Choose a cloud provider | ServerPilot Documentation

ServerPilot makes it easy to host websites at any cloud provider.
The information below will help you choose the right cloud provider for your next project.
There are many cloud providers to choose from. The most popular are Google Cloud, AWS, and DigitalOcean.
Google Cloud is the fastest growing enterprise cloud provider. Google Cloud has a modern interface, a good CLI, useful documentation, and new features are added frequently.
Learn how to create a server on Google Cloud.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) was the first enterprise cloud provider and still remains the largest, though they are losing market share to Google Cloud. AWS can be difficult to use.
DigitalOcean is a standard cloud provider that is less complicated for new users than the enterprise cloud providers.
Learn how to create a server on DigitalOcean.
For small projects, standard cloud providers like DigitalOcean are often less expensive than enterprise cloud providers like Google Cloud. The table below shows the cost of nearly equivalent servers without backups enabled at DigitalOcean and Google Cloud.
However, DigitalOcean is not less expensive in general. For example, Google Cloud allows choosing the disk size separately from the machine type. To resize the above DigitalOcean server to have a 200 GB disk, the server would end up costing $272.00/month. To increase the disk size of the above Google Cloud server to 200 GB, the server would end up costing $192.20/month.
Backups are an area where DigitalOcean is usually much more expensive and less flexible than enterprise cloud providers.
For example, to enable 7 days of backups for the above server with a 200 GB disk:
For additional pricing details, see the Google Cloud guide and DigitalOcean guide.
Price calculation notes
Standard cloud providers like DigitalOcean have a small fraction of the features available from enterprise cloud providers like Google Cloud. However, some of the additional features of enterprise cloud providers result in a steeper learning curve for new users.
Under the hood, enterprise cloud providers use more advanced technology and infrastructure than standard cloud providers. These more advanced technologies are what make possible the very low costs for certain features that are expensive at standard cloud providers.
The table below shows a few examples of differences in features between DigitalOcean and Google Cloud.
Predefined configurations or custom configurations.
Only predefined configurations.
Configurable independently of vCPUs and memory.
Not configurable independently of vCPUs and memory.
Allowed IOPS for a server’s disk based on disk type and size.
Allowed IOPS for a server’s disk not stated publicly.
No cost for vCPUs and memory of servers that are powered off. Costs still accrue for disk and static IP address.
Full costs accrue for servers that are powered off.
Hourly, daily, or weekly.
Configurable to any number of days, including unlimited.
Backups are stored in multiple data centers.
Backups are stored in the same data center as the server.
Incremental snapshots
Outbound port 25 is blocked. You can relay outbound mail.
Outbound port 25 is sometimes blocked. You can ask DigitalOcean to open port 25. Sent mail may be rejected or go to spam folders due to poor IP address reputation.
If you’re unsure of which cloud provider to use, answer the following questions.
If you answered “yes” to one or more of the above questions, an enterprise cloud provider such as Google Cloud will likely be a better choice than a standard cloud provider like DigitalOcean.