DigitalOcean App Platform vs Render.
monthly prices compared · prices as of · 6 shapes both sell
DigitalOcean App Platform is cheaper on 3 of the 6 shapes both sell, Render on 1, and 2 are level or have a free tier on one side. Both are the same kind of platform, so what a price buys is the same shape at each and the money is most of what separates them. The widest gap is 4 gb of memory, $49/mo at DigitalOcean App Platform against $85/mo.
DigitalOcean App Platform is cheaper on 3 of the 6 shapes both sell, read 17 Sept 2026.
DigitalOcean App Platformall 14 prices →It takes your code or an image and runs a container of it for you.
starts at $5/mo for apps-s-1vcpu-0.5gb · 1 shared vCPU · 512 MB
Renderall 17 prices →It takes your code or an image and runs a container of it for you.
starts at $7/mo for 0.5c-512mb · 0.5 vCPU · 512 MB
Every shape both sell, at each one's price
Runtimes with the same stated memory first, smallest first, then subscriptions at the same step of both ladders. A seat and a gigabyte are never put in the same row. Where one side of a row costs nothing, neither is marked as the cheaper: free is a limit rather than a price.
Frequently asked
- Is DigitalOcean App Platform cheaper than Render?
- On the 6 shapes both sell, DigitalOcean App Platform is cheaper on 3, Render on 1, and 2 are level or have a free tier on one side. Prices exclude tax and were read on 17 Sept 2026.
- What is the difference between DigitalOcean App Platform and Render?
- DigitalOcean App Platform: You push a repository or an image and the platform builds it, runs it and keeps it running. There is no operating system to look after and no root, which is the point: the container is replaced rather than repaired. What you size is memory and a share of a processor. Render: You push a repository or an image and the platform builds it, runs it and keeps it running. There is no operating system to look after and no root, which is the point: the container is replaced rather than repaired. What you size is memory and a share of a processor.
- Does DigitalOcean App Platform or Render stop your app when nothing calls it?
- DigitalOcean App Platform: it publishes no free tier. Render: its free tier sleeps when idle.
- What does each one charge on top of the plan price?
- DigitalOcean App Platform: transfer $0.02 per GB, builds not published, members not published. Render: transfer $0.15 per GB, builds $0.0050 per minute, members not published. A rate that is not published is not a rate of zero, and none of these is folded into the monthly figures above.
- How current are these prices?
- Both catalogues are read every day. DigitalOcean App Platform was last read 17 Sept 2026 and Render 17 Sept 2026; the whole index was refreshed 17 Sept 2026. Prices exclude tax, and a tier that costs nothing is listed here and is the cheaper of two nowhere.