Digital Ocean vs Register.com: guide for 2024

Final verdict

Looking over DigitalOcean vs. Register.com, DigitalOcean offers robust, scalable, and reliable solutions, making it an ideal choice for developers and businesses, while Register.com caters well to beginners and small businesses with its simplified tools and good customer support.

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  DigitalOcean (Overall grade: 8.3)
  
  
  excels in performance, scalability, and security. With a global network of 14 data centers, features like virtual machines (Droplets) with SSD storage, and built-in CDN, it’s designed for high-traffic and multimedia-heavy websites. Advanced monitoring, 24/7 automated alerts, and compliance certifications like GDPR and PCI-DSS ensure reliability and data protection. Pricing is predictable and competitive, starting at $4/month, with various plans including cloud, VPS, and memory-optimized options. While it lacks email hosting, its developer-friendly environment, comprehensive documentation, and versatile user management make it a top choice for technical users and growing businesses.
  
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  Register.com (Overall grade: 6.6)
  
  
  offers solid entry-level web hosting services with features geared towards small businesses and individual users. It provides shared, WordPress, and ecommerce hosting with perks like a free domain for the first year and a user-friendly website builder. Despite strong customer support, including 24/7 phone and live chat, Register.com falls short on advanced hosting features and scalability. Performance can be inconsistent, and higher costs for lesser value might deter some users. However, its ease of use and accessible customer service make it a viable option for those needing straightforward, no-frills web hosting.
  

Hosting types offered

Both platforms provide a variety of hosting types, each designed to meet the different needs of users.

Although both offer a variety of hosting plans tailored to different needs, in certain cases, one platform may prove to be more suitable.

Detailed comparison

🏆 Winner DigitalOcean: Provides advanced monitoring and higher overall performance with a 99.99% uptime SLA.

Section 2: DigitalOcean offers real-time alerts for endpoint status, slowdowns, and SSL expirations. It monitors endpoints across four global regions every minute, customizable to detect latency to the millisecond. With 24/7 automated monitoring, users receive customizable alerts via Slack or email, providing a 30-day global average uptime and recent outage information.

Section 3: Register.com guarantees 99.99% uptime for Unix customers and 99.9% for Microsoft users. It offers multiple data protection features, such as automated website backup and malware scanning. The hosting plans include various tiers with different storage capacities, email boxes, and additional security layers, making it a solid choice for small businesses and individual ventures.

🏆 Winner DigitalOcean: Reliable and efficient hosting for various types of websites and applications.

DigitalOcean stands out in terms of general performance. With 14 globally distributed data centers, it ensures your website remains accessible from various locations around the world. The hosting features virtual machines (Droplets) enhanced by SSD storage for faster content retrieval and superior load times. Additionally, caching mechanisms and built-in Content Delivery Network (CDN) further improve website speed. Register.com, while offering a solid uptime guarantee and multiple server backups, has fewer detailed performance features. DigitalOcean’s transparent billing and developer-friendly tools make it even more appealing.

Website Speed

DigitalOcean incorporates several components to enhance website speed, including SSD storage, CDN, and caching mechanisms. These elements collectively contribute to quicker load times and improved overall site performance. Register.com, on the other hand, primarily emphasizes its WordPress hosting load times, reported to be twice as fast as competitors. Nevertheless, it lacks the advanced, detailed performance-improving features that DigitalOcean offers, such as automated backups and advanced caching strategies.

Scalability

DigitalOcean provides elastic scaling options with both load balancing and horizontal scaling. This ensures that your website can handle increased traffic without manual intervention or upgrading plans. The cost starts at $4 per month, offering predictable pricing. With Register.com, scalability involves upgrading plans manually. They do not mention automatic scaling or dedicated servers, and the costs for scaling are not specified. DigitalOcean’s comprehensive scalability options make it a clear winner for growing businesses.

🏆 Winner
DigitalOcean: DigitalOcean offers superior security features and compliance credentials, making it the preferred choice.

Technical security measures:

DigitalOcean and Register.com both provide strong technical security measures. DigitalOcean offers SSL certificates, DDoS protection, data encryption, a web application firewall, and automated backups. Register.com also ensures SSL security with various levels of validation and uses SiteLock for malware protection. Both providers support multiple PHP versions. However, DigitalOcean stands out with its additional features like virtual private clouds and managed databases with encrypted connections.

