Item: DigitalOcean
Rating: 10
Author: Brandon Mullins

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We happily use DigitalOcean for all of our hosting needs. DigitalOcean provides cloud based servers that are used throughout our organization. In the past we have used various other hosting companies, but DigitalOcean offers us not only a hosting service, but the ability to utilize our own servers. We have been extremely happy with the services DigitalOcean has provided, and any technical problems have been addressed quickly and professionally.

Pros and Cons

We have been building websites for over 15 years, and in that time we feel like we have found the perfect host for our needs.
Technical issues that we have encountered, or problems with setting up website related services have been very quickly and professionally dealt with.
The customer service is top notch, and surprisingly the customer service representatives have been very enjoyable to talk to.
Over the last year DigitalOcean has greatly expanded the services they offer.

Over the years DigitalOcean has grown, and has predicted our needs before we had them.
There is always room for improvement but I've not had any issues that need resolving or services that need improvement upon.
I really have no idea what could be improved upon, and when new features are implemented, I am surprised I didn't think of them, They are really on the ball.

Return on Investment

The ROI has been tremendous where uptime is concerned. I've not had any loss of investment where DigitalOcean is concerned.

Usability

While DigitalOcean is a top notch host in our opinion, it could be more user friendly. There have been great strides taken in the last year with user friendliness, and while if you are experienced with web hosting, the services they offer will be easy to use, if you are not then it will require some research on your part.

Support Rating

On the few occasions we have needed help with any issues related to hosting on DigitalOcean, we have had fast and friendly service. I cannot think of another host we have used in the past that has offered us such great support, even when the issues being fixed were due to our own mixups.

Alternatives Considered

ServerPilot, Bluehost, GoDaddy and HostGator

DigitalOcean and ServerPilot work extremely well together. As for other hosting solutions I feel like I have moved on to the best choice available with DigitalOcean. Times change, and DigitalOcean just feels like the next step in the evolution of hosting providers and I for one wouldn't want to go back.

Other Software Used

WordPress, Drupal, Google Domains

Likelihood to Recommend

We at Moon Books use Wordpress as our CMS of choice. DigitalOcean works amazingly well with Wordpress and is quicker than any other host I've ever used. We also use EasyEngine in addition to DigitalOcean, which makes rolling out new sites even quicker. The only scenario that I could think of in this case, if possibly using another CMS such as Drupal, but I've not tried it personally, the Drupal hosting could very easily be as polished as Wordpress, I'm just pulling Drupal out of my hat.

DigitalOcean and the evolution of hosting

Overall Satisfaction with DigitalOcean