What’s the Difference Between Digitalocean Droplet Vs App Platform?

Even though AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud dominate the cloud market, businesses with specific needs typically choose smaller companies that target their services to particular niche markets.

One of these providers is DigitalOcean, which provides services for developers, startups, and SMBs. DigitalOcean was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in New York; its revenues are dwarfed by those of the market-leading AWS. For the quarter ending May 2021, DigitalOcean’s earnings totaled $93.7 million, compared to AWS’s $13.5 billion during the same period. However, DigitalOcean continues to increase its growth and gain popularity among developers.

We will look closer at the two main offerings: DigitalOcean offers to help with IaaS and PaaS Droplets and the app platform. 

What Is DigitalOcean?

DigitalOcean is an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) provider that recently introduced the application platform service. In contrast to strictly platform-as-service (PaaS) providers like Google App Engine or Heroku, DigitalOcean provides users access to the virtual machines that support their applications. Users can set up their disk size, memory allocation, network options, OS, and much more to match their app’s needs.

DigitalOcean is often referred to as “the developer cloud” due to the variety of storage, computing databases, networking, and services that developers can utilize to create and run highly performant and scalable applications. DigitalOcean has earned a name for being an early adopter of cutting-edge technology, such as solid-state drive (SSD)-based IPv6 and virtual machines, and a regular contributing member of the open source community.

The year 2020 is when DigitalOcean announced their PaaS service App Platform, which is built on Kubernetes and open standards and utilizes a DigitalOcean cloud-based infrastructure. Because DigitalOcean provides services that include IaaS and PaaS options, the company can provide users with greater flexibility on how they would like to scale their applications by using a fully managed scaling mechanism or having more control over the infrastructure configuration.

Key Characteristics of DigitalOcean Droplets

Here are the main characteristics of DigitalOcean Droplets.

Scalability

DigitalOcean Droplets are highly scalable, which means that users can easily alter their sizes to meet the requirements of their specific applications. If you require more capacity for computing, memory, or storage space, you can modify the resources available to your Droplet with one click.

Variety of Plans

DigitalOcean provides a variety of Droplet plans, each tailored to various use scenarios. The plans differ in terms of CPU, memory storage, bandwidth, and CPU and allow users to select the one that best meets their requirements and budget.

Diverse Operating Systems

Users can deploy DigitalOcean Droplets with various operating systems, including well-known Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, CentOS, and Debian. They can also install custom operating systems or pre-configured images of applications available from the DigitalOcean Marketplace.

Data Center Locations

DigitalOcean is home to data centers worldwide. Customers can select the geographic area of their Droplets, which allows them to reduce the latency of their services and deliver the best experience to their customers.

Ease of Use

One of the main benefits of DigitalOcean Droplets is their simplicity. The platform offers a simple interface and a wide range of APIs, making it simple for novice or experienced designers to control and deploy applications.

Understanding DigitalOcean Droplet Types

DigitalOcean provides several kinds of Droplets with different capacities, performance levels, and prices. Knowing the distinctions between these Droplet kinds is crucial to choosing the right one for your needs.

Basic Droplets

Perfect for smaller tasks, Basic Droplets come with an equal amount of memory and vCPUs, beginning at 1GB of memory and a vCPU for just five dollars per month. These are suitable for websites with low-traffic blogs and other smaller applications that don’t need large amounts of performance.

General Purpose Droplets

They offer a larger quantity of memory and vCPUs than the Basic Droplets. They’re specifically designed for applications that require greater resources. They’re suitable for medium-sized web applications solutions, high-performance applications, and small-to-medium-sized databases.

CPU-Optimized Droplets

As the name implies, the Droplets concentrate on delivering higher-performance vCPUs. They’re made for tasks that require powerful CPU processing, such as video encoders, machine learning, and scientific computing.

Memory-Optimized Droplets

Offering a greater capacity of memory in a vCPU, Memory-Optimized Drops support tasks needing more RAM. They are ideal for hosting large databases, intensive applications, and tasks that require data processing.

Storage-Optimized Droplets

They offer greater storage capacity and are suitable for applications that require large quantities of disk space for backup solutions, file storage, and large databases. Each droplet type is created to accommodate specific workload requirements, resulting in the best solution for your needs.

