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- Amazon Lightsail-vs-DigitalOcean
Compare Amazon Lightsail and DigitalOcean 
At a Glance
Market Segments
Small-Business (57.7% of reviews)
Small-Business (86.2% of reviews)
Entry-Level Pricing
No pricing available
Starting at $4.00
Amazon Lightsail
Star Rating
(57)4.3 out of 5
Market Segments
Small-Business (57.7% of reviews)
Entry-Level Pricing
No pricing available
Learn more about Amazon LightsailDigitalOcean
Star Rating
(633)4.6 out of 5
Market Segments
Small-Business (86.2% of reviews)
Entry-Level Pricing
Starting at $4.00
Browse all 11 pricing plansSummary
AI Generated Summary
AI-generated. Powered by real user reviews.
- Users report that DigitalOcean excels in ease of use with a score of 9.3, while Amazon Lightsail has a lower score of 8.7. Reviewers mention that DigitalOcean's intuitive interface makes it easier for small businesses to manage their cloud infrastructure.
- Reviewers mention that DigitalOcean offers superior scalability with a score of 9.1 compared to Amazon Lightsail's perfect score of 10.0. However, users on G2 highlight that DigitalOcean's resource auto-scaling feature is particularly beneficial for growing applications.
- G2 users report that DigitalOcean's quality of support is rated at 8.6, which is significantly higher than Amazon Lightsail's 7.6. Users say that DigitalOcean's responsive customer service and extensive documentation make troubleshooting much easier.
- Users say that DigitalOcean shines in its virtual machine capabilities, scoring 9.5, while Amazon Lightsail's score is not specified. Reviewers mention that the flexibility and performance of DigitalOcean's VMs are often highlighted as a key advantage.
- Reviewers mention that both platforms have strong security tools, each scoring 8.5. However, users on G2 report that DigitalOcean's network security features are particularly robust, providing peace of mind for businesses handling sensitive data.
- Users report that DigitalOcean's backup and recovery options score 8.8, while Amazon Lightsail's score is higher at 9.7. Reviewers mention that Lightsail's automated backup features are a significant plus for users looking for hassle-free data protection.
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Pricing
Entry-Level Pricing
Amazon Lightsail
No pricing availableDigitalOcean
Droplets
Starting at $4.00
Simple, affordable, fast virtual machines
- Deploys in seconds
- Scales up on demand
- Run any workload from mission critical apps to low traffic sites
Free Trial
Amazon Lightsail
No trial information availableDigitalOcean
No trial information availableRatings
Meets Requirements
8.5
40
9.1
550
Ease of Use
8.7
41
9.3
537
Ease of Setup
8.3
30
9.4
396
Ease of Admin
8.0
29
9.2
351
Quality of Support
7.6
37
8.6
446
Has the product been a good partner in doing business?
8.3
26
9.2
328
Product Direction (% positive)
8.2
39
9.0
537
Features by Category
Infrastructure Provision
Not enough data
9.3
88
Not enough data
Feature Not Available
Not enough data
Feature Not Available
Not enough data
Feature Not Available
Not enough data
8.5
64
Not enough data
9.5
92
Not enough data
Feature Not Available
Not enough data
9.0
76
Management
Not enough data
8.8
94
Not enough data
8.5
94
Not enough data
8.7
88
Functionality
Not enough data
Feature Not Available
Functionality
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Reliability
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Security
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Compatibility
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Usability - Load Balancing
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Performance Optimization - Load Balancing
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Security & Compliance - Load Balancing
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Hosting Management
8.1
31
8.3
305
7.9
30
8.9
312
7.4
19
Feature Not Available
8.0
26
8.6
245
8.0
23
8.2
201
8.2
22
8.7
228
7.6
22
7.9
180
8.2
23
Feature Not Available
8.0
23
8.8
257
8.5
24
8.5
255
Development
Not enough data
9.0
48
Not enough data
Feature Not Available
Not enough data
8.4
48
Not enough data
8.9
45
Not enough data
7.7
44
Database
Not enough data
8.7
44
Not enough data
7.7
45
Not enough data
7.8
42
Not enough data
8.7
43
Not enough data
9.1
45
Infrastructure
Not enough data
9.1
45
Not enough data
9.1
46
Not enough data
8.2
45
Configuration
8.6
6
8.6
33
8.3
5
8.6
33
9.3
5
8.5
33
Not enough data
7.1
32
10.0
6
8.5
33
Database Administration
9.3
5
8.6
33
9.0
5
8.3
33
8.7
5
7.8
32
Availability
10.0
6
9.2
33
9.7
6
8.9
32
Not enough data
8.4
33
Not enough data
8.6
33
Security
Not enough data
7.5
31
Not enough data
7.8
32
Not enough data
7.5
31
Data Management
9.3
5
8.5
31
Not enough data
7.5
31
Management
Not enough data
9.4
24
Not enough data
9.0
24
Not enough data
8.8
23
Organization
Not enough data
9.2
24
Not enough data
9.3
25
Not enough data
9.1
24
Development
Not enough data
8.8
23
Not enough data
8.9
22
Not enough data
8.8
23
Not enough data
9.1
23
Categories
Categories
Shared Categories
Amazon Lightsail and DigitalOcean are categorized as Database as a Service (DBaaS), Virtual Private Servers (VPS), and Block Storage
Unique Categories
DigitalOcean is categorized as Container Management, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Container Orchestration, Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Cloud Computing Platforms
Reviews
Reviewers' Company Size
Amazon Lightsail
Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.)
