VPS · head to head · checked 8 August 2026

Alibaba Cloud vs DigitalOcean

10 VPS plans from the two, side by side: what each plan includes, what it costs, and where the price comes from.

Alibaba Cloud

from $11/mo

ecs.n4.small · 3 plans listed

Best price per vCPU: $10.50/vCPU (ecs.n4.large)

DigitalOcean

from $4/mo

Basic 512 MB · 7 plans listed

Best price per vCPU: $4.00/vCPU (Basic 512 MB)

Which is cheaper, Alibaba Cloud or DigitalOcean?

DigitalOcean's cheapest listed plan is Basic 512 MB at $4/mo; Alibaba Cloud's is ecs.n4.small at $11/mo.

Which gives more for the money, Alibaba Cloud or DigitalOcean?

On price per vCPU, DigitalOcean does best with Basic 512 MB at $4.00/vCPU; Alibaba Cloud's best is ecs.n4.large at $10.50/vCPU.

How many VPS plans does each offer here?

We list 3 for Alibaba Cloud and 7 for DigitalOcean, each checked against the provider's own pricing page.

Alibaba Cloud

Everything from Alibaba Cloud

ecs.n4.smallapprox
vCPU
1 (shared)
RAM
2 GB
Storage
Not included — system disk billed separately
Transfer
Not included — billed separately
Region
Singapore
$11/moVisit price source · checked 2026-08-08
ecs.n4.largeapprox
vCPU
2 (shared)
RAM
4 GB
Storage
Not included — system disk billed separately
Transfer
Not included — billed separately
Region
Singapore
$21/moVisit price source · checked 2026-08-08
ecs.n4.xlargeapprox
vCPU
4 (shared)
RAM
8 GB
Storage
Not included — system disk billed separately
Transfer
Not included — billed separately
Region
Singapore
$61/moVisit price source · checked 2026-08-08

DigitalOcean

Everything from DigitalOcean

Basic 512 MB
vCPU
1 (shared)
RAM
0.5 GB
Storage
10 GB SSD
Transfer
500 GB
Region
Global (15 regions)
$4/moVisit price source · checked 2026-08-05
Basic 1 GB
vCPU
1 (shared)
RAM
1 GB
Storage
25 GB SSD
Transfer
1 TB
Region
Global (15 regions)
$6/moVisit price source · checked 2026-08-05
Basic 2 GB
vCPU
1 (shared)
RAM
2 GB
Storage
50 GB SSD
Transfer
2 TB
Region
Global (15 regions)
$12/moVisit price source · checked 2026-08-05
Basic 2 GB / 2 vCPU
vCPU
2 (shared)
RAM
2 GB
Storage
60 GB SSD
Transfer
3 TB
Region
Global (15 regions)
$18/moVisit price source · checked 2026-08-05
Basic 4 GB
vCPU
2 (shared)
RAM
4 GB
Storage
80 GB SSD
Transfer
4 TB
Region
Global (15 regions)
$24/moVisit price source · checked 2026-08-05
Basic 8 GB
vCPU
4 (shared)
RAM
8 GB
Storage
160 GB SSD
Transfer
5 TB
Region
Global (15 regions)
$48/moVisit price source · checked 2026-08-05
Basic 16 GB
vCPU
8 (shared)
RAM
16 GB
Storage
320 GB SSD
Transfer
6 TB
Region
Global (15 regions)
$96/moVisit price source · checked 2026-08-05

Alibaba Cloud against the rest

DigitalOcean against the rest

How this page is made: every figure above is computed from the plans listed, which were checked against each provider's own pricing page (linked per plan, with the date). Nothing here is ranked by who pays us. The highlighted plan is each provider's best on price per vCPU. Non-USD prices are converted at an approximate fixed rate for comparison only. See our methodology and how we make money.