Overview
Here's a step-by-step guide to buying a server on DigitalOcean (DO). With its great value, simple interface, and stable performance, DigitalOcean has long been a top choice for individual developers and small teams. Plans start at just $4/month for SSD-based servers, and even beginners can get started quickly.1. Preparation
A few key points before you start:
- DO bills by the hour — no need to pay for a full month upfront, which is great for testing. Just remember to destroy the server when you're done.
- For users in China, San Francisco (SFO) is the recommended data center. From personal experience, it offers more stable latency on China Telecom and China Unicom lines than Singapore, with less routing detours.
- New users: be sure to claim your free credits! Regular users get $200 in credits valid for 60 days. Students can get $200 valid for 1 year through the GitHub Student Pack — great value.
- Prohibited uses: no public proxies, no adult content hosting, no network attacks.
2. Account Registration
Go to the DigitalOcean website and click "Sign Up" at the top right. You can register with an email or log in directly with your GitHub account. Logging in with GitHub also automatically syncs any student discounts.
After registration, you'll receive a verification email. Click the link in the email to activate your account — don't skip this step, otherwise you won't be able to proceed.
After activation, you'll be redirected to the billing page. Next, you'll need to verify your payment method — this is required before you can create a server.
3. Payment Methods
DigitalOcean supports multiple payment options. For users in China, I recommend these two:
- PayPal: the safest choice! First, register a PayPal account and link it to your domestic bank card. On the DO payment page, select PayPal — a $5 authorization check will be triggered (not actually charged). Once verified, you're good to go. If any disputes arise, PayPal also offers buyer protection.
Other options: credit cards (Visa/Mastercard), Alipay, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and even some stablecoins. Note that domestic credit cards may sometimes fail verification, so beginners may want to avoid them. Also, DO does not accept virtual or prepaid cards — don't waste your time.
4. Creating a Server
Once your account and payment are set up, you can create your own server (called a "Droplet" on DO):
- Go back to the dashboard, click "Create" at the top right, and select "Droplets."
- Choose an operating system: Ubuntu (LTS version, e.g., 22.04 LTS) is recommended for beginners — it's the most compatible and easy to use for various setups. If you're comfortable with CentOS, you can choose that instead.
- Choose a server plan:
- Beginners / lightweight use (blog, test environment): Select "Basic" — the lowest tier at $4/month (512MB RAM, 10GB SSD, 500GB traffic) is more than enough.
- Production / heavy workloads (e-commerce, databases): Choose "General Purpose" — start with 2 cores and 8GB RAM for better performance.
- You can also choose between Intel and AMD CPUs — pricing is similar.
- Choose a data center: For users in China, select "San Francisco (SFO)." If your target audience is in Europe, choose Amsterdam. For other parts of Asia, Singapore is a good choice.
- Additional options:
- Private networking: free — allows servers in the same data center to communicate, useful for multi-server setups.
- IPv6: free — enables IPv6 access.
- Backups: paid (20% of monthly cost) — automatically backs up your data. Recommended for important projects.
- Set up login method: SSH keys are strongly recommended — more secure than passwords. You can generate one directly on the page or upload your own public key. If you're not comfortable with SSH keys, you can also choose password login — you'll receive an email with the default password after creation.
Finally, click "Create Droplet." Wait a few dozen seconds, and the server will be ready. The page will display the server's IP address — make a note of it, as you'll need it for SSH connections.
