DigitalOcean App Platform
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 5 of 7 platform as a services by recommenders
Recommended as a Heroku alternative with git-based deploys, managed databases, easy setup, and a free tier for static sites. Common caveat: it only connects to GitHub.
Recommended as a Heroku alternative with git-based deploys, managed databases, easy setup, and a free tier for static sites. Common caveat: it only connects to GitHub.
15 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 73%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Git-based automatic deploys
“In Digital Ocean you can host up to 3 static sites for free, includes HTTPS, your own domain names and automatic deployment from GitHub repos.”
Comment from 22 Nov 2025 in “Personal blogs are back, should niche blogs be next?” “the git-based deploys, managed DBs, and ability to move to Droplets later without a big migration have worked very well for me”
Comment from 6 Feb 2026 in “An Update on Heroku” “it's really close with the git-base deployments, etc.”
Comment from 24 Feb 2026 in “Heroku Seems to Be Down” Managed databases available
“the git-based deploys, managed DBs, and ability to move to Droplets later without a big migration have worked very well for me”
Comment from 6 Feb 2026 in “An Update on Heroku” “Having the option to use a managed DB was a big plus as well.”
Comment from 18 Apr 2026 in “Migrating from DigitalOcean to Hetzner: From $1,432 to $233 With Zero Downtime” Easy onboarding and setup
“very easy onboarding and controls for modest complexity apps.”
Comment from 7 Mar 2026 in “Migrating from Heroku to Magic Containers” “easy setup and GUI management that made Heroku popular”
Comment from 6 Feb 2026 in “An Update on Heroku” Reliable and trouble-free in use
“We switched to it from Heroku in 2021. It had some growing pains to start, but has been rock solid since.”
Comment from 7 Feb 2026 in “An Update on Heroku” “I've not had any issues with them so far. Recommend them a lot.”
Comment from 6 Feb 2026 in “An Update on Heroku” “I've been unbelievably happy with the products I rely on”
Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “DigitalOcean Seeks $800M in Funding”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Restricts which Git hosts and proxies work
“it's loony that they don't let you connect to, say, your own self-hosted Forgejo”
Comment from 10 May 2026 in “GitHub Is Sinking” “they run the Cloudflare, so I couldn’t put it behind my own Cloudflare”
Comment from 25 Aug 2026 in “Run OpenBSD on DigitalOcean for $4/month” “They only connect to GitHub.”
Comment from 10 May 2026 in “GitHub Is Sinking”
Other platform as a services people recommend
The four most recommended other platform as a services, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 7 platform as a services, rankedWhat people said
15 of the 16 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“they run the Cloudflare, so I couldn’t put it behind my own Cloudflare”
“it's loony that they don't let you connect to, say, your own self-hosted Forgejo”
“Don't let yourself get vendor locked in with these middle men”
“They only connect to GitHub.”
“provides almost everything that vercel does, at a fraction of the cost”
“Having the option to use a managed DB was a big plus as well.”
“I've been unbelievably happy with the products I rely on”
“very easy onboarding and controls for modest complexity apps.”
“it's really close with the git-base deployments, etc.”
“I like the in-between spot where DO sits.”
“We switched to it from Heroku in 2021. It had some growing pains to start, but has been rock solid since.”
“easy setup and GUI management that made Heroku popular”
“I've not had any issues with them so far. Recommend them a lot.”
“the git-based deploys, managed DBs, and ability to move to Droplets later without a big migration have worked very well for me”
“In Digital Ocean you can host up to 3 static sites for free, includes HTTPS, your own domain names and automatic deployment from GitHub repos.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.