When choosing the appropriate Droplet kind, you must consider the various aspects related to your workload and desired performance levels.

Common Use Cases of DigitalOcean Droplet

When selecting the DigitalOcean Droplet to handle your work, choosing the Droplet kind for your particular application is essential. Here are some typical use scenarios and recommended Types of Droplets:

Web Hosting

For smaller to medium-sized sites, the Basic Droplet that comes with a shared vCPU might be a good choice. If your website’s traffic rises, you might have to move to a higher-performance Droplet that has dedicated vCPUs and more memory, and even more Droplets to allow load distribution.

Database Hosting

Databases typically require a lot of memory and fast storage. Memory-optimized Droplets are the best choice for hosting databases, particularly for large databases with high I/O processing. Make sure that the Droplet has enough storage capacity and backup options to ensure that you can maintain the database in a timely manner.

Development and Testing Environments

It is possible to use basic Droplets that share virtual CPUs for testing and development environments. You could prefer a Droplet with dedicated vCPUs and more memory if your tests involve large computations. Sometimes, the CPU-optimized or general Purpose Droplets will give you the necessary computational power without breaking the bank.

File Storage

If you’re using DigitalOcean Droplets for file storage, consider the area and I/O requirements. Basic Droplets can be adequate for small-scale file storage; however, as the need for storage increases, it is possible to upgrade to a larger Droplet or even a storage solution such as DigitalOcean Spaces.

DigitalOcean App Platform

On October 10, 2020, DigitalOcean launched App Platform, a PaaS service that shields developers from the complexities of managing, provisioning, and expanding cloud infrastructure. This platform allows developers to build, deploy, manage, and scale applications.

Based on developers’ needs, the DigitalOcean App Platform offers three different tiers of features: Basic, Starter, and Professional. The starter level is the same; it’s just a way to test the platform and publish non-critical static websites. All serious app development and testing require the Basic tier. On the other hand, production applications need professional features, such as scaling out clusters, load-balanced and load-balanced clusters, and larger data transfer limits.

DigitalOcean App Platform is similar to Google App Engine. It is a Kubernetes-managed container and runtime environment that can support Python, Node.js, Go, PHP, Ruby, Hugo static sites, and the standard Dockerfile images. Developers can manually connect GitHub repositories to automatically upload, modify, and execute new applications using Cloud Native Buildpacks, an open-source project developed by Heroku and Pivotal.

Key Characteristics of the DigitalOcean App Platform

The key features of the DigitalOcean App Platform include fully managed PaaS (Platform as a Service) capabilities and seamless code deployment direct from Git repositories such as GitHub and GitLab, automated application building and scaling with built-in security features, robust monitoring and log capabilities, and support for the most popular frameworks and languages, with a simple interface which lets developers concentrate on creating code rather than managing infrastructure. This makes it ideal for rapidly deploying and managing applications that do not require complex server administration.

Easy Deployment

You can deploy applications straight through your Git repository using push-to-deploy.

Automatic Scaling

Horizontal and vertical scaling depend on the application’s requirements and allows cost-effective resource allocation.

Managed Databases

Integrate managed databases seamlessly without the hassle of traditional database management or server setup.

Built-in Security

Features such as SSL certification, OS patching, and dedicated IPs for improved application security are included.

Monitoring and Logging

Monitoring of the application in real-time, complete logs to help troubleshoot and analyze.

Support for Various Languages and Frameworks

Ability to deploy and run applications developed in popular languages such as Node.js, Python, PHP, Go, and more.

CI/CD Integration

Integration with CI/CD pipelines will enable automatized testing and deployment.

Types of App Platforms

DigitalOcean App Platform primarily offers two types of deployments for apps, which are static web pages (like basic HTML websites or Jamstack websites) and dynamic web apps made with frameworks like Node.js, Python, Go, PHP, and Ruby, permitting developers to build and deploy different web-based applications without having to manage the servers underpinning them, offering users the option to select between shared and dedicated CPU plans, based on the requirements of their clients.

Static Sites

The ideal choice for content-focused, simple websites with no dynamic features is usually employed for landing pages.

Dynamic Applications

It supports a range of frameworks and programming languages, which allow complex web-based applications that integrate database interactions and server-side logic.

