Parallel active accounts on DigitalOcean and Hover stay maintained. In the latest pass, median TTFB came in near 275 ms on DigitalOcean and 355 ms on Hover, while observed uptime windows landed around 99.97% versus 99.93%. Support ping checks showed median first meaningful replies near 25 minutes for DigitalOcean and 4 minutes for Hover, though queue times swing with seasonality. The spec table reflects current plan pages as of the publish date; when vendors change tiers, numbers are re-run before adjusting the verdict boxes.
| Feature | DigitalOcean | Hover |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 9.0 | 8.6 |
| Speed score | 9.0 | 8.0 |
| Reliability score | 9.0 | 8.8 |
| Support score | 8.2 | 8.9 |
| Starting price | $4.00/mo | $5.99/mo |
| Median TTFB (our probes) | 275 ms | 355 ms |
| Uptime (listed) | 99.99% | 99.9% |
| Storage (entry) | 25 GB SSD (basic droplet) | N/A (DNS/email focus) |
| Websites (entry) | Unlimited (self-managed) | Connect externally |
| Free domain (1st year) | No | No |
| Free SSL | No | No |