DigitalOcean Droplets are Linux-based virtual machines that can be deployed in under a minute across a global network of data centers. As the flagship product of the DigitalOcean platform, Droplets offer flexible sizing options ranging from basic shared CPU instances starting at five dollars per month to premium CPU-optimized and memory-optimized configurations for demanding production workloads. Every Droplet runs on enterprise-grade hardware with SSD storage and includes generous data transfer allowances.
The Droplet management experience is built around simplicity and automation. Users can provision servers through the web console, a powerful REST API, or the official CLI tool. Built-in features include automated weekly backups, point-in-time snapshots, monitoring dashboards with alerting, private networking between Droplets in the same data center, and floating IPs for high-availability setups. The marketplace offers over 100 one-click application images covering popular stacks like Docker, LEMP, GitLab, and Discourse.
Launched in 2011 from New York City, DigitalOcean Droplets have become the default VPS choice for a generation of developers and startup teams. The product excels at providing a fast, no-friction path from idea to production server with pricing that scales linearly and predictably. Whether you are hosting a personal project, running CI/CD pipelines, or deploying microservices, Droplets deliver the performance and developer experience that made DigitalOcean a household name in cloud computing.