Final verdict
Final Verdict
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Liquid Web (Overall grade: 8.7)
is highly regarded for its enterprise-level hosting solutions with a strong emphasis on customer support and reliability. It stands out with features such as fully managed hosting, excellent uptime guarantees, and compliance with multiple industry standards including HIPAA and PCI. Liquid Web offers a suite of advanced tools, user-friendly management interfaces, and rapid customer service, making it an ideal choice for businesses seeking full-service hosting with minimal downtime. However, the higher cost and more complex setup might be overkill for smaller projects or users with limited budgets.
DigitalOcean (Overall grade: 8.3)
excels in providing scalable, developer-friendly cloud hosting with straightforward pricing and extensive documentation. It offers a variety of hosting types like VPS, managed Kubernetes, and object storage. Key strengths include SSD storage for fast load times, a robust global CDN, and a variety of security features like DDoS protection and two-factor authentication. DigitalOcean is particularly suitable for developers and small to medium-sized businesses looking for flexibility and cost-efficiency. While it does provide essential support options, it lacks the extensive, rapid-response service levels found with Liquid Web, which could be a drawback for enterprises or users needing immediate assistance.
 Overall grade:8.3 |
 Overall grade:8.7 |
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|---|---|---|
| Uptime and Availability | 9.2 | 9.4 |
| Hosting Performance | 8.8 | 8.5 |
| Hosting Security | 9.1 | 9.0 |
| Price | 8.7 | 8.4 |
| Hosting Features | 6.9 | 7.9 |
| Ease Of Setup | 8.2 | 9.3 |
| User Management | 8.0 | 7.8 |
| Customer Support | 7.8 | 9.6 |
| User feedback | 4.6/5 | 4.3/5 |
Hosting types offered
Both platforms provide a variety of hosting types, each designed to meet the different needs of users.
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| Shared hosting | ||
| Cloud hosting | ||
| WordPress hosting | ||
| Ecommerce hosting | ||
| VPS hosting | ||
| Dedicated hosting |
Although both offer a variety of hosting plans tailored to different needs, in
certain cases, one platform may prove to be more suitable.
Detailed comparison
Uptime and availability
Evaluates the average uptime statistics, uptime guarantee and overall availability of the hosting
provider
Score Components:
- Uptime percentage (30%): evaluates the uptime statistics in given period of time
- Uptime guarantee (20%): Assesses if the platform offers an uptime guarantee and
whether the actual uptime matches the promised guarantee. - General performance (25%): Evaluates how fast is the average response time and overall
it’s stability. - Responsiveness (10%): Adaptability to different devices and screen sizes.
- Availability (25%): Reflects the total downtime and number of outages.
9.2
9.4
🏆 Winner Liquid Web: Liquid Web delivers exceptional uptime and rapid response guarantees to ensure minimal downtime.
DigitalOcean offers a commendable 99.99% uptime SLA with real-time alerts and global monitoring. Their services include automated backups, customizable alerts, and load balancers to distribute traffic effectively. DigitalOcean stands out with a strong infrastructure and high-quality hardware, ensuring consistent performance and reliable availability across multiple data centers.
On the other hand, Liquid Web provides a 100% network and power uptime SLA with proactive Sonar™ monitoring for enhanced reliability. Their high availability hosting features managed file replication and a notable 30-minute hardware SLA. Liquid Web’s commitment to rapid support response times and data redundancy guarantees makes it a top choice for those seeking superior uptime and availability.
Hosting performance
Score Components:
- Hosting speed (30%): This includes SSD quality, Load times, PageSpeed score ranges,
additional information on website speed, built-in plugins for performance enhancement, available caching
methods, and CPU/RAM options - CDN (20%): Considers whether CDN is available or not, whether it’s free or paid, and
the quality of the CDN service - Available data centers (30%): Evaluates the number of data centers and their locations
globally. - Scalibility (20%): Looks at whether elastic scaling is available, the process required
to scale (manual upgrade vs. automatic scaling), the presence of dedicated servers, and the costs
associated with scaling.
