Which is cheaper, Azure or DO?

Azure is cheaper in 7 of 12 comparable categories, with an average price difference of 40.3%.

How do Azure and DO compare for general purpose workloads?

Both providers offer competitive pricing for general purpose workloads.

Azure vs DO: Pricing Comparison (2026)

Updated May 19, 2026AzureDO

Overall Winner

Azure

Azure Wins

DO Wins

Ties

Pricing Analysis

Azure wins 7 of 12 price comparisons, averaging 40.3% lower prices in categories where it leads.

Prices range from $0.001370/hr to $2.14/hr across comparable tiers.

●Azure leads in Virtual Machines (3/3 tiers, avg 66% difference)
●Azure leads in Managed Disks (2/3 tiers, avg 21% difference)
●Azure leads in Load Balancer (2/3 tiers, avg 31% difference)

Choose Azure

Best for Virtual Machines workloads

Choose DigitalOcean

Best for Blob Storage workloads

Side-by-Side Pricing

Comparing Azure and DO across 12 equivalent tiers. On-demand hourly rates are shown in USD for the default region.

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Category	Azure Azure	DO DO	Diff	Cheapest
Virtual Machines - Burstable - 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM	$0.0052/hr Standard_B1ls ($3.80/mo)	$0.0179/hr s-1vcpu-2gb ($13.04/mo)	+70.9%	Azure
Virtual Machines - Burstable - 8 vCPU, 16 GB RAM	$0.1350/hr Standard_B8as_v2 ($98.55/mo)	$0.2500/hr c-8vcpu-16gb ($182.50/mo)	+46.0%	Azure
Virtual Machines - Memory Optimized - 4 vCPU, 32 GB RAM	$0.0504/hr Standard_E4_v3 ($36.79/mo)	$0.2500/hr m-4vcpu-32gb ($182.50/mo)	+79.8%	Azure
Blob Storage - Storage - Cool GZRS - Cool Read Operations	$0.0130/hr Cool GZRS - Cool Read Operations ($9.49/mo)	$0.0068/hr spaces-base ($5.00/mo)	+47.3%	DO
Managed Disks - Storage - Cool RA-GZRS - Cool RA-GZRS Blob Inventory	$0.0025/hr Cool RA-GZRS - Cool RA-GZRS Blob Inventory ($1.82/mo)	$0.0014/hr vol-10gb ($1.00/mo)	+45.2%	DO
Managed Disks - Storage - Cool GZRS - Cool Read Operations	$0.0130/hr Cool GZRS - Cool Read Operations ($9.49/mo)	$0.0137/hr vol-100gb ($10.00/mo)	+5.1%	Azure
Managed Disks - Storage - Premium - Premium ZRS Provisioned Base Unit	$0.1200/hr Premium - Premium ZRS Provisioned Base Unit ($87.60/mo)	$0.1370/hr vol-1000gb ($100.00/mo)	+12.4%	Azure
SQL Database - Databases - 16 vCPU, 64 GB RAM	$2.1373/hr 16 vCore - vCore ($1,560.21/mo)	$1.3151/hr db-s-16vcpu-64gb ($960.00/mo)	+38.5%	DO
AKS - Compute - Standard - Standard Uptime SLA	$0.1000/hr Standard - Standard Uptime SLA ($73.00/mo)	$0.0548/hr doks-ha ($40.00/mo)	+45.2%	DO
Load Balancer - Networking - Gateway - Gateway	$0.0125/hr Gateway ($9.13/mo)	$0.0164/hr lb-regional-http ($12.00/mo)	+24.0%	Azure
Load Balancer - Networking - Global - Global Included LB Rules and Outbound Rules	$0.0250/hr Global ($18.25/mo)	$0.0205/hr lb-regional-network ($15.00/mo)	+17.8%	DO
Load Balancer - Networking - Gateway - Gateway Chain	$0.0100/hr Gateway ($7.30/mo)	$0.0205/hr lb-global ($15.00/mo)	+51.3%	Azure

When to Choose Azure Azure

✓Virtual Machines - Burstable - 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM - saves $9.27/mo (70.9% cheaper)
✓Virtual Machines - Burstable - 8 vCPU, 16 GB RAM - saves $83.95/mo (46% cheaper)
✓Virtual Machines - Memory Optimized - 4 vCPU, 32 GB RAM - saves $145.71/mo (79.8% cheaper)
✓Managed Disks - Storage - Cool GZRS - Cool Read Operations - saves $0.51/mo (5.1% cheaper)
✓Managed Disks - Storage - Premium - Premium ZRS Provisioned Base Unit - saves $12.41/mo (12.4% cheaper)
✓Load Balancer - Networking - Gateway - Gateway - saves $2.85/mo (24% cheaper)
✓Load Balancer - Networking - Gateway - Gateway Chain - saves $7.67/mo (51.3% cheaper)

When to Choose DO DO

✓Blob Storage - Storage - Cool GZRS - Cool Read Operations - saves $4.53/mo (47.3% cheaper)
✓Managed Disks - Storage - Cool RA-GZRS - Cool RA-GZRS Blob Inventory - saves $0.80/mo (45.2% cheaper)
✓SQL Database - Databases - 16 vCPU, 64 GB RAM - saves $600.21/mo (38.5% cheaper)
✓AKS - Compute - Standard - Standard Uptime SLA - saves $33.00/mo (45.2% cheaper)
✓Load Balancer - Networking - Global - Global Included LB Rules and Outbound Rules - saves $3.28/mo (17.8% cheaper)