DigitalOcean vs Scaleway
A detailed comparison to help you choose between DigitalOcean and Scaleway.
DigitalOcean Developer-friendly cloud with predictable pricing | Scaleway French cloud with GDPR-native design | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.1 (413 reviews) | 4.8 (475 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | paid | freemium |
| Starting price | From €6/mo | Free tier available✓ |
| Best for | Developers and startups wanting a one-stop cloud platform with excellent docs and proven ecosystem | European companies who need GDPR-compliant infrastructure and want a French alternative to AWS |
| Specifications (entry plan) | ||
| CPU cores | 1 vCPU | 2 vCPU✓ |
| RAM | 1 GB | 2 GB✓ |
| Storage | 25 GB✓ | 20 GB |
| Bandwidth | 1 TB/mo | 1 TB/mo |
| SLA uptime | 99.99%✓ | 99.9% |
| Data-center count | 15✓ | 5 |
| €/vCPU/mo | €6.00 | €0.00✓ |
| €/GB RAM/mo | €6.00 | €0.00✓ |
| Performance | ||
| CPU score (sysbench) | 5,200 | — |
| Disk read (fio) | 2,800 MB/s | — |
| Disk IOPS (4K random) | 55,000 | — |
| Network out | 1 Gbps | — |
| Latency (TTFB) | 28 ms | — |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ||
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ✓ | |
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ||
| Data-center locations | ||
| Regions | United StatesNetherlandsSingaporeUnited KingdomGermanyCanada+2 | FranceNetherlandsPoland |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tierhourly billingnvme storageipv6ddos protectionbackups includedsnapshotsmanaged options3 compatibleeu datacenterus datacenterapac datacenterterraform providerkubernetes supportprivate networkingapi access | free tierhourly billingipv6ddos protectionsnapshotsmanaged optionbare metalgpu availables3 compatibleeu datacentergdpr compliantterraform providerkubernetes supportapi access |
| Visit DigitalOcean → | Visit Scaleway → | |
DigitalOcean
Pros
- + Best documentation and developer onboarding in the industry
- + Predictable pricing with no egress surprises
- + Full ecosystem: VPS + managed DB + K8s + storage + CDN
Cons
- - More expensive than Hetzner for equivalent specs
- - US-centric with fewer EU locations than European providers
Scaleway
Pros
- + French jurisdiction — strong GDPR and data sovereignty
- + Free tier includes starter VPS instances
- + Serverless functions and containers in one ecosystem
Cons
- - Primarily EU-only — limited global reach
- - Less documentation than AWS/DigitalOcean
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