8.8
8.5
🏆 Winner
DigitalOcean: For users who prioritize speed and advanced technological infrastructure, Sitrground is more suitable for high-demand websites that require reliable and fast global access.
DigitalOcean and Liquid Web both offer SSD storage and free CDN integration to enhance hosting performance and speed. DigitalOcean, however, showcases faster load times with a heavyweight theme clocked at 1.69 seconds, compared to Liquid Web’s 4.85 seconds. DigitalOcean operates 11 global data centers, which surpasses Liquid Web’s six, potentially offering better local loading speeds and content delivery. Moreover, DigitalOcean’s technology is more up-to-date, which may contribute to its superior performance.
Website Speed
DigitalOcean excels in website speed with an LCP time of 872ms, significantly outperforming Liquid Web’s 1.8 seconds. Although both fall within the acceptable range of LCP (up to 2.5 seconds is considered good), DigitalOcean’s website speed is notably better, indicating a more efficient user experience.
Scalability
Both hosting providers offer scalability options tailored to varying needs; however, DigitalOcean provides a more customized approach with its custom cloud plans where resources can be configured to user requirements. Liquid Web also offers a variety of hosting types, including shared and dedicated servers, with tiered pricing to accommodate different user levels.
Hosting security
and regulatory requirements
Score Components:
- Technical security measures (40%): This includes encryption, firewalls, DDoS
protection, secure configurations, server monitoring, access control and availability of security addons
(e.g Sitelock security). - Operational security measures (30%): Encompasses data privacy, backups and data
redundancy. - Compliance and certifications (20%): Adherence to legal and regulatory requirements
(e.g., GDPR, HIPAA) and possession of certifications (e.g., ISO 27001, SOC 2). - Business and reliability (10%): Factors in the provider’s reputation, uptime
guarantees, and customer support.
9.1
9.0
🏆 Winner
DigitalOcean: DigitalOcean offers a robust suite of security features that ensure user data protection and compliance with regulatory standards.
Technical security measures:
DigitalOcean and Liquid Web both provide SSL certificates for encrypted connections. Both support multiple PHP versions, offering flexibility. DigitalOcean features DDoS protection, cloud and web application firewalls, SSH access, two-factor authentication (2FA), automatic backups, and data encryption at rest and in transit. Liquid Web also offers DDoS protection, firewalls, and web application protection but provides additional features like an F5 AIP intrusion detection system for real-time monitoring.
Operational security measures:
DigitalOcean supports GDPR compliance, ensuring data privacy per EU laws, and complies with PCI-DSS standards. DigitalOcean also holds compliance certifications like SOC 2 Type II and ISO/IEC 27001:2013. Liquid Web is GDPR compliant, PCI compliant, and offers HIPAA-compliant hosting services with features such as Business Associate Agreements (BAA) and high physical security measures in their data centers, including 24/7 monitoring and secure server cabinets.
Compliance and certifications:
DigitalOcean complies with GDPR and PCI standards and holds certifications like SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3 Type II, and ISO/IEC 27001:2013. Liquid Web meets GDPR, PCI, and HIPAA compliance standards, protecting medical data and providing relevant certifications such as SSAE-22 and HITECH for HIPAA compliance.
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SSL certificate |
Yes |
Yes |
Additional security features |
DDoS protection, firewalls, SSH access, 2FA, backups, and data encryption |
Intrusion detection, VPN protection, real-time monitoring |
PHP versions |
Multiple versions |
Multiple versions |
GDPR compliance |
Yes |
Yes |
HIPAA compliance |
Not specified |
Yes |
PCI compliance |
Yes |
Yes |
Hosting features
Score Components:
- Domains (20%): Assesses the availability of a free domain, domain purchase options, and
pricing - Email (15%): Considers if the provider offers full email hosting, or is reselling
third-party service, and if the email is only transactional or not - Website builder (15%): Checks if website builder is available, and it’s user
friendliness and overall the level of customization allowed. - Staging environment (20%): Determines if a staging environment is available, allowing
for testing changes before going live. - FTP & SFTP accounts (10%): Evaluates if and how easily users can access FTP and
SFTP accounts - Git and SSH access (20%): Assess whether Git is integrated into the hosting service and
if SSH access is provided
6.9
7.9
🏆 Winner
Liquid Web: An excellent choice for fully managed and high-availability hosting solutions.
