# GPUBank vs DigitalOcean

> DigitalOcean is a developer cloud founded in 2012 that sells GPU Droplets, virtual machines with 1 or 8 NVIDIA or AMD GPUs, on demand, on spot and on 12-month contracts. Its HGX H100 costs $4.41 per GPU-hour on demand, on 1 or 8 GPUs; GPUBank charges $1.85 for an H100 SXM. DigitalOcean offers managed Kubernetes, bare metal by contract, card and PayPal payment and SOC 2; GPUBank costs less, keeps a stopped instance at disk cost and includes all traffic.

- Page: https://gpubank.io/compare/gpubank-vs-digitalocean
- Prices last checked on 29 September 2026, on DigitalOcean's own pages (sources below). Page updated 2 November 2026.
- DigitalOcean: https://www.digitalocean.com, headquartered in Broomfield, United States
- GPUBank: https://gpubank.io, GPU cloud billed per second at an all-in hourly price (vCPU, RAM, NVMe, one IPv4 and traffic included), prepaid balance topped up in crypto.

## Verdict

**A full cloud platform around the GPUs at DigitalOcean. Lower prices and cheap stopped instances at GPUBank.**

DigitalOcean suits teams that want GPUs next to managed Kubernetes, Volumes and object storage, with invoices, SOC 2 and HIPAA eligibility. For the four GPUs both of us rent on demand, GPUBank costs 36 to 65 % less per GPU-hour. Both bill by the second, but a powered-off GPU Droplet is billed at full rate until destroyed, while a stopped GPUBank instance costs only its disk. DigitalOcean meters egress above an allowance at $0.01 per GiB; GPUBank includes all traffic.

Score over 28 points: GPUBank ahead on 10, even on 9, DigitalOcean ahead on 9.

## Key facts

| Criterion | DigitalOcean | GPUBank |
|---|---|---|
| H100 SXM, per GPU-hour | $4.41 on 1 or 8 GPUs | $1.85, all-in |
| Cheapest GPU-hour | $0.76, RTX 4000 Ada | $0.23, RTX 4090 |
| Billing granularity | Per second | Per second |
| Stopped instance | Full rate until destroyed | Disk only |
| Persistent storage | Volumes at $0.10 per GiB-month | $0.03 per GB-month |
| Egress traffic | 10 to 60 TB included, then $0.01 per GiB | Included |
| Crypto payments | Stablecoins only, limited availability | Bitcoin, USDT, Ethereum and 12+ more |
| Card payments | Cards, PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay | No |
| Minimum deposit | None for cards | $25 |
| GPU models listed | 10 | 10 |
| Regions | 9 | 4 |
| Serverless GPUs | Serverless Inference, model API only | No |
| Availability target | 99% monthly per GPU Droplet node | 99.9 % monthly |
| Compliance reports | SOC 2, SOC 3, HIPAA eligible | None published |
| Support | Free 24/7 tickets; paid plans with chat | Tickets from a $25 balance |
| Headquarters | Broomfield, United States | Tallinn, Estonia |

## Same GPUs, price per GPU-hour (USD, excl. VAT)

| GPU | DigitalOcean | GPUBank | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| H200 SXM | $4.47 (on demand) | $2.49 | -44 % |
| H100 SXM | $4.41 (on demand) | $1.85 | -58 % |
| L40S | $1.57 (on demand) | $0.55 | -65 % |
| MI300X | $2.59 (on demand) | $1.65 | -36 % |

## When to pick DigitalOcean

- Managed Kubernetes with GPU nodes, Volumes and Spaces in one account
- AMD MI325X on demand, MI350X and MI355X on spot, B300 on spot
- Bare metal 8-GPU H100, H200 and MI300X servers by contract
- Cards, PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, ACH and postpaid billing
- SOC 2, SOC 3 and HIPAA eligibility; free 24/7 ticket support