Operational security measures:

DigitalOcean provides comprehensive operational security measures with cloud firewalls, SSH access for secure server management, and two-factor authentication. Register.com offers password protection, customizable error pages, and scheduled tasks manager. Register.com’s SiteLock service further scans and removes malware, while DigitalOcean supports secure remote operations via SSH and ensures regular backups with automatic snapshot features. DigitalOcean’s range of operational security features is wider and includes more advanced options.

Compliance and certifications:

DigitalOcean is compliant with GDPR and PCI-DSS and holds multiple certifications, including SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3 Type II, ISO/IEC 27001:2013, CSA STAR Level 1, and APEC CBPR PRP. Register.com complies with GDPR and PCI-DSS, offering specific measures such as WHOIS masking for EU residents and secure transaction encryption. While both exhibit strong compliance standards, DigitalOcean’s extensive list of certifications highlights its stringent adherence to security and privacy standards.

🏆 Winner DigitalOcean: A versatile hosting provider with extensive features and solid performance.

Both DigitalOcean and Register.com offer a range of hosting services, yet they cater to different user needs. DigitalOcean stands out with its robust set of features that appeal to developers and businesses looking for high security and performance. With services such as Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), managed Kubernetes, and a wide array of managed databases, it provides a comprehensive environment for more technical users. Its user-friendly platform includes a load balancer, cloud firewalls, and SSD storage, ensuring a reliable performance backed by a 99.99% uptime SLA. While DigitalOcean does not explicitly offer a website builder, its flexibility and high-level customization options via SSH access make it suitable for those who prefer coding their sites and managing their environments manually.

Register.com, while more basic in some aspects, offers specific tools that cater to beginners or small businesses looking to set up a straightforward website. The inclusion of a user-friendly Website Builder makes it simple to create and design web pages without technical know-how. Features such as FTP Account Manager, Open Source Applications, and various script libraries add value, especially for users who may not need the extensive security and performance features of DigitalOcean. Register.com also provides a variety of useful services like website backups, streaming media, and custom error pages, which enhance its appeal for users seeking ease of use and convenience without delving too deeply into the technical aspects.

Both providers support a range of users from beginners to experts with user-friendly website builders and WordPress staging areas. However, in terms of developer tools, both DigitalOcean and Register.com offer robust options including SSH access, support for multiple programming languages, and Git for version control, thus appealing to developers looking for advanced capabilities.

Email services:

Register.com shines when it comes to email hosting services, offering users the ability to manage email campaigns effectively. It does not specify transactional email capabilities, but it does handle general email hosting efficiently. DigitalOcean, on the other hand, focuses more on providing a high-performance hosting environment and does not include email hosting services as part of its offerings, requiring users to seek third-party email services for their email hosting needs.

🏆 Winner DigitalOcean: DigitalOcean offers a wide range of versatile and transparent hosting solutions tailored to different needs.

Evaluating the pricing of plans among various hosting providers can be complex due to their differing pricing and renewal strategies. Additionally, certain plans require annual commitments, which adds to the difficulty of making comparisons. The prices listed are based on monthly commitments; plans requiring annual commitments are indicated. Although some providers offer identical plans for WordPress and shared hosting, we have created separate tables for each to enhance clarity.

Enterprise plans

For enterprises, DigitalOcean offers more advanced and flexible options. Their Memory-Optimized Droplets start at $84/month, and Storage-Optimized Droplets at $131/month, providing robust memory and storage capabilities. Register.com, while offering ample storage and domain name inclusion, lacks the high-performance configurations necessary for larger enterprises. With its versatile offerings and competitive pricing, DigitalOcean stands out as the better choice for larger businesses requiring high capacity and performance.

🏆 Winner DigitalOcean: A highly versatile and user-friendly hosting provider with wide-ranging solutions for both developers and businesses.

DigitalOcean offers a customizable admin panel through its Droplets and App Platform, catering to users with various levels of technical expertise. Their platform features an intuitive interface with pre-configured 1-Click Apps, making it accessible for non-technical users to get websites up and running quickly. For advanced users, DigitalOcean provides the flexibility to modify configurations and scale resources as needed. Cloudways, an additional managed solution, further simplifies management for those who prefer not to handle infrastructure details.

