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Head-to-head · VPS Hosting in Europe

DigitalOcean Droplets vs Exoscale Compute

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 1 check side by side
Higher score DigitalOcean Droplets #2 in VPS Hosting in Europe 9.2/10 Paid ✓ 0 of 1 features Visit DigitalOcean

DigitalOcean Droplets leads on 0 checks, Exoscale Compute on 0, and 1 is even. Who comes out ahead on the 1 yes/no, price and count check where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

  • Highest scoreDigitalOcean Droplets · 9.2/10

DigitalOcean Droplets scores higher on our rubric for vps hosting in europe: 9.2 against 8.5 out of 10; our editors rank them #2 and #7.

DigitalOcean Droplets is the better fit for teams wanting established, scalable cloud VPS. Exoscale Compute is the better fit for teams needing integrated cloud compute services.

  • DigitalOcean Droplets fits best

    Teams wanting established, scalable cloud VPS

  • Exoscale Compute fits best

    Teams needing integrated cloud compute services

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Side by side

Feature DigitalOcean Droplets 9.2/10 Visit ↗ Exoscale Compute 8.5/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 9.2 8.5
Ranking #2 in VPS Hosting in Europe #7 in VPS Hosting in Europe
Best for Teams wanting established, scalable cloud VPS Teams needing integrated cloud compute services
Pricing model Paid Paid
Starting price $4/mo Not checked yet
Free plan — —
Free trial — —
Deployment Cloud Cloud
Platforms Web, Linux Web
Support Email, Live chat, Tickets · 24/7 Tickets
Compliance SOC 2, PCI DSS GDPR, ISO 27001
Integrations 2 integrations 6 integrations
Built for Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features DigitalOcean Droplets 0/1 · Exoscale Compute 0/1
Root access Not checked yet Not checked yet
Specs
vCPU cores Not checked yet Not checked yet
RAM Not checked yet Not checked yet
NVMe storage Not checked yet Not checked yet
Bandwidth Not checked yet Not checked yet
European locations Not checked yet Not checked yet
Managed service Not checked yet Not checked yet
Our review
Pros
  • Scales Droplets horizontally with autoscale pools
  • Control panel, CLI, API, and Terraform management
  • Multiple compute families plus 500 GiB transfer on Basic
  • Five instance families cover standard, CPU, memory, storage, and GPU workloads
  • Instance Pools, load balancing, and private networking support scaling and connectivity
  • Connects with Exoscale storage, databases, Kubernetes, Terraform, and Ansible
Cons
  • Backups and snapshots cost extra as add-ons
  • Linux-based workloads only
  • Load balancing, storage, and databases are separate products
  • Compute, local storage, and block storage are billed separately
  • GPU instance availability varies by zone
  • No free plan is offered
Our verdict

DigitalOcean Droplets are Linux-based virtual machines for websites, applications, databases, development environments, and other cloud workloads. They suit solo developers through enterprise teams that want several compute profiles and…

Read the review →

Exoscale Compute provides cloud virtual machines for developers and organizations running workloads in European data-center zones. Its five instance families—Standard, CPU-Optimized, Memory-Optimized, Storage-Optimized, and GPU—let teams…

Read the review →
  1. DigitalOcean DropletsVPS Hosting in Europe 9.2Paid
  2. Exoscale ComputeVPS Hosting in Europe 8.5Paid

Strengths and trade-offs

  • DigitalOcean Droplets — where it wins

    • Scales Droplets horizontally with autoscale pools
    • Control panel, CLI, API, and Terraform management
    • Multiple compute families plus 500 GiB transfer on Basic

    Where it doesn't

    • Backups and snapshots cost extra as add-ons
    • Linux-based workloads only
    • Load balancing, storage, and databases are separate products
  • Exoscale Compute — where it wins

    • Five instance families cover standard, CPU, memory, storage, and GPU workloads
    • Instance Pools, load balancing, and private networking support scaling and connectivity
    • Connects with Exoscale storage, databases, Kubernetes, Terraform, and Ansible

    Where it doesn't

    • Compute, local storage, and block storage are billed separately
    • GPU instance availability varies by zone
    • No free plan is offered

More comparisons

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Last updated · How we research and update