CPU Options

Users can choose from “shared CPUs” (cost-effective for low-traffic applications) or “dedicated CPUs” (guaranteed resources for high-traffic applications).

Deployment Methods

App Platform is integrated with well-known Git repositories, such as GitHub and GitLab, allowing seamless push-to-deploy capabilities.

Scalability

Both dynamic and static applications can be scaled down according to traffic demand.

Use Cases for App Platform

The App Platform is perfect for developers who don’t need to manage their own server while hosting web applications. The App Platform allows for the deployment of a range of web-based applications, including NodeJS, Python, Go, and Ruby applications. It is also possible to deploy static websites, such as jamstack-style websites, plain HTML websites, and websites using frameworks such as Hugo and Jekyll.

Common use Cases are:

Ruby on Rails apps that make use of:

• Web services for running an interactive website or API.
• Workers who process tasks that are delayed (using the sidekiq).
• MySQL and PostgreSQL are databases for relational use to power apps or an API.
• Redis will delay tasks by queueing them using Sidekiq.
• Job (pre-deploy) to perform migrations.

Django apps that utilize:

• Web services manage the core part of a website or app.
• Workers can complete delayed tasks (with Celery).
• MySQL/PostgreSQL is a relational data store that powers websites or an API.
• Redis for queuing using Celery.
• Job (pre-deploy) to perform migrations.

Static websites with dynamic behaviour that employ:

• Static frameworks for websites (NextJS, React, Hugo).
• Jamstack-style architecture.
• Serverless functions.

Advantages of DigitalOcean Droplets

DigitalOcean Droplets offer many benefits that include:

Simplicity and Ease of Use

DigitalOcean is well-known for its easy-to-use interface and smooth experience. Setting up a droplet (their term for a virtual machine) is easy, allowing users to swiftly create and manage the cloud environment.

Cost-Effective Pricing

DigitalOcean provides affordable and transparent pricing plans. Their simple pricing structure, “Droplets,” allows users to purchase only the resources they require. This is a lucrative choice for small and large businesses with budgetary constraints.

Scalability and Flexibility

DigitalOcean offers seamless scalability and allows users to increase or decrease the resources available according to their needs. This makes it an ideal platform for websites and applications that experience fluctuating traffic.

Extensive Documentation and Community Support

DigitalOcean provides a vast documentation and knowledge base that provides users with information on various subjects and issues. In addition, its large and active developer community assists and encourages collaboration.

Developer-Focused Features

DigitalOcean provides a variety of tools and features specifically designed for developers. These include pre-configured one-click application deployments, easy integration with top development frameworks, and an efficient API for automating.

Robust API and Integration

DigitalOcean provides a robust API that allows users to manage their infrastructure and automate the process of integrating its tools with other platforms and tools. This allows for seamless workflow automation and integration with well-known DevOps tools.

Predictable Billing

DigitalOcean offers transparent and predictable billing that allows users to estimate and monitor their cloud infrastructure expenses. This aids in budgeting and helps avoid unexpected costs.

High Availability

DigitalOcean’s infrastructure has been designed to ensure high availability and redundancy. It offers features like automatized backups, snapshots, and floating IPs, ensuring that your data and applications are safe from errors.

Developer Community

DigitalOcean has a lively and active developer community. It hosts meetups, hackathons, and webinars to promote collaboration and information sharing among developers. The community also contributes to open-source projects and provides valuable information.

Simple Load Balancing

DigitalOcean provides load balancers, allowing users to spread the traffic coming into their droplets to improve performance and accessibility. The load balancer’s configuration is simple and can be controlled via the user interface or via API.

Disadvantages of DigitalOcean Droplets

Some disadvantages of DigitalOcean droplets are the lack of service offerings in comparison to other cloud providers, limited geographic access to data centers, reliance on community support to solve complex problems, difficulties with complicated network configurations, possibly inadequate support for business needs, limited database options, and the potential for difficulties in expanding storage beyond one droplet. Although generally regarded as user-friendly, it may not be appropriate for large-scale, highly personalized deployments.

Limited Service Offerings

DigitalOcean managed droplet services are a far more specific set of services than other cloud service providers. Although it excels at creating virtual machines (droplets), block storage, and controlled databases, it might not offer the same variety of services as more reputable providers such as AWS and Azure consulting services.