DigitalOcean and Liquid Web each offer a robust suite of features catering to different user needs. DigitalOcean is known for its developer-friendly approach, providing various hosting types such as VPS and managed Kubernetes. It offers a range of security features including DDoS protection, firewalls, SSL certificates, and SSH access. The platform also delivers high performance and reliability with a 99.99% uptime SLA. Liquid Web, on the other hand, excels in fully managed hosting with proactive management and rapid response support. It offers specialized hosting solutions like compliant environments for HIPAA or PCI requirements and managed WooCommerce hosting. The quick response times and comprehensive management services make Liquid Web appealing for businesses that prioritize support and reliability.
When it comes to usability, DigitalOcean provides a flexible platform with a variety of configurations, making it an excellent choice for developers who need customizability. Although it doesn’t explicitly mention a website builder, its features like managed platforms and object storage allow for sophisticated setups. Liquid Web offers user-friendly managed services including cPanel, Plesk, and automated backups, which simplify hosting management. It also stands out with its instant response support and the inclusion of features like autoscaling for WooCommerce. Both providers offer outstanding security and performance, but the choice depends on whether you need extensive support and managed services (Liquid Web) or a versatile, developer-focused environment (DigitalOcean).
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Free domain |
No |
Yes, for the first year |
Free SSL |
Yes |
Yes |
Email hosting |
No |
Yes |
Website builder |
No |
Yes |
Staging environment |
Yes |
Yes |
FTP & SFTP accounts |
Yes |
Yes |
Git and SSH access |
Yes |
Yes |
Free backup |
Yes |
Yes |
Money back guarantee |
No |
No |
a location.
As a result in rare cases the features mentioned here can differ from the ones you see on their websites.
Email services:
DigitalOcean primarily focuses on hosting services and does not include built-in email hosting. To manage emails, users would need to configure third-party services separately. Liquid Web, in contrast, offers comprehensive email hosting services complete with features for setting up custom email campaigns. They also provide options for reselling third-party email services like Google Workspace, making it a more integrated solution for businesses needing email functionalities.
Price
Score Components:
- Plan value (40%): What each pricing tier offers.
- Transparency and clarity (30%): Clearness of pricing structures.
- Flexibility of plans (20%): Range of options to suit different budgets.
- Hidden costs (10%): Additional expenses not included in the plan.
8.7
8.4
🏆 Winner
DigitalOcean: Offering a broad range of hosting plans starting at a highly competitive $4/month, DigitalOcean combines cost-effectiveness with comprehensive features, making it ideal for diverse hosting needs.
Evaluating the pricing of plans among various hosting providers can be complex due to their differing pricing and renewal strategies. Additionally, certain plans require annual commitments, which adds to the difficulty of making comparisons. The prices listed are based on monthly commitments; plans requiring annual commitments are indicated. Additionally, although some providers offer identical plans for WordPress and shared hosting, we have created separate tables for each to enhance clarity.
When comparing DigitalOcean and Liquid Web’s pricing plans, DigitalOcean offers more affordable starting options at $4/month for basic website and WordPress hosting. Liquid Web has higher pricing with their entry-level managed VPS hosting plan at $20/month. While DigitalOcean provides a range of straightforward plans with transparent pricing, Liquid Web tends to be more feature-rich, particularly in their managed WooCommerce and enterprise hosting plans. DigitalOcean’s plans are easier on the budget and come with essential features like DDoS protection and automatic backups, whereas Liquid Web’s premium plans offer options like higher storage and scalability, tailored for larger businesses.
