DigitalOcean vs Scaleway Comparison
Compare DigitalOcean vs Scaleway 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.
Scaleway
6.6/10
French cloud provider offering virtual instances, bare metal, managed Kubernetes, serverless, databases, object storage and GPUs from EU-only data centers for businesses and developers.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 7.1/10 | 6.6/10 |
| Analytics | 6/10 | 5/10 |
| Cost | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Customization | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Ease of Use | 9/10 | 7/10 |
| Integration | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Scalability | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Support | 5/10 | 4/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | $4/mo Basic Droplet 512 MiB | €59/mo Silver Support |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $4/mo Basic Droplet 512 MiB | Free Basic Support |
| 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 | ||
| Dedicated Servers | Not listed | |
DigitalOcean vs Scaleway cost by team size
| Team size | DigitalOcean | Scaleway |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB | FreeBasic Support |
| 5 users | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB | FreeBasic Support |
| 10 users | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB | FreeBasic Support |
| 25 users | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB | FreeBasic Support |
| 50 users | $4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB | FreeBasic Support |
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 7/10)
- Higher Analytics score (6/10 vs 5/10)
Why choose Scaleway
- Has a free plan (DigitalOcean does not)
- Higher Cost score (8/10 vs 7/10)
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.
Scaleway
Pros
- All data centers are in the EU, which helps with GDPR and data sovereignty requirements
- Low entry prices with hourly billing, and Instance list prices include egress
- The shared Kubernetes control plane is free
- A full API, CLI and Terraform provider allow infrastructure-as-code workflows
- A wide compute range covering bare metal, Apple silicon and current GPUs
Cons
- No regions outside Europe
- Trustpilot reviews frequently cite unexpected billing and account verification lockouts
- Support is slow on the free tier, and stronger support costs extra
- Block storage and public IPv4 are billed separately, which pushes costs above headline instance prices
- Development instances carry little or no availability SLO
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
DigitalOcean scores higher on our AI Software criteria: 7.1/10 against 6.6/10 for Scaleway. The largest gap is in Ease of Use: 9/10 for DigitalOcean and 7/10 for Scaleway.
Scaleway has a free plan; DigitalOcean does not list one.
