# Hostinger KVM 1 vs DigitalOcean's $6 Droplet for a Side Project URL: https://www.savemores.store/compare/hostinger-vps-vs-digitalocean Author: Mr. Ahmed · Published 2026-09-08 · Updated 2026-09-08 · Comparisons ## Short answer - DigitalOcean's old $5 droplet is gone: Basic starts at $4/month for 512 MB of RAM, and the realistic entry tier is $6/month for 1 GB. - Hostinger's KVM 1 gives 4 GB of RAM, 50 GB NVMe and 4 TB of transfer against the $6 droplet's 1 GB, 25 GB SSD and 1 TB. - Over four years on a 48-month term, KVM 1 totals about $239.52 before the coupon versus $288 for the droplet; at renewal, Hostinger costs roughly double the droplet's $6. - DigitalOcean wins on per-second billing, a clean exit and managed services; Hostinger wins on memory, included backups and price when you commit to a long term. ## The $5 droplet now costs $6 The famous $5 droplet has not been sold at that price for some time. DigitalOcean's Basic line starts at $4/month for 512 MB of RAM, and the tier most people actually need is $6/month for 1 GB. Avoid the $4 box for anything Node-based: 512 MB will not build a Next.js app and often will not run one. So the honest match-up is Hostinger's [KVM 1](https://www.savemores.store/hostinger-deals/kvm-1) against the $6 Basic droplet. The monthly price is in the same neighborhood. The machines are not. ## The spec sheet, side by side Checked in September 2026. Hostinger's intro price depends on the term you prepay; the renewal rate applies after that, and it is the number that settles this comparison. | | Hostinger KVM 1 | DigitalOcean Basic $6 | | --- | --- | --- | | Intro price | $4.99/mo on 48 months, $6.99/mo on 12 | $6.00/mo, no promo | | Renewal price | ~$11.99/mo | $6.00/mo, unchanged | | vCPU | 1 (AMD EPYC) | 1 shared | | RAM | 4 GB | 1 GB | | Storage | 50 GB NVMe | 25 GB SSD | | Outbound transfer | 4 TB | 1 TB | | Billing | Prepaid 12, 24 or 48 months | Per second, capped at the monthly rate | | Backups | Weekly, included | +20% weekly or +30% daily | | Snapshots | Included | $0.06/GB per month | | Leaving | 30-day money-back, then committed | Destroy the droplet; billing stops | ## Why the RAM gap decides most cases Three gigabytes sounds modest on a table. In practice it determines what will run. A 1 GB droplet will not finish a `next build` without swap, and with swap it crawls. Docker Compose with an app, Postgres and Redis is tight on 1 GB and comfortable on 4 GB. That is the strongest argument for the Hostinger box: roughly the same monthly spend buys four times the memory and twice the disk. For a Next.js app, a [MERN stack](https://www.savemores.store/vps/host-mern-stack) or anything that builds on the server, that is not a rounding error. DigitalOcean's route to more memory is the $12 tier for 2 GB, or $24 for 4 GB with 2 vCPUs. At $24 a month against $4.99/mo, the value comparison is no longer close. ## Here's the arithmetic most comparisons skip Hostinger sells prepaid promotional terms of 12, 24 or 48 months, and the price renews substantially higher. DigitalOcean charges $6 every month, indefinitely. Those two models give different answers depending on how long you stay. **Two years:** about $143.76 prepaid for KVM 1 against $144 for the droplet. Effectively a tie on price, except one machine has 4 GB of RAM and the other has 1 GB. **Four years on a 48-month term:** about $239.52 against $288. Cheaper, and a lot more machine. **After the term:** renew at the standard rate and you are paying ~$11.99/mo against DigitalOcean's $6. The discount is real, and it ends. The [renewal price guide](https://www.savemores.store/guides/hostinger-renewal-price) covers how to soften that. > From the bench: The rule I take from this: Hostinger wins clearly if you prepay and stay for the full term. DigitalOcean wins if you might cancel within a few months, or if you would rather never think about a renewal invoice again. Both are reasonable; pick the one that matches how sure you are about the project. ## Where DigitalOcean is the better product Hardware is only part of what you are buying. These are the droplet's real advantages. - Per-second billing. Spin up a box for an afternoon experiment and pay cents. Hostinger's minimum is a year. - An ecosystem around the VM: managed Postgres and MySQL, Spaces object storage, load balancers, managed Kubernetes. When the project grows a second component, it is a click, not a migration. - No renewal step-up. The price you start at is the price in year five. - Extensive documentation and a large community. For a huge range of problems, someone has already written the DigitalOcean tutorial. - An immediate exit. Destroy the droplet and billing stops. ## Where Hostinger is the better product And the KVM line's genuine advantages. - Four times the RAM at a similar entry price, on AMD EPYC with NVMe storage. - Weekly backups included instead of a 20–30% surcharge, plus manual snapshots at no charge. - More than 100 one-click application templates (Docker, n8n, GitLab, WordPress) and optional control panels such as cPanel, Plesk or CloudPanel if you do not want a bare shell. - A browser-based terminal, which earns its keep the day you break your SSH config. - 4 TB of outbound transfer instead of 1 TB. ## Which one I would pick, by situation The deciding factor is how confident you are in the project, not the hardware. - **Prototyping, or unsure it lasts the quarter**: DigitalOcean. Hourly billing and a clean exit beat RAM you may never use. - **A project you plan to run for years, maximum machine per dollar**: Hostinger, on the longest term you are comfortable prepaying. - **You need managed databases, object storage or a load balancer**: DigitalOcean, without much debate. On Hostinger you run those yourself. - **Several side projects on one server**: Hostinger. 4 GB absorbs four or five small apps; 1 GB does not. See [multiple sites on one VPS](https://www.savemores.store/vps/multiple-sites-one-vps). - **A build step that runs out of memory**: Hostinger, or budget $24/month at DigitalOcean for comparable RAM. > From the bench: Disclosure: SaveMores earns a referral commission when you buy Hostinger through these links. That is exactly why the renewal number is in the table. A comparison that hides what you pay in year two is not worth your time. ## A third option worth knowing about If neither fits, Hetzner's shared-vCPU line consistently offers the most spec per euro, without promotional pricing. The catches are fewer datacenter regions and a signup that sometimes asks for ID verification. I compare it directly in [Hostinger VPS vs Hetzner vs Contabo](https://www.savemores.store/compare/hostinger-vps-vs-hetzner-vs-contabo). If you choose Hostinger, the links here apply coupon **WEBHOST2026** automatically, and the 48-month term carries the lowest monthly rate. ## FAQ ### Is Hostinger VPS cheaper than DigitalOcean? Over a full prepaid term, yes. Four years of KVM 1 on a 48-month term costs less than four years of the $6 droplet. After the term, Hostinger renews at roughly double the droplet's monthly price. ### Does the $5 DigitalOcean droplet still exist? No. Basic droplets start at $4 per month for 512 MB of RAM, and the 1 GB tier most projects need is $6 per month. ### Can I cancel a Hostinger VPS like a droplet? Not in the same way. Hostinger offers a 30-day money-back window on a prepaid term, after which you are committed. A droplet stops billing the moment you destroy it. ### Which is better for a Next.js side project? Hostinger KVM 1 if you plan to keep it running, because 4 GB of RAM lets the build finish. A 1 GB droplet needs swap and builds slowly.