Linode vs DigitalOcean – Which Is Better in 2021?

In the face of DigitalOcean and Linode, many webmasters are caught in a dilemma because both companies boast of offering premium VPS hosting services. To get the record straight and help readers select the better option for online business, we make the DigitalOcean vs Linode according to plans & price, features, technologies, network facilities and technical support.

DigitalOcean has started to serve the first client since 2011, which is a young company specialized in VPS hosting. The hosted websites spread over America, Holland, England and Singapore. However, Linode is just like a veteran VPS hosting provider having been in this field over 10 years. Here, we make a rating table to give readers a quick view about the two companies.

Rating
Reputation
Features
Loading Speed
Reliability
Technical Support

DigitalOcean VS Linode > Plans & Pricing

Both companies divide their VPS hosting into various packages according to RAM allocation. DigitalOcean launches 5 basic plans starting from $5/mo to $80/mo and 4 high volume plans pricing from $160/mo to $640/mo. Because this company doesn’t mention any money back guarantee, people should think carefully before subscribing a solution.

Linode has 8 VPS hosting plans pricing from $10/mo to $960/mo. There are some add-on services available for customers, including additional IP ($1/mo), Linode Managed ($100/mo), NodeBalancer ($20/mo), and so on. If the service is not satisfactory, customers are required to ask for a refund within the first 7 days. For an overdue cancellation, refunds are subject to $5 service charge. To be honest, the 7-day money back guarantee cannot leave people enough room to experience the service.

Here, we list detailed price information of the DigitalOcean and Linode in the following table. Obviously, the more resources the webmasters want, the more money they have to pay.

Price
RAM 512MB	$5/mo	N/A
RAM 1GB	$10/mo	$10/mo
RAM 2GB	$20/mo	$20/mo
RAM 4GB	$40/mo	$40/mo
RAM 8GB	$80/mo	$80/mo
RAM 16GB	$160/mo	$160/mo
RAM 32GB	$320/mo	$320/mo
RAM 48GB	$480/mo	$480/mo
RAM 64GB	$640/mo	$640/mo
RAM 96GB	N/A	$960/mo

Features

DigitalOcean and Linode both guarantee sufficient allocation for RAM, disk space, monthly data transfer and CPU cores. So, what are the facts? To tell the truth, we list the feature information about two elementary plans with 1GB RAM in the following table.

Feature
RAM	1GB	1GB
CPU Core	1	1
SSD Disk	30GB	24GB
Data Transfer	2TB	2TB
Price	$10/mo	$10/mo

In terms of the control panel, both companies utilize custom control panels, which are extremely easy to handle for someone knowing the operations very well. However, for the newbies lack of techniques, they have to take time to understand the interface at first.

In fact, some other VPS hosting providers, like BlueHost, offer much more resource allocation as well as enables one free domain name, at least one IP address and the latest cPanel for each VPS hosting solution. The following promotional is vaild for 50% discount activation of BlueHost VPS hosting, which makes the price as low as $14.99/mo.

Uptime & Speed

DigitalOcean locates the data centers in New York, London, Singapore, San Francisco and Amsterdam to deliver at least 99.9% uptime to websites hosted in those regions. For Linode, it also invests a lot on its 6 world-class data centers, which are located in North America, Asia Pacific and Europe, delivering at least 99.9% uptime as well. Indeed, both companies have done a good job on uptime guarantee.

Additionally, Digital and Linode both make use of robust servers and enable SSD storage for optimal performance. In general, they are able to achieve around 450ms server response time. However, this record is not a patch on the 320ms server response time performed by BlueHost.

Technical Support

DigitalOcean technical support team helps webmasters solve problems via email and claims to give a reply in the shortest time. However, email is not as effective as phone and live chat in the face of some emergencies.

Linode enables two communication methods, including email and phone. It also fails to offer live chat and 24/7 support. Fortunately, some tutorials and FAQs made by technicians can make a big different if the support staffs are off duty.

Linode vs DigitalOcean > Both Are Not Recommended

Frankly, DigitalOcean and Linode both enable various VPS hosting solutions to satisfy the needs of different websites. However, the poor money back guarantee makes the service risky and not trust-worthy. Considering that all readers wish to find a reliable VPS hosting companies with guaranteed refund policy, cost-effective solutions, responsive customer service and high performance, we recommend some companies in the following table.