Best Vps Hosting · head-to-head
DigitalOcean vs Vultr
A sourced, side-by-side comparison for vps hosting. Vultr has the lower entry price. Every figure links to the vendor's own page and the date we captured it.
At a glance
- Price: DigitalOcean $6/mo vs Vultr $5/mo — Vultr is cheaper to start.
- Free tier: DigitalOcean No; Vultr No.
- HIPAA: DigitalOcean Yes; Vultr Yes.
Side by side
| DigitalOcean | Vultr | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $6/mo (Basic Droplet — 1 GB) | $5/mo (Cloud Compute Regular — 1 GB) |
| Free tier | No | No |
| HIPAA (BAA) | Yes | Yes |
| SOC 2 | Yes | Yes |
| GDPR | No | Yes |
| Best for | SMB SaaS builders | compliance-sensitive workloads |
Sources — DigitalOcean: digitalocean.com (verified 2026-06-15). Vultr: vultr.com (verified 2026-06-15).
Key features
DigitalOcean: SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3 Type II, HIPAA-eligible workloads, PCI-DSS SAQ-A, ISO 27001 (data centers), Global PRP, and CSA STAR Level 1; 99.99% uptime SLA on Droplets with per-second billing (60s minimum); DORA-eligible workloads; One-click app marketplace; GPU Droplets for AI/ML
Vultr: HIPAA compliance achieved through SOC 2+ with Business Associate Agreements (BAAs); also SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27017/27018, ISO 20000, PCI DSS, CSA STAR Level 1, GDPR (controller and processor); Managed Kubernetes with free control plane (vs. paid control planes at some competitors); Independent cloud with 33 regions; Cloud Compute entry price from $2.50/month (IPv6-only)