Cloud hosting · September 2026 Edition
Amazon Web Services vs DigitalOcean
Six of twelve models named Amazon Web Services first on the direct prompt; zero named DigitalOcean. Both were named by all twelve models and Amazon Web Services carries 58 labels and DigitalOcean 46, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in two categories this edition.
Named in one category this edition.
First-choice share29%13%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate17%11%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#1#3A position in a field of 12; printed, not drawn.
Labels5846A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Amazon Web Services reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Microsoft Azure was named alongside these two in eleven of the twelve direct answers. Amazon Web Services vs Microsoft Azure · Microsoft Azure vs DigitalOcean
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the cloud hosting page.
By framing
How many of the twelve models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Amazon Web ServicesFirst choices, of twelve modelsDigitalOcean
Direct601 against DigitalOcean
Paraphrase723 against DigitalOcean
Comparative80
Budget-constrained045 against Amazon Web Services
Scale-constrained002 against Amazon Web Services
Negative113 against Amazon Web Services · 1 against DigitalOcean
Bars are first choices, 0 to 12 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to twelve.
The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Amazon Web Services and DigitalOcean stood in it.
Amazon Web Services first, DigitalOcean an alternative
6 of 12 modelsDigitalOcean was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Claude Haiku 4.5Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure alternatives: DigitalOcean
GPT-5.4 miniAmazon Web Services alternatives: Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
Gemini 3.5 FlashAmazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure alternatives: Atlantic.Net, Cloudways, Google Cloud, Liquid Web / Nexcess
Grok 4.1 FastAmazon Web Services alternatives: Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure
Mistral SmallAmazon Web Services alternatives: Akamai Connected Cloud, DigitalOcean, Microsoft Azure, Vultr
Qwen 3.7 FlashAmazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Rackspace Technology alternatives: Google Cloud
Neither was the first choice, one was named
5 of 12 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Perplexity SonarCloudways alternatives: Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure
DeepSeek V4 FlashMicrosoft Azure alternatives: Amazon Web Services, DigitalOcean, Google Cloud
Kimi K2Microsoft Azure alternatives: 11:11 Systems, Amazon Web Services, DigitalOcean, Google Cloud, RapidScale
GLM 4.7 FlashXno first choice alternatives: Akamai Connected Cloud, Amazon Web Services, DigitalOcean, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Rackspace, RapidScale, Vultr
MiniMax M2.5Rackspace Technology alternatives: Amazon Web Services, DigitalOcean, Google Cloud, Liquid Web, Microsoft Azure
Neither was named
1 of 12 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Llama 4 Maverickno first choice
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
DigitalOcean leads by thirty points.
DigitalOcean40%#1 of 14Amazon Web Services11%#2 of 14Mid-marketThe figures above
The order flips: Amazon Web Services leads at mid-market.
Amazon Web Services29%#1 of 12DigitalOcean13%#3 of 12Enterprise
Amazon Web Services leads by fifty-seven points.
Amazon Web Services57%#1 of 8DigitalOcean0%#7 of 8What the models said about Amazon Web Services
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of seven in this category shown.
“Avoid big clouds like AWS/GCP/Azure for tiny budgets” Grok 4.1 Fast · budget prompt · hard negative
“Hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP): Best if you need incredibly complex, cutting-edge services... However, they are highly complex and can be very expensive.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · scale prompt · soft negative
“A major trap for budget-conscious companies is choosing "hyperscalers" like AWS, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure” Gemini 3.5 Flash · budget prompt · soft negative
“AWS is usually considered the most comprehensive cloud platform, with the broadest range of services and the deepest ecosystem.” GPT-5.4 mini · comparative prompt · first choice
“If you have no strong existing-preference signal: AWS. It's the safest, most flexible choice for a mid-sized B2B company” DeepSeek V4 Flash · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Choose AWS if you are building a complex, highly scalable application and have the technical expertise to manage it.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · direct prompt · first choice
What the models said about DigitalOcean
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“they're usually less ideal for a company that expects significant scaling, compliance needs, or complex enterprise requirements” GPT-5.4 mini · paraphrase prompt · soft negative
“They generally lack the heavy compliance auditing, advanced identity management (IAM), and global scale” Gemini 3.5 Flash · paraphrase prompt · soft negative
“Lower reliability scores ... recycled IPs often blacklisted ... better for devs okay with self-managing” Grok 4.1 Fast · negative prompt · soft negative
“### 1. DigitalOcean ... Simple pricing, predictable costs, great documentation | Simplest setup | DigitalOcean |” MiniMax M2.5 · budget prompt · first choice
“I'd start with Hetzner Cloud for cheapest good performance, or DigitalOcean if you value ease of use more.” GPT-5.4 mini · budget prompt · first choice
“Known for its predictable pricing and ease of use, DigitalOcean is a popular choice for mid-sized businesses.” Llama 4 Maverick · paraphrase prompt · first choice
Also compared
Comparisons are drawn for the top three products in each category. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.