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Basic Droplet $4/month
1 site, scalable resources, automatic backups, free SSL certificate, DDoS protection. Value for price:8.7
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SPARK $21/month
1 site, 15GB storage, 2TB bandwidth, 10 PHP workers per site, free SSL certificate. Value for price:8.4
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Cloudways Managed WordPress Free credits $100
Managed hosting, unlimited plugins, built-in DDoS protection, free SSL. Value for price:8.7
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SPARK+ $43/month
3 sites, 25GB storage, 2.5TB bandwidth, 15 PHP workers per site, free SSL certificate. Value for price:8.4
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Website Hosting $4/month
14 globally distributed data centers, 1-click apps, 99.99% uptime SLA. Value for price:8.7
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N/A
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Website Hosting $4/month
Scalable cloud infrastructure, automatic backups. Value for price:8.7
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Managed VPS Essential $20/month
2 vCPU, 2GB RAM, 40GB SSD storage, 10TB bandwidth, AlmaLinux. Value for price:8.4
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VPS Hosting Shared CPU Droplets $4/month
Shared processing power, scalable resources. Value for price:8.7
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Managed VPS Advanced $30/month
4 vCPU, 4GB RAM, 100GB SSD storage, 10TB bandwidth, AlmaLinux. Value for price:8.4
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As a result in rare cases the prices displayed here can differ from the ones you see on their websites.
Enterprise plans
DigitalOcean offers advanced VPS hosting plans starting at $42/month for dedicated CPU droplets and up to $131/month for storage-optimized droplets. These are suited for enterprises needing higher performance and substantial storage, with features like enhanced SSDs and significant bandwidth. Liquid Web’s enterprise solutions begin with custom solutions that offer managed security, databases, load balancers, and more, with their high-end plans going up to $1095/month for extensive storage and bandwidth, and multiple PHP workers per site.
Ease of setup
platform.
Score Components:
- Site migration (25%): Assesses whether the provider offers tools for site migration,
either automated or manual, and whether these services are free or require a fee. - Admin panel usability (35%): Evaluates the type of admin panel provided, such as the
standard cPanel or a custom solution, focusing on its accessibility and user-friendliness for both
technical and non-technical users. - Setup features (20%): Examines the availability and ease of use of various setup
features, including FTP accounts, file managers, email account setup, PHPMyAdmin, and easy CDN
configuration. - Help center quality (20%): Measures the quality and accessibility of the provider’s
help center resources, including articles and tutorials.
8.2
9.3
🏆 Winner
Liquid Web: A user-friendly hosting provider with extensive support and managed services.
DigitalOcean and Liquid Web offer different admin panel experiences tailored to varying user needs. DigitalOcean provides an array of options, including 1-Click Apps and a fully managed App Platform for straightforward website or application deployment. It also offers Droplets, customizable virtual machines suitable for more technical users, and Cloudways for managed hosting solutions. These options make it accessible for both novices and experienced developers, providing flexibility in setup and management. On the other hand, Liquid Web provides managed hosting services with control panels like InterWorx, Plesk, and WHM/cPanel, all of which are known for their user-friendly interfaces. These control panels are designed to simplify server and website management, catering to users who prefer a more hands-off approach.
When comparing their admin panels, Liquid Web’s managed hosting solutions and control panel options tend to favor clients seeking ease of use without deep technical involvement. The availability of InterWorx, Plesk, and cPanel makes it easy for users to manage their servers with familiar interfaces. DigitalOcean, with its 1-Click Apps, App Platform, and Droplets, offers more flexibility and customization options for those who want more control over their hosting environment. This variety, however, can be overwhelming for less tech-savvy users who might find Liquid Web’s managed services more approachable.
Regarding migration tools, Liquid Web offers complimentary migrations for new server orders, which include most hosting control panels like InterWorx, Plesk, and cPanel. This service can ease the transition for users moving their websites to Liquid Web. DigitalOcean, while not specifically mentioned for free migration services, offers ample documentation and community support that can help users manually migrate their websites. The managed hosting option via Cloudways also simplifies the migration process but at an additional cost.
Evaluating the help center resources, both providers excel in offering extensive documentation and support. DigitalOcean provides a vast array of tutorials and community support that covers nearly every development topic. Users can also access free support via a ticketing system and find numerous resources through Cloudways. Liquid Web offers an industry-leading knowledge base with well-organized articles, tutorials, and step-by-step guides, coupled with 24/7/365 human support and quick response guarantees. This makes both hosts highly supportive, but Liquid Web’s direct and immediate support options can be more reassuring for critical issues.
