DigitalOcean

What it is for

DigitalOcean is a hosted app-insights desk: you open Insights, and static apps start at $0 / month. Use it when the job is CPU / memory you chart at a public $, not when you need a $20 chat seat.

What makes it unique: the cover is the official DigitalOcean App Platform Insights (sample-nodejs-0 / sample-nodejs-1, CPU % / Memory %, Last 6 hours, Insights tab) from the docs still — not a pricing card. The series themselves are ops of Insights. DigitalOcean bills $0 static or $5 containers, not a chat seat.

Key features

• Insights — CPU / memory / request charts on one app (cover still; docs). One desk. Cover sample-nodejs-0 and Last 6 hours sit here.
• Activity — a deploy / rollback row you open (docs). Activity, not a chart. Zero-downtime rollback sits here.
• Runtime Logs — a container line you tail (docs). A log, not Activity. Per-resource tails sit here.
• Console — a shell in the running container (docs). A console, not a log. One-off commands sit here.
• Settings / Components — a service / worker / static site you add (docs). A component, not Insights. Git auto-deploy sits here.

The Select Object / Select Period controls on the cover are the same Insights pipeline (not a sixth desk). Free / $5 container tiles are the meter. Dev database $7 / month is the extra meter, not a desk we fold into Insights.

Who it's for

Best fit: app teams who will stay on Free at $0 (3 static-site apps, 1 GiB transfer each) while they open a first Insights tab, then buy a shared container at $5 / month (1 vCPU / 512 MiB) when they need a web service or worker.

Pricing

Verified 2026-10-23 (Asia/Shanghai) from digitalocean.com/pricing/app-platform. Tiles print Free $0 / month and Paid starting at $5 / month.

• Free Tier — $0 / month. 3 apps with static sites. 1 GiB transfer / app. GitHub / GitLab deploy. Automatic HTTPS. Extra static-only apps $3 / month.
• Paid containers — Shared fixed $5 / month (1 vCPU / 512 MiB / 50 GiB transfer). $10 / month (1 vCPU / 1 GiB). Shared $12 / $25 / $50 as RAM / transfer grows.
• Add-ons we fetched — Dedicated egress IPs $25 / month per app. Dev database $7 / month. Extra outbound transfer $0.02 / GiB.

Confirm checkout; taxes follow your location. Basic and Professional named tiers were removed on the page we fetched — you pick the container.

Limitations / costs

• Free is static sites only. A Node service is the $5 container.
• $5 is 512 MiB / no autoscaling. Autoscaling is dedicated instances on the FAQ we fetched.
• An insights desk, not a Render service table. For Render see Render. For Railway see Railway.

Alternatives

• Render — web services + Postgres when you want Render’s $0 / $25 desk, not DigitalOcean’s $0 / $5 Insights.
• Railway — usage-metered PaaS when you want Railway’s $5 / $20 min, not DigitalOcean’s sample-nodejs CPU chart.
• Heroku — Datastores when you want Heroku’s $5 / $7 list, not DigitalOcean’s Last-6-hours Memory %.

Official tutorial

Official DigitalOcean channel video: How to Deploy a Next.js App from GitHub to DigitalOcean (oEmbed author: DigitalOcean). First-party App Platform deploy walkthrough; the Insights still is the cover. Create App on the video is a second desk, not generate-on-Insights.

Written path: App Platform pricing plus the Insights still.

Website

https://www.digitalocean.com

Repository

https://github.com/digitalocean

Source

Catalog row curated for AI Tools Nav. Cover is the official DigitalOcean App Platform Insights still from the docs screenshots CDN. Dollars checked on digitalocean.com/pricing/app-platform (Free $0 static; paid from $5; extra static app $3; egress IP $25; transfer $0.02/GiB). Tutorial oEmbed author: DigitalOcean.

Last verified

2026-10-23 (Asia/Shanghai) editorial check.