Hosting · working at 10,000 users · rates as read 29 Sept 2026
On free tier, Render is $ 0 /mo + compute (Hobby) and DigitalOcean App Platform is Free Tier Starting at $0 /month. On cheapest paid plan, Render is $ 25 /mo + compute (Pro) and DigitalOcean App Platform is Paid Tier Starting at $5 /month. On rate above what's included, Render is 5 GB included per month then $0.15 per GB and DigitalOcean App Platform is Additional outbound transfer $0.02 per GiB. StackTab sells neither of these and takes no referral fee on either: it scores them. Every figure was read off the named company's own page on or since 2026-09-28; the URLs and the dates are at the foot of this page, and a job re-fetches each one on a schedule and fails when a figure is no longer on the page it came from.
2 compared · 3 criteria, identical for every column · every competitor figure read off that company's own page · last verified 2026-09-28
| Service | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| RenderPredictable instance sizes: the closest thing left to old Heroku.verified 21 Sept 2026render.com/pricing | $ | $ | $ |
| DigitalOcean App PlatformFlat-rate app containers with a predictable monthly number.verified 21 Sept 2026digitalocean.com/pricing/app-platform | $ | $ | $ |
- Sorted by the total at
- Predictable instance sizes: the closest thing left to old Heroku.verified 21 Sept 2026render.com/pricing
- 1,000 users
- $
2.252.25 Hobby - 10,000 users
- $
2929 Hobby - 100,000 users
- $
7575 Professional · drifted
- Flat-rate app containers with a predictable monthly number.verified 21 Sept 2026digitalocean.com/pricing/app-platform
- 1,000 users
- $
5.005.00 Basic - 10,000 users
- $
7.007.00 Basic - 100,000 users
- $
4343 Basic
| Criterion | Render | DigitalOcean App Platform |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | $ 0 /mo + compute (Hobby)Free compute instances spin down when idle and cold-start on the next request. 5 GB of bandwidth included. | Free Tier Starting at $0 /month3 apps, static sites only, with a 1 GiB data-transfer allowance per app. |
| Cheapest paid plan | $ 25 /mo + compute (Pro)The plan fee is per user and the compute is separate: Starter $7/month, Standard $25/month, Pro $85/month, up to Pro Ultra $450/month. Scale is $ 499 /mo + compute. | Paid Tier Starting at $5 /monthPer container. DigitalOcean has collapsed what used to be a Basic and Professional ladder into one paid tier. |
| Rate above what's included | 5 GB included per month then $0.15 per GBPersistent disks are $0.25/GB per month. The instance ladder is published in full, which is what makes a fixed-size deployment predictable here. | Additional outbound transfer $0.02 per GiBDedicated egress IPs are $25.00/mo per app and a development database is $7.00. |
- Free tier: what the vendor gives you at $0 a month, in its own words
- Rate above what's included: the per-unit or per-transaction rate the vendor publishes for usage beyond the plan: the figure you need to work out a bill before you commit to one
Render: $ 0 /mo + compute (Hobby). Free compute instances spin down when idle and cold-start on the next request. 5 GB of bandwidth included. DigitalOcean App Platform: Free Tier Starting at $0 /month. 3 apps, static sites only, with a 1 GiB data-transfer allowance per app. Read from render.com and digitalocean.com on 2026-09-28. Free tier here means what the vendor gives you at $0 a month, in its own words.
Render: $ 25 /mo + compute (Pro). The plan fee is per user and the compute is separate: Starter $7/month, Standard $25/month, Pro $85/month, up to Pro Ultra $450/month. Scale is $ 499 /mo + compute. DigitalOcean App Platform: Paid Tier Starting at $5 /month. Per container. DigitalOcean has collapsed what used to be a Basic and Professional ladder into one paid tier. Read from render.com and digitalocean.com on 2026-09-28.
Render: 5 GB included per month then $0.15 per GB. Persistent disks are $0.25/GB per month. The instance ladder is published in full, which is what makes a fixed-size deployment predictable here. DigitalOcean App Platform: Additional outbound transfer $0.02 per GiB. Dedicated egress IPs are $25.00/mo per app and a development database is $7.00. Read from render.com and digitalocean.com on 2026-09-28. Rate above what's included here means the per-unit or per-transaction rate the vendor publishes for usage beyond the plan: the figure you need to work out a bill before you commit to one.
Render: You would rather pick an instance size than reason about a meter. Render publishes the whole compute ladder as fixed monthly prices: $7, $25, $85, $175, $225, $450: so the bill for a service you have sized is a number you can read off the page before you deploy it. DigitalOcean App Platform: You already run other things on DigitalOcean and you want one invoice and one support relationship. App Platform sits beside the droplets and managed databases you have, at $5/month per container, and the whole pricing structure is one paid tier rather than a ladder to reason about.
StackTab does not sell any of these and has nothing to gain from which one you choose: it scores them. Each case below is the one that option genuinely wins.
- Render: You would rather pick an instance size than reason about a meter. Render publishes the whole compute ladder as fixed monthly prices: $7, $25, $85, $175, $225, $450: so the bill for a service you have sized is a number you can read off the page before you deploy it.
- DigitalOcean App Platform: You already run other things on DigitalOcean and you want one invoice and one support relationship. App Platform sits beside the droplets and managed databases you have, at $5/month per container, and the whole pricing structure is one paid tier rather than a ladder to reason about.
Prices and limits move, and a page quoting a stale one is worth less than a page quoting none. Every source is printed here so a reader can check it against the day they are reading this, and a job re-fetches each of these URLs on a schedule and fails when a figure above no longer appears on the page it came from.
- Render: render.com/pricing: Free tier, Cheapest paid plan, Rate above what's included. Read 2026-09-28.
- DigitalOcean App Platform: www.digitalocean.com/pricing/app-platform: Free tier, Cheapest paid plan, Rate above what's included. Read 2026-09-28.
Last verified 2026-09-28. https://stacktab.thecompound.tech/compare/render-vs-digitalocean-app