User management
accessibility.
Score Components:
- Role customization (40%): Flexibility in creating and defining user roles and
permissions. - Ease of management (30%): User interface and tools for managing users.
- Access control (20%): Effectiveness of access control measures for different user
levels. - Scalability (10%): Ability to manage a growing number of users efficiently.
8.0
7.8
Winner DigitalOcean: Efficient user management with versatile roles and easy scalability.
DigitalOcean and Liquid Web present distinct approaches to managing user roles and permissions. DigitalOcean features three key roles—Owner, Biller, and Member. The Owner role offers complete control over resources and billing, while Biller solely focuses on billing information. The Member role allows for full access to resources, providing flexibility without billing privileges. Liquid Web through Plesk, offers Administrator, Webmaster, Application User, and Accountant roles. The Administrator role aligns closely with DigitalOcean’s Owner, giving full access to control panels and server management. However, Webmaster and Application User roles in Plesk offer more granular control and limited access, respectively, providing a more detailed hierarchy of permissions compared to DigitalOcean’s broader role definitions.
Both platforms ensure user-friendly interfaces for managing team members. DigitalOcean’s team management is integrated within its platform, enabling straightforward actions such as inviting new members and viewing membership status. The interface simplicity supports quick role assignment and adjustments. Liquid Web’s Plesk requires navigating through different views—Service Provider and Power User—to manage user settings, making it slightly more complex. However, the Users tab and subscription-specific settings allow detailed individual account management, offering comprehensive tools for user adjustments and monitoring.
DigitalOcean supports efficient access control measures, allowing team owners to view detailed sign-in methods and manage unlimited team members and roles. This promotes scalability and easy team expansion without restrictions. Liquid Web, via Plesk, also provides effective access control by permitting the creation of additional administrator accounts and custom user roles. However, the method involves more steps, which may slow down user management processes in rapidly growing teams. DigitalOcean’s straightforward approach and unlimited scalability options present a slight edge in efficiently managing expansive and dynamic user groups.
DigitalOcean User Roles Table:
| Role | Description | Access highlights |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | Full control over resources, billing, and settings. | Manages team members, billing details, and settings. |
| Biller | Access to billing information only. | Views and manages billing, no access to resources. |
| Member | Access to shared resources. | Interacts with resources, no access to billing or settings. |
LiquidWeb User Roles Table:
| Role | Description | Access highlights |
|---|---|---|
| Administrator | Full access to Plesk and server management. | Manages all Plesk settings and server functions. |
| Webmaster | Manages most aspects of subscriptions. | Creates sites, configures services, no user/role management. |
| Application User | Limited access. | Restricted permissions, minimal access. |
| Accountant | Views details of subscriptions. | Reviews subscription details, cannot modify settings. |
Customer support
hosting provider.
Score Components:
- Support communication channels (30%): Measures the variety of customer support types
provided (live chat, chatbot, email, phone, etc.) - Availability (20%): Assesses the availability hours for each channel, including 24/7
support options. - Technical support quality (30%): Assesses whether the provider offers comprehensive
technical support, including hardware upgrades (e.g., HDD to SSD), software installations, and web
server configuration changes. - Enterprise support (20%): Checks if there are dedicated or priority support services
for enterprise-level customers.
7.8
9.6
🏆 Winner: Liquid Web: Known for “The Most Helpful Humans in Hosting®,” Liquid Web emphasizes responsive, highly trained, and dedicated support.
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Phone support |
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Live chat support |
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Chatbot |
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Email/ticket support |
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Enterprise support (dedicated agent, priority support) |
Liquid Web offers a wide range of customer support options including phone support, 24/7 live chat, and a helpdesk with a 59-second initial response guarantee. They have dedicated teams for both Windows and Linux users and nearly 250+ Certified technicians. Liquid Web also provides enterprise support, with services like Managed Hosting Advisors, Pre-Sales Solution Architects, and an Enterprise Engineering Team for advanced support and consultation. Their service level agreements include a 100% Network and Power Uptime guarantee and a 30-minute hardware replacement policy, solidifying their commitment to quality support.
