DigitalOcean vs Modal
Cloud Infrastructure pricing comparison · 2026
DigitalOcean has a free plan, then $4–$15/mo, while Modal has a free plan, then $250/mo. These products use different pricing models ( vs Per-seat subscription), so a direct price comparison isn't meaningful — costs depend on usage volume and mix.
DigitalOcean
DigitalOcean pricing starts at $4/month for a Basic Droplet (512 MiB RAM / 1 vCPU).
verified 2d ago
$410
$683
Modal
Modal pricing starts at $0/month on the Starter plan, where you pay only for the GPU and C
verified 2d ago
$410
$683
Recorded annual contract medians
DigitalOcean
median is
$273
less than
Modal
· different customer contracts; not a quote
Cheapest
$410
Spread
40%
Estimated license cost
at 25 seats
List price × seats. Click a tier below to lock it.
Spaces
$1.5K/yr
year 1 license · $5/seat
Team
$3.0K/yr
year 1 license · flat plan price
What buyers actually pay
median, annual
Vendr deal-flow data. The real benchmark, not list price.
↓ Lowest median
Median annual
$410/yr
Vendr · n=145
Median annual
$683/yr
Vendr · n=110
REF · 01
Sources & confidence
Every dollar amount and contract clause below traces back to a sourced fact. We don't manufacture composite scores.
Where this data comes from
Vendr · TrustRadius · Reddit · BBB · official docs
Sources
17 sourced facts
11 hidden-cost · 3 contract · Vendr median · 2 review platforms
Last verified
2d ago
Confidence
Medium confidence
Sources
12 sourced facts
10 hidden-cost · 1 contract · Vendr median
Last verified
2d ago
Confidence
Limited confidence
REF · 02
Plans at a glance
Every tier per product. Lock one to drive the cost row above and reveal a tier-specific outbound CTA.
Tier ladder
Click a tier to lock the cost row to it. Locking surfaces a tier-specific Visit CTA.
REF · 04
Contract terms
The fine print, surfaced. Green = buyer-friendly. Each clause backed by a quoted source.
DigitalOcean
Modal
Auto-renewal
Yes
Yes
Cancellation
—
—
Commitment
✓
Monthly (hourly billing available)
—
Price escalation
No published schedule; hardware fleet reportedly aging without refresh
—
Can downgrade
✓
Yes
—
REF · 05
What users say
Aggregated, with sample sizes. We use whichever review platform has data.
User reviews
TrustRadius · Trustpilot · G2
Decide
Get a quote from each vendor
Each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.
License cost is computed from publicly listed plans (real math, list price × seats).
Median annual cost is from Vendr's deal flow when available — see source badges.
Hidden costs and contract terms each cite their own sources. We do not invent composite scores.
VS
Plan-by-Plan Pricing
| Plan | DigitalOcean | Modal |
|---|---|---|
| App Platform | Free /month | Free /month |
| Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) | Free /month | $250 /month |
| Container Registry | Free /month | Custom |
| Functions | Free /month | — |
| Support Plans | Free /month | — |
| Uptime | Free /month | — |
| Virtual Private Cloud | Free /month | — |
| Droplets | $4 /month | — |
| Spaces | $5 /month | — |
| Volumes | $10 /month | — |
| Cloudways Managed Hosting | $11 /month | — |
| Kubernetes | $12 /month | — |
| Load Balancers | $12 /month | — |
| Databases | $15 /month | — |
| GPU Droplet | Custom | — |
Cost at Scale
Total cost of ownership — licenses, implementation, and hidden costs included.
DigitalOcean
4 scenarios$4/month ($48/year)
Hobbyist / Developer Single App
$7/month ($84/year)
Small Business Website
$19/month ($228/year)
Developer Stack with Managed Postgres
Modal
2 scenarios$250/month
Small Team: Periodic GPU Workloads
plan + ~$2/hr per GPU compute
~$72/hr for large model serving
Large Model Serving (70B+ Parameter Models)
Market Intelligence
DigitalOcean
- Median annual cost
- $410
- Based on
- 145 deals
Modal
- Median annual cost
- $683
- Based on
- 110 deals
Contract Terms
| Term | DigitalOcean | Modal |
|---|---|---|
| Auto-renewal | Yes | Yes |
| Cancellation | — | — |
| Minimum commitment | Monthly (hourly billing available) | — |
| Price escalation | No published schedule; hardware fleet reportedly aging without refresh | — |
| Can downgrade | Yes | — |