AWS vs DigitalOcean: how I choose hosting for each project
I use both AWS and DigitalOcean regularly. The choice depends on the project, not a blanket preference - here's how I decide.
Do you actually know where your website is hosted right now? If you've ever tried to pick a hosting provider, you'll know it seems simple on the surface and gets complicated quickly. Clients ask "where should we host this?" expecting a one-word answer, and the honest response involves understanding their traffic patterns, technical requirements, budget, and who's going to maintain the infrastructure after launch.
I use two platforms primarily: AWS (Amazon Web Services) and DigitalOcean. They serve different needs, and choosing between them is a decision we make per project, not a company-wide preference.
When I use DigitalOcean
DigitalOcean is my default for WordPress sites and straightforward web applications. The combination of DigitalOcean Droplets and SpinupWP (a server management panel) gives us a well-managed, performant WordPress hosting environment for a predictable cost. A £10/month Droplet with SpinupWP handles most small-to-medium WordPress sites comfortably. Add a £5/month Droplet for staging, and you've got a complete hosting setup for under £16/month.
For me, the appeal is simplicity and predictability. DigitalOcean's pricing is flat, you know what you'll pay each month. The interface is clean and doesn't require an infrastructure engineer to operate. SpinupWP handles server security, automatic updates, Let's Encrypt certificates, and optimised Nginx configurations. For a small agency managing multiple client sites, this combination is hard to beat on the balance of cost, performance, and maintenance burden.
I also use DigitalOcean for Laravel applications, staging environments, and internal tools. The managed database service is solid for PostgreSQL and MySQL, and the Spaces object storage (S3-compatible) is useful for file uploads and media.
When I use AWS
AWS comes in when the project needs infrastructure that DigitalOcean doesn't offer, or when scale and reliability requirements exceed what a single server can handle. The specific services I use most: EC2 for application servers when you need custom configurations, S3 and CloudFront for static asset hosting and CDN, RDS for managed databases in production environments where you need automated backups and failover, SES for transactional email, and Lambda for serverless functions.
The projects that end up on AWS tend to be larger: e-commerce sites with high traffic, applications that need auto-scaling, projects that require specific compliance certifications (AWS has extensive compliance programmes that matter for life sciences clients), or sites that need to serve content from multiple geographic regions.
The cost trap
AWS's pricing model is its biggest drawback for small projects. It's usage-based and complex, you pay for compute by the hour, storage by the gigabyte, data transfer by the gigabyte, requests by the thousand. For a small site, you might spend £40-80/month on AWS for what DigitalOcean would host for £10. More importantly, the bill is unpredictable unless you set up billing alerts and reserved instances, and unexpected traffic spikes can generate surprising costs.
DigitalOcean is more expensive per unit of resource at scale, but the predictability is worth a lot when you're managing budgets for multiple client projects.
What about Vercel?
For Next.js projects, I typically deploy to Vercel rather than managing my own infrastructure. Vercel is purpose-built for Next.js (they make both), and the deployment experience, edge network, and integration with Next.js features like ISR and server components is significantly smoother than self-hosting. The free tier is generous for low-traffic sites, and the Pro plan at £16/month per team member is reasonable.
The decision framework
Small WordPress or Laravel site with predictable traffic: DigitalOcean + SpinupWP. Next.js project: Vercel. E-commerce or high-traffic application: AWS. Regulated industry with specific compliance needs: AWS. Internal tool or staging environment: DigitalOcean. Complex infrastructure with multiple services: AWS.
If you're unsure about the right hosting setup for your project, I can advise, get in touch and I'll recommend something based on your actual needs, not a one-size-fits-all answer.
Chris Ryan
Managing Director
17+ years in full-stack web development, most of it leading teams agency-side across e-commerce, CMS platforms, and bespoke applications. Specialises in infrastructure, system integration, and data privacy, with hands-on experience as a Data Protection Officer. Founded Innatus Digital in 2020 to offer the kind of honest, technically-led partnership that he felt was missing from the agency world.