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DigitalOcean vs SoftLayer: What are the differences?
Introduction
DigitalOcean and SoftLayer are both popular cloud computing platforms that offer various services for businesses and individuals. However, there are key differences that set them apart in terms of features, pricing, and performance.
Infrastructure: DigitalOcean primarily focuses on providing simple and easy-to-use cloud infrastructure, targeted towards developers and small businesses. On the other hand, SoftLayer, now part of IBM Cloud, offers a range of enterprise-grade infrastructure solutions with high performance computing capabilities.
Scalability: DigitalOcean is known for its simplicity and ease of use, making it suitable for smaller projects and startups looking to quickly deploy applications. SoftLayer, on the other hand, offers greater scalability and customization options, making it a preferred choice for larger enterprises with complex computing needs.
Networking: SoftLayer offers more advanced networking options compared to DigitalOcean, such as private network connections between servers, load balancing services, and dedicated firewall options. This makes SoftLayer better equipped to handle high-traffic websites and complex network architectures.
Data Centers: DigitalOcean has data centers in fewer locations compared to SoftLayer, which has a global presence with data centers spread across multiple regions. This allows SoftLayer to offer better geographical coverage and redundancy for businesses with a global footprint.
Support: DigitalOcean is known for its extensive documentation and active community support, making it easy for users to troubleshoot issues on their own. In contrast, SoftLayer provides more personalized support options, including dedicated account managers and 24/7 technical support for enterprise clients.
Cost: DigitalOcean is often considered more cost-effective for small to medium-sized businesses and startups due to its transparent pricing and straightforward billing model. SoftLayer, on the other hand, may be more expensive overall, especially for enterprises requiring high-performance computing resources and advanced networking features.
In Summary, DigitalOcean and SoftLayer differ in infrastructure focus, scalability, networking options, data center locations, support offerings, and pricing models, catering to different types of users based on their specific requirements.
Chose Hetnzer over DigitalOcean and Linode because Hetzner provides much cheaper VPS with much better specs. DigitalOcean might seems like a good choice at first because of how popular it is. But in reality, if all you need is a simple VPS, you won't benefit much from the their oversubscribed datacenters which often underperform other competitors. Linode is also a good choice. They have cheaper options and performs slightly better than DigitalOcean. In the end, choosing a more affordable host helps you save money. That's important when you're running a tight ship.
While Media Temple is more expensive than DigitalOcean, sometimes it is like comparing apples and oranges. DigitalOcean provides what is called Virtual Private Servers ( VPS ). While you seem to be on your own dedicated server, you are, in fact, sharing the same hardware with others.
If you need to be on your own dedicated server, or have other hardware requirements, you do not really have as many options with DigitalOcean. But with Media Temple, the skies the limit ( but so is potentially the cost ).
DigitalOcean was where I began; its USD5/month is extremely competitive and the overall experience as highly user-friendly.
However, their offerings were lacking and integrating with other resources I had on AWS was getting more costly (due to transfer costs on AWS). Eventually I moved the entire project off DO's Droplets and onto AWS's EC2.
One may initially find the cost (w/o free tier) and interface of AWS daunting however with good planning you can achieve highly cost-efficient systems with savings plans, spot instances, etcetera.
Do not dive into AWS head-first! Seriously, don't. Stand back and read pricing documentation thoroughly. You can, not to the fault of AWS, easily go way overbudget. Your first action upon getting your AWS account should be to set up billing alarms for estimated and current bill totals.
Pros of DigitalOcean
- Great value for money560
- Simple dashboard364
- Good pricing362
- Ssds300
- Nice ui250
- Easy configuration191
- Great documentation156
- Ssh access138
- Great community135
- Ubuntu24
- Docker13
- IPv6 support12
- Private networking10
- 99.99% uptime SLA8
- Simple API7
- Great tutorials7
- 55 Second Provisioning6
- One Click Applications5
- Dokku4
- LAMP4
- Debian4
- CoreOS4
- Node.js4
- 1Gb/sec Servers3
- Word Press3
- Mean3
- LEMP3
- Simple Control Panel3
- Ghost3
- Runs CoreOS2
- Quick and no nonsense service2
- Django2
- Good Tutorials2
- Speed2
- Ruby on Rails2
- GitLab2
- Hex Core machines with dedicated ECC Ram and RAID SSD s2
- CentOS1
- Spaces1
- KVM Virtualization1
- Amazing Hardware1
- Transfer Globally1
- Fedora1
- FreeBSD1
- Drupal1
- FreeBSD Amp1
- Magento1
- ownCloud1
- RedMine1
- My go to server provider1
- Ease and simplicity1
- Nice1
- Find it superfitting with my requirements (SSD, ssh.1
- Easy Setup1
- Cheap1
- Static IP1
- It's the easiest to get started for small projects1
- Automatic Backup1
- Great support1
- Quick and easy to set up1
- Servers on demand - literally1
- Reliability1
- Variety of services0
- Managed Kubernetes0
Pros of SoftLayer
- Dedicated hardware24
- Great support17
- Good pricing12
- Many upgrades8
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Cons of DigitalOcean
- No live support chat3
- Pricing3
Cons of SoftLayer
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