/10 vs 6/10)
- Higher Scalability score (8/10 vs 7/10)
- Better fit for enterprise (8/10 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.
Gcore
Pros
- The CDN includes 1 TB of traffic and 1 billion requests free each month, and traffic after that starts at 0.01 EUR per GB.
- DDoS protection pricing does not depend on attack size, and mitigation is not metered on any plan.
- The managed Kubernetes control plane is free with high availability, so you pay only for the nodes.
- A large edge footprint, reported at about 210 PoPs and 200 Tbps of capacity, suits latency-sensitive workloads such as gaming and streaming.
- Headquarters in Luxembourg is an advantage for buyers who prefer an EU-based provider.
Cons
- Trustpilot scores are around 2.5 out of 5, with complaints about recurring billing, refunds, and slow support.
- There is no public price list for VMs and bare metal; prices are only available through the calculator.
- The Terraform v2 provider is still in alpha and Gcore says it is not ready for production.
- The product range is very broad, which can make it harder for small teams to understand how pricing works.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
DigitalOcean scores higher on our AI Software criteria: 7.1/10 against 6.8/10 for Gcore. The largest gap is in Ease of Use: 9/10 for DigitalOcean and 6/10 for Gcore.
Gcore has a free plan; DigitalOcean does not list one.
Gcore is the better fit for enterprise: we rate it 8/10 for them, against 5/10 for DigitalOcean.
