DigitalOcean is a giant cloud hosting provider that comes ahead to provide a simple cloud infrastructure so that everyone can take benefit from cloud technologies.
Why Cloud hosting?
Cloud hosting provides better control and ensured resources compared to shared hosting. In cloud hosting numerous machines are connected to each other and acting as a single machine. Whereas on shared hosting you are dependent on a single server. That is why cloud hosting is so much popular and surprisingly it is affordable too.
So what are the most possible reasons that urge most people to find for DigitalOcean alternatives?
Well, a person may have a different reason than others but there are also some common reasons. First of all, the foremost reason is the lack of technical support channels. So while hosting your project at DO if you run into any trouble you can only get help from their experts by submitting support tickets.
Getting help by submitting tickets is a good way that provides the full opportunity to explain the problem but in the meantime, it is a slow process. It might even take around a day to get a response from the company support department. So, a skilled developer may be able to find a solution by himself but for a newbie having a quick support channel like live chat is a necessary thing.
The next limitation is restricting the specific niche to make use of DO affordable hosting packages. Unfortunately, DO lack Windows operating system support which means it’s not a choice for Windows users. However, it is 100 percent possible to install Windows OS on DigitalOcean droplet (server) but for Windows licensing fees, server management and diagnosing means for everything you are on your own. Their support department won’t help you with anything regarding the Windows server.
Now let’s take a look at those 3 best services if for some reason you do want to use DigitalOcean.
CloudSigma
Since its inception (more than a decade ago), CloudSigma supporting a quick deployment of cloud hosting services. CloudSigma greets its customers with a 7-days free trial account. And the good thing you don’t require credit card details in order to avail trial account. You will get complete control of the server and a fully segregated environment.
There are various reasons to depend on the CloudSigma cloud infrastructure. You will be given with SSD storage and 10GigE Networking. Plus, they ensure full virtualization which means you will get allocated amount of resources as well as better security. CloudSigma is an ISO 27001 certified cloud provider for security and data security.
The company provides a 100% uptime guarantee. If their server down for over 15min they will issue x50 hosting credit to your account. To ensure low latency services, CloudSigma offers 10 data center locations. So no matter whether your audience located Europe, Asia, the Middle East or America you can easily locate near them.
CloudSigma adopts a different approach than DO when it comes to cloud hosting packages. Instead of picking up from pre-made plans at CloudSigma you are allowed to craft a plan as per your requirements. When you visit their website go to the Pricing page and there you can calculate the price of your desired resources. Once you are good with pricing, go ahead create an account and add resources using the provided control panel.
Unlike DO, you can host any operating system. The support services are relatively better than DigitalOcean. You can use live chat and email tickets for getting help. In a nutshell, CloudSigma is a good option that not only fully supports Windows, Linux, and FreeBSD but also provide a rapid way for the customers to contact with their team.
Vultr
Vultr is another strong competitor to DigitalOcean. They offer almost similar specs cloud hosting plans with similar price tags to DigitalOcean. The company has its distinctive position in the web hosting industry because of its state of the art and huge infrastructure. With easy to use control panel and instant server setting up makes Vultr stand out of the crowded market.
The major reason that makes Vultr a more viable solution is the availability of data center zones. After creating an account while setting up a server you can opt one of the data centers out of their 16 locations. The choice of a data center is so important because by locating near your targeted audience the data takes less time to travel between the user and server.
Vultr well takes care of the scalability of resources. Besides offering affordable hosting plans Vultr holds more powerful solutions such as Bare Metals, Dedicated Cloud, Object Storage, and Load balancers.
When it comes to operating system compatibility as opposed to DigitalOcean Vultr put no restrictions. The company officially supports numerous Windows and Linux OS distributions. Additionally, you can also upload your own ISO file.
Vultr pricing starts at just $2.50/month which is $0.004/hr making it one of the cheapest cloud hosting providers. Although it’s a very basic plan containing very limited resources but with easy scalability, you can start with limited resources and can add more instantly whenever you need them.
For supporting easy app installation, Vultr includes a 1-click installer in their control panel. It allows you to install applications such as WordPress, Joomla, LEMP, GitLab and more. You can also integrate cPanel using the one-click installer.
On the downside, sadly Vultr does not offer live chat or phone support. They do offer a ticketing system which is quicker than DO. So overall, Vultr is a reliable cloud hosting provider although maintaining limited support channels but surely you can trust in their infrastructure.
Linode
Linode is one of the biggest infrastructure-as-a-service providers which is operating independently. Founded in 2003, Linode is serving 800K+ customers using innovative cloud technologies. Just like DO, Linode offer simplified cloud hosting solutions enabling the novices to make use of cutting edge cloud computing. The company offers very similar services to DigitalOcean with similar pricing and specs.
Linode offers dependable cloud services which are based on 40 Gbit networking, fully SSD storage and Intel E5 processors. To programmatically manage your Linode server they provide a powerful API. Furthermore, you will get the best out of your cloud hosting by making use of administrative access and SSH.
Another reason why Linode is the best place to host your project than DigitalOcean is the intuitive control panel and data center locations. Managing server, domains, and load balancers are super easy using their cloud manager. Furthermore, using Longview’s they enable the user to keep a keen eye of crucial server resources by presenting real-time graphs.
Talking about data centers Linode established its physical infrastructure in 11 different global markets. This means they provide a great opportunity to minimize the latency and thus your audience will get smoother experience when accessing your website or app.
Linode offers a range of cloud hosting packages. The good thing they categorized the plans which allow the user to pick as per their requirements. So it means if you need more RAM then you should go for their Memory-optimized plans. For a balanced power, they offer Standard cloud hosting packages. They even offer GPU optimized packages for video processing and other GPU intensive tasks.
Besides tons of simple cloud hosting packages, they also offer Kubernetes and managed cloud services. A little downside that just like DO, Linode also does not support Windows server. However, by utilizing administrative rights you can install it. Remember, you won’t get support from their expert team for your Windows server.
Similar to DO, Linode support department helps its customers via tickets. However, there is also a community chat where you can communicate with other users for information and diagnosing.
Summing Up
So if for some reason you cannot use DigitalOcean then don’t be disappointed as it is not only the company in the town. A lot of companies offer stable cloud hosting services. Above mentioned companies are the close competitors to DigitalOcean. All of them offer huge amount of data centers and employing quality hardware. You can’t wrong with them.
