Table of Contents
Side by side
| DigitalOcean | Linode (Akamai) | |
|---|---|---|
| Shared CPU, 1 GB | Basic 1 GiB: 1 vCPU, 25 GiB, 1,000 GiB transfer, $6 (512 MiB at $4) | Nanode 1GB: 1 vCPU, 25 GB, 1 TB, $5 |
| Shared CPU, 2 GB | Basic 2 GiB: 1 vCPU, 50 GiB, 2,000 GiB, $12 (or 2 vCPU, 60 GiB, $18) | Linode 2GB: 1 vCPU, 50 GB, 2 TB, $12 |
| Shared CPU, 4 GB | Basic 4 GiB: 2 vCPU, 80 GiB, 4,000 GiB, $24 | Linode 4GB: 2 vCPU, 80 GB, 4 TB, $24 |
| Shared CPU, 8 GB | Basic 8 GiB: 4 vCPU, 160 GiB, 5,000 GiB, $48 | Linode 8GB: 4 vCPU, 160 GB, 5 TB, $48 |
| Shared CPU, 16 GB | Basic 16 GiB: 8 vCPU, 320 GiB, 6,000 GiB, $96 | Linode 16GB: 6 vCPU, 320 GB, 8 TB, $96 |
| Dedicated CPU entry | CPU-Optimized 2 vCPU, 4 GiB, 25 GiB, $42; General Purpose 2 vCPU, 8 GiB, $63 | Dedicated 4GB: 2 vCPU, 80 GB, 4 TB, $36; Dedicated 8GB $72 |
| Billing | Per second, 60-second minimum, capped monthly | Hourly, capped monthly |
| US locations | NYC, SFO (all families); Atlanta, Richmond, Kansas City (Premium CPU only); Memphis (v5, GPU only) | Ten regions: Newark, Washington DC (two), Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, Dallas, Fremont, Los Angeles, Seattle |
| Transfer | Allowance per Droplet; overage and pooling on a page not read here | Pooled across the account; inbound free; overage only above the pool |
| Backups | 20% weekly or 30% daily of Droplet cost; usage plans from $0.01/GiB | $2 (Nanode), $2.50 (2GB), $5 (4GB), $10 (8GB), $20 (16GB), $40 (32GB) a month |
| Snapshots | $0.06/GB per month | Within the backup service |
| Platform | Managed databases, Kubernetes, App Platform, Spaces with CDN, load balancers, VPC, API | Managed databases, LKE Kubernetes, NodeBalancers, block and object storage, VPC, API and CLI |
| Ownership | Independent | Akamai, since March 2022 |
Prices: the same ladder, two ends that differ
From DigitalOcean's Droplet pricing page (Basic, Regular CPU, parsed on 2026-09-19) and Linode's types API in September 2026, the shared-CPU plans match to the dollar from 2 GB upward: $12, $24, $48 and $96. From 2 GB to 8 GB the vCPU counts (1, 2, 4), disk sizes (50, 80, 160 GB) and transfer figures (2, 4, 5 TB) match as well; at 16 GB the price is the same $96 but DigitalOcean gives 8 vCPUs and 6,000 GiB against Linode's 6 vCPUs and 8 TB. The ladder diverges only at the ends. At the bottom, Linode's Nanode is $5 for 1 GB where DigitalOcean's 1 GiB is $6, and DigitalOcean sells a $4 half-gigabyte Droplet that Linode does not. At the dedicated-CPU end, Linode's Dedicated 4GB (2 vCPU, 4 GB, 80 GB, 4 TB) is $36 where DigitalOcean's cheapest dedicated shapes are $42 (CPU-Optimized: 2 vCPU, 4 GiB, 25 GiB) and $63 (General Purpose: 2 vCPU, 8 GiB). DigitalOcean's Premium Intel and AMD options on the Basic line, and its configurable v5 Droplets, are priced on other tabs and in a configurator and are not quoted; Linode's premium and high-memory lines are in its API and covered on its review.
Regions: ten against five
Linode's regions API lists ten US regions: us-east (Newark), us-iad and us-iad-2 (Washington DC), us-southeast (Atlanta), us-mia (Miami), us-ord (Chicago), us-central (Dallas), us-west (Fremont), us-lax (Los Angeles) and us-sea (Seattle). DigitalOcean's regional availability page lists NYC1, NYC2, NYC3, SFO2, SFO3, ATL1, RIC1, MKC1 and MEM1 in the US, and its product matrix restricts three of them: Atlanta, Richmond and Kansas City sell Droplets in Premium-CPU variants only, and Memphis sells only v5 and GPU Droplets, so a buyer of the $12 Basic Droplet has New York and San Francisco. Prices are the same in every region at both providers. Linode reaches Texas, Florida, the Pacific Northwest and Los Angeles; DigitalOcean reaches Richmond and Kansas City. The low-latency page maps metros to audiences.