Geographic Availability

Compared to other cloud providers, DigitalOcean has data centers in minimal geographical regions. This could be a problem for customers who require data centers in certain areas.

Reliance on Community Tutorials

Although DigitalOcean’s documentation and tutorials for the community are useful, they might not offer solutions to specific or unusual use scenarios. In these instances, users may need to resort to external resources or seek help.

Limited Enterprise Features

DigitalOcean is primarily geared towards developers and small and medium-sized companies. It might not have the enterprise-level features that large companies require, like advanced security compliance certifications or a designated account manager.

Complex Networking Configurations

Although DigitalOcean has connectivity, configuring complicated networking configurations can be difficult. Advanced networking configurations, such as Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) or custom network topologies, could require more knowledge and experience.

Limited Support Options

DigitalOcean offers support via community forums, documentation, and ticket-based systems. Their support might not be as extensive or as readily accessible as other cloud providers who provide phone support or account managers with dedicated accounts.

Limited Database Options

Although DigitalOcean provides managed databases for the most popular choices, such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, and Redis, the selection of database options available is rather limited compared to the larger cloud providers. If you are looking for a particular or unique technology for your database, you might require other alternatives.

Complexity of Scaling Storage

While DigitalOcean provides block storage to meet extra storage requirements, scaling storage beyond the capacity that a droplet can provide could be a challenge. It requires manual setting up and managing, which isn’t as easy as some other cloud service providers.

Benefits of Using the DigitalOcean App Platform

DigitalOcean App Platform offers several advantages for developers, such as an easier application deployment process and automatic scaling according to demand, seamless integration with the most popular Git repositories such as GitHub and GitLab managed databases, affordable pricing, built-in monitoring and alerting capabilities, and the ability to build applications using code or containers which allows developers to concentrate on creating applications instead of managing infrastructure which makes it ideal for teams and startups who are looking for a simple platform for building and managing applications with no complicated server administration.

Simplified Application Management

DigitalOcean App Platform DigitalOcean App Platform significantly simplifies managing cloud applications. With a fully managed infrastructure, developers can deploy the application, monitor it, and expand their apps without having to be concerned about the hardware. This lower level of operational complexity lets developers focus on writing code and less on coordinating servers.

Faster Time to Market

In the current fast-paced world, swiftly bringing your application to market is crucial. The DigitalOcean Application Platform’s ease of deployment and continuous integration capabilities allow developers to release updates and new features quickly. This agility is vital for companies that must react quickly to market demands or customer feedback.

Cost Efficiency

The low-cost pricing model used by DigitalOcean App Platform’s cost-effective pricing model DigitalOcean App Platform makes it available to a broad range of users. Whether you’re a startup with little resources or a huge company, you can select the correct pricing plan to fit your budget. The capability to scale resources to increase or decrease according to demand ensures that you only pay for the resources you use, thereby reducing unnecessary expenses.

High Availability and Performance

With auto-scaling and load-balancing capabilities included, this DigitalOcean App Platform ensures that your apps are always available and work well in varying traffic conditions. This is crucial for companies that can’t afford any downtime or performance issues, particularly during peak use periods.

Comprehensive Ecosystem

The App Platform integrates with other DigitalOcean services and tools, giving developers a full environment for creating and deploying apps. This integration decreases the requirement for third-party tools or services, resulting in a simpler and more cohesive development environment. Developers can build and deploy every aspect of their app in DigitalOcean. 

Potential Drawbacks of the DigitalOcean App Platform

Some disadvantages associated with the Digital Ocean cloud automation Platform include the lack of features compared to other cloud providers, the potential for complications with complex network configurations, dependence on community support to resolve specific problems, a limited number of database options, and potential issues when it comes to scaling storage and limitations in auto-deploying Docker images from repositories outside of the DigitalOcean App Platform such as Docker Hub as well as GitHub Registry.

Limited Customization

Although the DigitalOcean App Platform simplifies the process of deploying apps, some developers might need more flexibility. The platform’s management is completely automated, so developers have less control over the infrastructure. This is unfavourable for those who want to tweak their environment for particular use cases.

