Launched in 2011, DigitalOcean aims to simplify cloud services to help software developers deploy and scale applications regardless of the size of their operations. DigitalOcean primarily focuses on providing cloud services for developers, startups, and small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs).
DigitalOcean's offerings are designed to be straightforward and user-friendly, allowing developers to launch virtual private servers, known as "Droplets," in a matter of seconds. Droplets serve as scalable compute platforms with virtualized CPUs, memory, and storage, providing the basic building blocks for higher-level services and features.
In addition to its core Droplet service, DigitalOcean provides a variety of other cloud-based features like object storage (Spaces), managed databases, Kubernetes-based container orchestration, and networking features such as load balancers and firewalls. In addition, they feature a marketplace of pre-configured 1-Click Apps that can simplify software deployment.
DigitalOcean is known for its simplicity and cost-effectiveness. Their transparent pricing makes it a popular choice among individual developers, small businesses, and any situation where a simple, inexpensive hosted server is needed.
The company has built a large and active community with tutorials, Q&A, and educational resources aimed at helping developers and system administrators deploy and manage applications in the cloud.