Transfer: pooled against per-Droplet
Linode's transfer is counted per account. Akamai's TechDocs describe a pool: each plan contributes its allowance (1 TB for the Nanode, 2 TB for Linode 2GB, 4 TB for 4GB, 5 TB for 8GB, 16 TB for 32GB), inbound transfer is free, and overage is charged only if the account's total outbound exceeds the pool in a billing period, at a rate that depends on region and is on Linode's pricing page. DigitalOcean's pricing page prints a transfer figure per Droplet (500 GiB at $4, 1,000 GiB at $6, 2,000 GiB at $12, 4,000 GiB at $24, 5,000 GiB at $48, 6,000 GiB at $96); whether those are pooled, and what the overage rate is, are on its bandwidth documentation, which this page did not read and does not quote. For a single server the two allowances are the same size; for several, Linode's rule is the one this page can describe.
Backups and snapshots
Linode's types API carries a backup add-on price per plan: $2 a month on the Nanode, $2.50 on Linode 2GB, $5 on 4GB, $10 on 8GB, $20 on 16GB, $40 on 32GB, with slightly higher figures in two non-US regions. DigitalOcean's pricing page: backups are "Percentage-based Backups, set at 20 % (Weekly) or 30 % (Daily) of Droplet cost", or usage-based plans that "start at $ 0.01 /GiB per month and offer highly flexible frequencies (up to every 4 hours) and custom retention periods (3 days to 6 months)"; Droplet snapshots are "$0.06/GB per month". Side by side at 2 GB: Linode $2.50; DigitalOcean $2.40 weekly or $3.60 daily. At 8 GB: Linode $10; DigitalOcean $9.60 or $14.40. Daily backups therefore cost more on DigitalOcean at every size, weekly slightly less, and Linode's price includes its manual snapshot. Neither replaces a copy stored outside the provider.
Per second against per hour
DigitalOcean's pricing FAQ: "Bundled Plan and v5 Droplets are both billed on a per-second basis, with a 60-second minimum", and the page notes the move to per-second billing "with a minimum charge of 60 seconds or $0.01, whichever is higher". Linode's types API carries an hourly price per plan ($0.0075 for the Nanode, $0.018 for Linode 2GB, $0.036 for 4GB) capped at the monthly figure. For an always-on server both cost the monthly price. For automation that creates and destroys servers in minutes, DigitalOcean's rounding is finer; for anything that runs an hour or more the difference is cents.
The platform around the server
Both sell the same core set: managed databases, a managed Kubernetes service (DigitalOcean Kubernetes; Linode's LKE, with node pools priced as the underlying plans), load balancers (NodeBalancers at Linode), block storage, object storage, VPC networking, a documented API and official clients. DigitalOcean adds App Platform (deploy from a repository without a server), Spaces object storage with a built-in CDN, and a broader managed-database list. Linode adds Akamai's ownership since 2022 and the network that comes with it, which this page notes without measuring. Neither platform has been evaluated here; both are documented on their product pages, and both are the reason to pay $12 for 2 GB rather than $3.
Who should pick which
- Several small servers with uneven traffic: Linode, for the transfer pool.
- Texas, Florida, Los Angeles or Seattle: Linode. Richmond or Kansas City: DigitalOcean, on Premium-CPU plans.
- Dedicated CPU at the lowest entry price: Linode, $36.
- An app deployed from a repository, or object storage with a CDN in the box: DigitalOcean.
- Servers that live for minutes: DigitalOcean, per-second.
- One 2 GB web server: either, at $12; pick the region. Or InterServer at $3 if the platform is not needed.
What this page could not verify
- DigitalOcean's transfer overage rate and whether allowances pool across Droplets: on its bandwidth documentation, not read here.
- Linode's overage rate per region: on its pricing page, not quoted.
- DigitalOcean Premium Intel and AMD prices and v5 Droplet prices: other tabs and the configurator.
- Support plans, DDoS protection scope and SLAs at either: not read for this page.
- Any performance figure: none published for these plans, none measured here.