Tools / VPS prices / AWS Lightsail vs DigitalOcean
AWS Lightsail vs DigitalOcean
What each actually costs per month once bandwidth is counted, at six common sizes. List prices checked 7 October 2026; backups are compared separately below.
Verdict
DigitalOcean is cheaper in 3 of 6 scenarios; AWS Lightsail wins 1.
| Scenario | AWS Lightsail | DigitalOcean | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
Small site 2 GB · 1 TB/mo | $12.00 Linux 2 GB · 3 TB incl. | $12.00 Basic 1 vCPU / 2 GB · 2 TB incl. | Tie |
Busy site 4 GB · 2 TB/mo | $24.00 Linux 4 GB · 4 TB incl. | $24.00 Basic 2 vCPU / 4 GB · 4 TB incl. | Tie |
Traffic-heavy 4 GB · 10 TB/mo | $564.00 Linux 4 GB · 4 TB incl. · $540.00 overage | $84.00 Basic 2 vCPU / 4 GB · 4 TB incl. · $60.00 overage | DigitalOcean |
App server 8 GB · 5 TB/mo | $44.00 Linux 8 GB · 5 TB incl. | $48.00 Basic 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 5 TB incl. | AWS Lightsail |
Large workload 16 GB · 10 TB/mo | $444.00 Linux 16 GB · 6 TB incl. · $360.00 overage | $136.00 Basic 8 vCPU / 16 GB · 6 TB incl. · $40.00 overage | DigitalOcean |
Bandwidth-heavy 16 GB · 30 TB/mo | $2244.00 Linux 16 GB · 6 TB incl. · $2160.00 overage | $336.00 Basic 8 vCPU / 16 GB · 6 TB incl. · $240.00 overage | DigitalOcean |
"Unclear" means a provider does not publish its overage rate and that unknown charge could decide the result.
Side by side
AWS Lightsail
TrafficMonthly allowance per plan
Overage$0.09 per GB ($90.00 per TB)
BackupsPriced by storage used
Plans from$7.00 a month
Lightsail backups are snapshot storage billed per GB, so no fixed price can be shown.
DigitalOcean
TrafficMonthly allowance per plan
Overage$0.01 per GB ($10.00 per TB)
Backups+20% of the plan price
Plans from$6.00 a month
Try your own numbers in the calculator, with all 10 providers and backups included.
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