## When to pick GPUBank

- H100 SXM at $1.85 per GPU-hour, against $4.41
- L40S at $0.55, against $1.57
- A stopped instance costs only its disk, not the full rate
- All traffic included, no metered egress
- Paris and Frankfurt regions, and Bitcoin or USDT top-ups

## Questions

### Is GPUBank cheaper than DigitalOcean for an H100?

Yes. DigitalOcean lists the HGX H100 GPU Droplet at $4.41 per GPU-hour on demand, and $3.26 on a 12-month contract. GPUBank charges $1.85 per GPU-hour for an H100 SXM on demand, with vCPU, RAM, NVMe, IPv4 and traffic included.

### Is a powered-off GPU Droplet billed?

Yes. DigitalOcean bills powered-off GPU Droplets at full rate until they are destroyed, because the GPU, CPU, RAM, disk and IP stay reserved. On GPUBank a stopped instance costs only its persistent disk, at $0.03 per GB-month.

### Does DigitalOcean accept crypto for GPUs?

Partly. DigitalOcean accepts stablecoins from wallets, but access is limited and not available to all customers in all locations. GPUBank is paid from a USD balance topped up in Bitcoin, USDT, Ethereum and more than a dozen other coins.

### Does DigitalOcean have AMD GPUs?

Yes, more than GPUBank. DigitalOcean rents the MI300X at $2.59 and the MI325X at $3.80 per GPU-hour on demand, plus MI350X and MI355X on spot. GPUBank rents the MI300X at $1.65.

### Can I run Kubernetes on DigitalOcean GPUs?

Yes. DigitalOcean offers managed Kubernetes with GPU nodes, next to Volumes and Spaces object storage. GPUBank has no managed Kubernetes; you run your own on instances of up to 8 GPUs.

### Are these prices with or without VAT?

Without. Every price on this page excludes VAT and sales tax, for DigitalOcean and for GPUBank, so the two columns compare like for like. Tax is added at checkout according to where the buyer is based.

## Sources

- https://www.digitalocean.com/pricing/gpu-droplets: On-demand, spot and 12-month reserved per-GPU prices, billing FAQ, payment FAQ
- https://www.digitalocean.com/products/gpu-droplets: Specs table, datacenters, FAQ (99% SLA, price range)
- https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/droplets/details/pricing/: 1x and 8x per-Droplet prices, spot prices, minimum charge, powered-off billing, bandwidth overage
- https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/droplets/details/features/: GPU Droplet slugs and configurations, spot and contract configs, multi-node fabric slugs
- https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/droplets/details/gpu-availability/: Datacenters per GPU model and mode
- https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/droplets/details/spot-gpu-capacity/: Current spot capacity
- https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/droplets/concepts/spot-vs-on-demand/: Spot reclamation and pricing rules
- https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/droplets/details/limits/: No resize, network limits, multi-node enablement, NVLink note
- https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/bare-metal-gpus/details/pricing/: Contract billing, payment via Paperspace
- https://www.digitalocean.com/products/bare-metal-gpus: Bare metal configurations
- https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/volumes/details/pricing/: Block storage price
- https://docs.digitalocean.com/platform/billing/bandwidth/: Transfer pooling and overage
- https://docs.digitalocean.com/platform/billing/pay-bills/: Monthly billing, prepayment tiers, card brands
- https://docs.digitalocean.com/platform/billing/manage-payment-methods/: Payment methods incl. stablecoin wallets, PayPal 5 USD and crypto 25 USD authorizations
- https://docs.digitalocean.com/platform/billing/signup-credit/: 5 USD credit for 90 days
- https://docs.digitalocean.com/platform/regional-availability/: Datacenter list and cities
- https://www.digitalocean.com/sla/gpu-droplets: 99% uptime, service credits
- https://www.digitalocean.com/trust: SOC 2, SOC 3, HIPAA, DORA, Global PRP

Prices change: check both providers before buying. DigitalOcean is a trademark of its owner; GPUBank is not affiliated with DigitalOcean.