Register.com, on the other hand, provides a simpler admin panel bundled with features like a Website Builder and 1-Click Install for CMS applications. This approach makes it straightforward for beginners and non-tech-savvy users to design and manage their sites. The admin interface also includes tools for managing databases, scripts, and other site functionalities, but may not offer the same level of customization and scalability found in DigitalOcean’s offerings.

DigitalOcean supports seamless migrations through comprehensive documentation and community support, but automated migration tools are not explicitly mentioned in the provided information. Cloudways, operating under DigitalOcean, likely offers additional assistance for migrations. Register.com provides tools for manual site migration, but automated options or specifics regarding migration fees were not detailed, implying a potentially more hands-on process.

DigitalOcean’s help center is extensive and includes a wide range of tutorials, a supportive community, and direct customer support through a ticketing system. Their documentation covers a broad spectrum of topics, easing the learning curve for new users. Register.com also offers 24/7 customer service, detailed FAQs, and various support resources such as a blog and accessibility support. However, both platforms provide ample resources to assist users through different stages of website setup and maintenance.

🏆 Winner DigitalOcean: A versatile hosting provider with comprehensive user management features.

DigitalOcean stands out with extensive capabilities in managing user roles, permissions, and accessibility. Team owners on DigitalOcean can invite new members, resend or revoke invitations, change roles, and remove members without any restrictions on the number of team members or roles. The platform offers three distinct roles: Owner, Biller, and Member. These roles provide clarity and specialized access, ensuring that each team member has the appropriate permissions based on their responsibilities. In contrast, there is no specific information provided about user management and roles for Register.com, making it difficult to evaluate its flexibility and effectiveness in this regard.

DigitalOcean offers a user-friendly interface for managing teams. The process of inviting new members is straightforward with a clear “Invite Members” button, simplifying the addition of new team members via email invitations. Team members can view a detailed membership table, which includes current roles and the status of invitations. Team owners have additional visibility into each member’s sign-in method, providing a higher level of control and transparency. Without information on Register.com’s user management tools, we cannot draw a comparison to its interface and usability.

Access control measures on DigitalOcean are efficient and effective, with roles clearly defined, allowing for scalable management of a growing number of users. Owners have full access to team settings and billing information, while Billers and Members have access limited to their specific areas, ensuring that sensitive information is protected and only accessible by authorized users. DigitalOcean’s structure supports efficient growth management by allowing unlimited team members and roles. For Register.com, the lack of detailed information makes it challenging to assess its capability to manage access control and user scalability effectively.

DigitalOcean user roles table:

🏆 Winner
Register.com: Exceptional customer support with numerous accessible channels and options.

DigitalOcean offers a wide range of support options including email, online ticketing, and a premium live chat feature. Their comprehensive documentation and active community are key resources for users to resolve issues. However, the lack of phone support and premium-only live chat may be a limitation for some users.

Register.com excels with award-winning customer support available through various channels such as 24/7 phone support and live chat. The availability of MyTime support for product setup and tasks provides additional assistance to users. The extensive support options and accessibility make Register.com a well-rounded choice for those prioritizing customer service.

User feedback

DigitalOcean consistently garners praise for its simplicity, user-friendly interface, and transparent pricing, making it ideal for both beginners and experienced developers. Users appreciate the straightforward setup, reliable performance, and excellent customer support, highlighting features like one-click deployment and robust documentation. However, there are some minor criticisms, including a limited variety of server configurations compared to larger providers and occasional slow customer support response times. Despite these drawbacks, DigitalOcean is highly regarded for its cost-effectiveness, ease of use, and overall reliability, particularly for small to medium-sized businesses and startups.

Customer feedback on Register.com is notably polarized. A significant number of users commend the platform for its easy-to-use interface, extensive template selection, and generally satisfactory customer service, emphasizing that it meets basic web hosting and domain registration needs effectively. However, many users also express frustration over high costs, slow response times, and unaddressed technical issues such as unreliable email services and slow page loading speeds. While some customers have had positive long-term experiences, others warn against the service due to unreliability and poor customer support, resulting in business losses and dissatisfaction.

FAQ