Learning Curve for Beginners

While the platform was designed to be user-friendly, there can be some learning curves for developers brand new to the cloud or PaaS environment. Although DigitalOcean offers comprehensive documentation and support for community members, newcomers may require time to get familiar with the platform’s features and best methods.

Limited Geographic Availability

The DigitalOcean App Platform is currently only available in a limited number of locations. This is a drawback for businesses or developers who require applications to be deployed in regions that aren’t currently accessible by the app platform. Although DigitalOcean constantly expands its global reach, this limitation could affect users with specific geographical requirements.

Competitors with Other PaaS Providers

The market for cloud services is competitive, with several established players, such as AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, offering similar PaaS solutions. Although the DigitalOcean App Platform offers several advantages, it could face tough competition from these large service providers, especially regarding capabilities, global reach, and enterprise-level support.

Difference Between DigitalOcean Droplet and App Platform

These are the significant distinctions in DigitalOcean Droplet and App Platform:

Type of Service

Droplet: Droplet is a Virtual Private Server (VPS) that provides full management of the system’s operating system and infrastructure.

App Platform: A Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) that abstracts infrastructure management, focusing on simplified deployment and scaling for web applications.

Control and Customization

Droplet: This option gives full control over the server’s environment, permitting customers to set up any program, manage system configurations, and customize adjustments.

App Platform: This platform offers limited control over the infrastructure. It was designed for those who would rather concentrate on writing code and deploying applications without concern for the infrastructure.

Ease of Use

Droplet: This requires more manual administration of the server, which includes updates, security patches, and scaling.

App Platform: Managed service that can automate tasks such as scaling and security patches and setting up, which makes it simpler for developers to build and maintain their applications.

Scalability

Droplet: Manual scaling is needed when users must alter resources (RAM, CPU, etc.) in response to increased demand. This may require some form of technical management.

App Platform: Automated scaling based on traffic. It automatically adapts resource allocations, which makes it much easier to deal with sudden surges in demand without manual intervention.

Target Audience

Droplet: Ideal for experienced developers who require total system management and custom configurations or run more complex multi-tiered applications.

App Platform: This platform is perfect for teams of developers who are looking for a cleaner and managed experience that focuses on easy deployments, particularly for APIs and web apps.

Cost Structure

Droplet: Prices are determined by the resources (CPU RAM, CPU) allotted by the VPS. Costs may be more flexible depending on how the resources are used.

App Platform: Typically, it comes with greater cost due to managed services, automatic scaling, features like the ability to deploy continuously, and security features

Development Workflow

Droplet: Requires manual setup for continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines and other development workflows.

App Platform: It integrates workflows that integrate CI/CD through GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket, making deployment simpler and more efficient.

Security and Maintenance

Droplet: Security managed by the user. The user is accountable for patching, updating firewalls, monitoring, and patching.

Application Platform: Managed SecurityThe application platform takes care of the automatic SSL certificate, DDoS safeguards, regular upgrades, and DDoS protection, which reduces the workload on app developers.

Flexibility

Droplet: This provides greater flexibility to non-standard applications or custom-built server environments because developers can customize the VPS to meet their needs.

App Platform: It is not as flexible in terms of custom configurations as it was designed to work with standard web-based applications. It may not be able to support highly customized configurations.

Conclusion

In the end, the choice between DigitalOcean Droplet and App Platform depends on your project’s specific needs and the level of control you require.

Droplets are perfect for developers who need total control over their infrastructure. They are ideal for complex applications or those requiring custom configurations, and for teams comfortable with managing security, scaling, and maintenance manually. Digital Ocean implementation provides the flexibility to customize server environments, which is especially useful for businesses with unique infrastructure needs. This level of control ensures that developers can optimize their servers for performance and cost efficiency.

App Platform is a better option for developers or teams seeking a simplified, managed service. With automatic scaling, built-in CI/CD workflows, and managed security, it is designed for web-based applications, APIs, and static websites. If you want to avoid the complexity of infrastructure management and focus on the application, the App Platform is the superior choice.

For businesses exploring Digital Ocean consulting services, the decision will depend on whether they prioritize flexibility and custom configurations or a streamlined, managed deployment experience. Droplets offer more control, while App Platform is the ideal choice for efficient, automated deployments.