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Head-to-head · VPS Hosting in Europe

DigitalOcean Droplets vs Scaleway Virtual Instances

  • Updated Sep 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 2 checks side by side
DigitalOcean Droplets #1 in VPS Hosting in Europe 8.8/10 From $4/mo ✓ 0 of 1 features Visit DigitalOcean
Scaleway Virtual Instances #2 in VPS Hosting in Europe 8.8/10 From €0.43/mo ✓ 1 of 1 features Visit Scaleway

DigitalOcean Droplets leads on 0 checks, Scaleway Virtual Instances on 1, and 1 is even. Who comes out ahead on the 2 yes/no, price and count checks where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

  • Most featuresScaleway Virtual Instances · 1 of 1

DigitalOcean Droplets and Scaleway Virtual Instances score identically on our rubric (8.8 out of 10) for vps hosting in europe; DigitalOcean Droplets sits at #1 and Scaleway Virtual Instances at #2 in our editorial ranking, so the choice comes down to fit.

Scaleway Virtual Instances offers root access; DigitalOcean Droplets doesn't publish it.

DigitalOcean Droplets is the better fit for teams wanting established, scalable cloud VPS. Scaleway Virtual Instances is the better fit for low-cost European VM deployments.

  • DigitalOcean Droplets fits best

    Teams wanting established, scalable cloud VPS

  • Scaleway Virtual Instances fits best

    Low-cost European VM deployments

Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. We may earn a commission when you click some links. It never changes our verdict. How we rank.

Side by side

Feature DigitalOcean Droplets 8.8/10 Visit ↗ Scaleway Virtual Instances 8.8/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 8.8 8.8
Ranking #1 in VPS Hosting in Europe #2 in VPS Hosting in Europe
Best for Teams wanting established, scalable cloud VPS Low-cost European VM deployments
Pricing model Paid Paid
Starting price $4/mo Not published
Free plan — —
Free trial — —
Deployment Cloud Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms Web, Linux Web
Support Email, Live chat, Tickets · 24/7 Tickets, Phone, Community, Docs · 24/7
Compliance SOC 2, PCI DSS ISO 27001, GDPR
Integrations 2 integrations 5 integrations
Built for Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features DigitalOcean Droplets 0/1 · Scaleway Virtual Instances 1/1
Root access Not published ✓ (best)
Specs
vCPU cores Not published Not published
RAM Not published Not published
NVMe storage Not published Not published
Bandwidth Not published Not published
European locations Not published Not published
Managed service Not published Not published
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
  • STARDUST1-S starts at €0.43 per instance per month.
  • VM families cover development, general-purpose, compute- and memory-optimized workloads.
  • Manage infrastructure through the API, Terraform or Scaleway CLI.
Cons
  • Backups and snapshots cost extra as add-ons
  • Linux-based workloads only
  • Load balancing, storage, and databases are separate products
  • The STARDUST1-S compute price excludes storage and attached public IPv4 charges.
  • The listed regions are limited to Paris, Amsterdam and Warsaw.
  • The lowest-priced listed instance has 1 vCPU and 1 GB RAM.
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 →

Scaleway Virtual Instances are cloud virtual machines for applications, development environments, internal tools, websites, databases and compute-intensive workloads. They suit teams seeking European deployment locations and a choice of VM…

Read the review →
  1. DigitalOcean DropletsVPS Hosting in Europe 8.8From $4/mo
  2. Scaleway Virtual InstancesVPS Hosting in Europe 8.8From €0.43/mo

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

  • Scaleway Virtual Instances — where it wins

    • STARDUST1-S starts at €0.43 per instance per month.
    • VM families cover development, general-purpose, compute- and memory-optimized workloads.
    • Manage infrastructure through the API, Terraform or Scaleway CLI.

    Where it doesn't

    • The STARDUST1-S compute price excludes storage and attached public IPv4 charges.
    • The listed regions are limited to Paris, Amsterdam and Warsaw.
    • The lowest-priced listed instance has 1 vCPU and 1 GB RAM.
  • DigitalOcean Droplets8.8/10 · From $4/mo

    A scalable Linux VPS with broad management options and a $4 monthly entry point.

    Visit DigitalOceanFull verdict →
  • Scaleway Virtual Instances8.8/10 · From €0.43/mo

    A low-cost European VM option with several instance families and infrastructure-management tools.

    Visit ScalewayFull verdict →

More comparisons

All VPS hosting in europe comparisons → · Full ranking →

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Sep 2026

Last updated · How we research and update