Mid-Market(51-1000 emp.)
Enterprise(> 1000 emp.)
DigitalOcean
Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.)
Mid-Market(51-1000 emp.)
Enterprise(> 1000 emp.)
Small-Business
(50 or fewer emp.)
Mid-Market
(51-1000 emp.)
Enterprise
(> 1000 emp.)
Reviewers' Industry
Information Technology and Services
25.0%
Computer Software
17.3%
Marketing and Advertising
5.8%
Education Management
5.8%
Real Estate
3.8%
Other
42.3%
Computer Software
24.9%
Information Technology and Services
20.1%
Internet
7.8%
Marketing and Advertising
5.6%
Computer & Network Security
2.7%
Other
38.9%
Most Helpful Reviews
Amazon Lightsail
Most Helpful Favorable Review
Verified User in Media Production
This made deploying a WordPress server really easy and fast. Provides options for load balancing and backups too.
Most Helpful Critical Review
Dhruval J.
Verified User in Information Technology and Services
Lightsail is not fully scalable option like EC2. Pricing is somewhat high compared to others. Overall Lightsail feels like traditional hosting, not as cloud. Maybe it's made that way.
DigitalOcean
Most Helpful Favorable Review
Christopher F.
Verified User in Financial Services
The low cost and the incredibly extensive documentation library. I've learned more Linux sever administration and application development and deployment from reading DO's documentation then literally anywhere else.
Most Helpful Critical Review
Chris H.
Verified User
The customer support is non-existent, takes days to respond and has been offshored to India. When you pay for backups, they are not retained if your server is deleted. My server was deleted and I had paid for backups, so I expected to be able to retain...
Verified User in Media Production
This made deploying a WordPress server really easy and fast. Provides options for load balancing and backups too.
Christopher F.
Verified User in Financial Services
The low cost and the incredibly extensive documentation library. I've learned more Linux sever administration and application development and deployment from reading DO's documentation then literally anywhere else.
Dhruval J.
Verified User in Information Technology and Services
Lightsail is not fully scalable option like EC2. Pricing is somewhat high compared to others. Overall Lightsail feels like traditional hosting, not as cloud. Maybe it's made that way.
Chris H.
Verified User
The customer support is non-existent, takes days to respond and has been offshored to India. When you pay for backups, they are not retained if your server is deleted. My server was deleted and I had paid for backups, so I expected to be able to retain...
Alternatives
Discussions
Is Amazon Lightsail good?
1 comment
PV
implicity: Amazon Lightsail is designed to be simple and easy to use, with a user-friendly interface and preconfigured options that make it easy for even...Read more
What is Amazon Lightsail used for?
1 comment
NC
Amazon Lightsail provides a few preconfigured VPS plans that include compute, storage and networking resources adequate to launch a web application in the...Read more
What is Amazon Lightsail used for?
1 comment
AS
Lightsail is used to launch a Virtual Private Server, with a fixed price.Read more
What are droplets in DigitalOcean?
7 comments
JL
Companies like to rename existing concepts to make them seem more exclusive. A Droplet is what Digital Ocean has decided to name its virtual machines,...Read more
What's your primary use case for DigitalOcean?
2 comments
TR
I use it for hosting my staging websites for my web dev business as well as hosting my own website. I'm not a big fan of web hosting companies, especially as...Read more
Are digital ocean droplets VPS?
2 comments
JL
Yes, Droplets are what Digital Ocean calls their VPS's.Read more
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