DigitalOcean, while offering essential support options such as email, online ticketing, and premium live chat, focuses more on community-driven support featuring comprehensive documentation and tutorials. Their support system is effective for general queries and non-urgent issues. However, they only offer live chat as a premium feature and lack phone support or dedicated enterprise support, which may be a drawback for businesses seeking immediate and high-level personal assistance.
Both providers have strengths in their support offerings, but Liquid Web stands out due to more extensive and rapid response options, guaranteeing prompt and high-quality assistance around the clock.
User feedback
DigitalOcean consistently garners praise for its simplicity, user-friendly interface, and transparent pricing, making it ideal for both beginners and experienced developers. Users appreciate the straightforward setup, reliable performance, and excellent customer support, highlighting features like one-click deployment and robust documentation. However, there are some minor criticisms, including a limited variety of server configurations compared to larger providers and occasional slow customer support response times. Despite these drawbacks, DigitalOcean is highly regarded for its cost-effectiveness, ease of use, and overall reliability, particularly for small to medium-sized businesses and startups.
Customer feedback for this hosting provider is mixed, with significant polarization in user experiences. While some have praised the company for its reliable uptime, exceptional support, and proactive monitoring, others have experienced severe dissatisfaction due to frequent downtimes, unresponsive customer service, and unethical billing practices. Long-term customers, in particular, have noted a sharp decline in service quality and support efficiency, attributing it to recent management changes. Despite positive reviews highlighting excellent technical support and overall reliability, a growing number of users advise against using this provider due to these negative aspects.
FAQ
Which platform is better suited for hosting WordPress websites?
Both DigitalOcean and Liquid Web offer specialized managed hosting for WordPress. DigitalOcean provides easy scalability and robust performance features tailored for WordPress, making it a strong candidate for developers. Liquid Web stands out with its superior support and reliability, offering advanced features suited for businesses focusing on long-term growth. The choice would depend on the user’s need for support versus flexibility and cost-efficiency.
Which hosting service offers better security features?
DigitalOcean offers a suite of security features including DDoS protection, SSH access, automatic backups, and data encryption. Liquid Web matches with DDoS protection, firewalls, and notably includes an F5 AIP intrusion detection system for real-time monitoring. Additionally, Liquid Web provides HIPAA-compliant hosting, offering extensive security measures for sensitive data. Thus, Liquid Web slightly edges out DigitalOcean in providing comprehensive security features.
Which platform offers better customer support?
Liquid Web offers 24/7 live chat, phone support, and email/ticket support with a 59-second initial response guarantee, alongside dedicated support teams for different operating systems. DigitalOcean provides community-driven support and premium live chat but lacks phone support and enterprise-level dedicated agents. Therefore, Liquid Web’s extensive and rapid-response customer support services make it the better choice for users seeking immediate and high-level assistance.
Which hosting service offers more scalability options for growing websites?
DigitalOcean provides elastic scalability with options for horizontal scaling through load balancing or upgrading Droplets for added capacity, making it highly flexible with transparent pricing. Liquid Web offers autoscaling for Managed WordPress and WooCommerce hosting but lacks comprehensive details on elastically scaling VPS or cloud dedicated servers. Consequently, DigitalOcean’s detailed scalability options and transparent pricing make it more suitable for growing websites.
What are the major differences in pricing and value between DigitalOcean and Liquid Web?
DigitalOcean provides affordable starting options at $4/month with straightforward plans and transparent pricing, offering essential features like DDoS protection and automatic backups. In contrast, Liquid Web’s entry-level managed VPS hosting starts at $20/month, featuring premium options like higher storage and scalability suited for larger businesses. While DigitalOcean is budget-friendly and ideal for smaller projects, Liquid Web’s plans are more feature-rich, catering to enterprise needs.
How do the providers handle email hosting and what features are included?
DigitalOcean focuses on hosting services without built-in email hosting, requiring users to configure third-party services for email management. Liquid Web provides comprehensive email hosting services, including custom email campaigns and reselling options for third-party services like Google Workspace. This makes Liquid Web a more integrated solution for businesses needing robust email functionalities.
The making of this blog
We followed a clear, step-by-step process to write and research this article.
