Small business▲+15Since September 2026: 39% → 54%, +15 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement. Read over the models both editions asked.
54%from 39% in September 2026
Cleared the floor by 4 pointsRank 1 of 68, unchanged
DigitalOcean · 1 category · RankedDigitalOcean Kubernetes
121Judge labels
39First choices
20Negative labels
14 / 14Models named it
1Category
October 2026 Edition. Every number here is derived from the raw labels under vendor table v2026-10.8, every buyer segment counted.
Best standing
55% in Managed Kubernetes for small business buyers
Rank 3 of 52 in the mid-market standingaccepted challenger
0 of 14 models made it the first choice on the direct prompt; 21% of its 47 labels there were negative.
What the models named instead of DigitalOcean Kubernetes →By buyer segmentA small-business product: leader at small business, not named at enterprise.
Small business1 of 76
55%64 labels
endorsed leader
Mid-market3 of 52
14%47 labels
accepted challenger
Enterprise52 of 52
0%10 labels
criticized challenger
In managed kubernetes · each standing computed within its segment · bars are 0 to 100 · the accent bar is the product's own best reading
Standing by category
Every category where a model named DigitalOcean Kubernetes for a mid-market B2B company. Share is first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts; rank is within every product named in that category.
| Category | Function | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Quadrant | Since September 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Managed Kubernetes platforms | Cloud and infrastructure | 14% | 3 of 52 | 21% | 47 | accepted challenger | ▼−9Since September 2026: 22% → 12%, −9 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
Movement
Since September 2026, DigitalOcean Kubernetes held within the floor in its one category: no change cleared 11 points.
Best category · Managed Kubernetes · by segment
Mid-market▼−9Since September 2026: 22% → 12%, −9 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
12%from 22% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 2 pointsRank 2 → 4 of 46
Enterprise=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
0%from 0% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 11 pointsRank 53 → 47 of 47
All categories · Mid-market
| Category | September 2026 | Now | Change | Reading | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Managed Kubernetes | 22% | 12% | ▼−9Since September 2026: 22% → 12%, −9 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 2 → 3 of 52 |
Shares here are read over the models both editions asked, so they can differ by a point or two from the standing above, which counts every model in this edition.
The floor is 11 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one is noise, and both are shown. Movement is read over the twelve models both editions asked; GPT-6 Luna, Muse Glimmer 30B joined this edition and are in the standing but not yet in the comparison. How the floor is measured · The editions
By model
How each model treated DigitalOcean Kubernetes across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.ShowHide
By model
How each model treated DigitalOcean Kubernetes across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.
ShowHide| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Negative | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Grok 4.20 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Mistral Small | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Kimi K2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
By framing
Which of the six questions produced the naming. By model says how often; this says asked what. The first-choice count on the right carries the marks of the models that produced it.
FramingLabels by classFirst choices
Direct18 labels10
Paraphrase20 labels7
Comparative23 labels10not counted in share
Budget-constrained26 labels20
Scale-constrained9 labels2
Negative25 labels6not counted in share
First choiceAlternativeMentionNegative121 labels in all, every segment counted; 39 of the 55 first choices count toward share, since the comparative and negative framings do not. The bar is one segment per label class, to scale within the framing.
What the models said for it
Verbatim evidence the judge attached to positive labels.
“I'd recommend starting with DigitalOcean or Civo as they offer the best balance of cost, simplicity, and reliability” MiniMax M2.5 · Managed Kubernetes · budget prompt · first choice
“DigitalOcean's DOKS (DigitalOcean Kubernetes) stands out as one of the best-managed options among reliable providers.” Grok 4.20 · Managed Kubernetes · budget prompt · first choice
“the strongest default choice is usually DigitalOcean Kubernetes because it has a free control plane” Perplexity Sonar · Managed Kubernetes · budget prompt · first choice
“Azure AKS (free control plane) and DigitalOcean Kubernetes are top choices for small businesses” Mistral Small · Managed Kubernetes · budget prompt · first choice
And against it
Verbatim evidence attached to negative labels. A warning on a product with few labels is a warning; on a product with many, it is one voice among them.
“Platforms to Avoid or Use with Caution ### 1. DigitalOcean Kubernetes - Main concerns: No enterprise-grade SLA” GLM 4.7 FlashX · Managed Kubernetes · negative prompt · hard negative
“Avoid smaller providers if you need robust, scalable, and fully supported production environments.” Mistral Small · Managed Kubernetes · negative prompt · hard negative
“Status: ❌ Generally Avoid for Enterprise/Critical Workloads” Qwen 3.7 Flash · Managed Kubernetes · negative prompt · hard negative
“The ceiling is compliance and ecosystem depth. DigitalOcean does not offer the certification breadth of AWS, GCP, or Azure, and BYOC is not available.” Claude Haiku 4.5 · Managed Kubernetes · negative prompt · soft negative
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as DigitalOcean Kubernetes, over the 121 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and DigitalOcean Kubernetes was named but was not.ShowHide
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as DigitalOcean Kubernetes, over the 121 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and DigitalOcean Kubernetes was named but was not.
ShowHideProductSame answerTook the first choice insteadHead to head
A head-to-head page exists where both products are among a category's top eight. The other rows are the same fact without a page behind them, so they link to the product instead.
What carried it into the answer
The sites and pages cited by the answers that named DigitalOcean Kubernetes. A fact about retrieval, not a lever on the model.
Citations exist only for the models that return a source list, five of the fourteen in this edition, so these counts come from 114 of the 121 answers that named DigitalOcean Kubernetes and are not a share of its labels.
Domains cited
digitalocean.comYour site66
medium.com61
spot.rackspace.com59
it-ai-index.com55
blog.railway.com52
northflank.com49
linkedin.com43
dev.to39
portainer.io28
qovery.com26
412 of the 478 domain citations in answers naming DigitalOcean Kubernetes came from somebody else's page.
Pages cited
Pages are listed as the models cited them.
Search and answers
digitalocean.com ranks 5 on Google for the category's searches. In the answers, DigitalOcean Kubernetes takes 14% of first choices and Google Kubernetes Engine takes 43%.ShowHide
Search and answers
digitalocean.com ranks 5 on Google for the category's searches. In the answers, DigitalOcean Kubernetes takes 14% of first choices and Google Kubernetes Engine takes 43%.
ShowHideIn search
Google, US estimatesPosition for “managed kubernetes platform”
–
not in the top ten
Position for “managed kubernetes platforms”
5
- Searches for its name, Google
- 110 a month (“digitalocean kubernetes”)
- AI search demand for its name, est.
- 4 a month
- Its company's site
- digitalocean.com shared with DigitalOcean's other products; the figures are the site's
- Organic visits to its site
- about 637,494 a month
- Searches its site ranks for
- 147,222 · 5,896 in the top three
- Sites linking to it
- 76,507
- Paid Google search
- 2 searches its ads show for, about 11 clicks and $82 a month (estimate)
In answers
This editionShare of first choices
14%
rank 3 of 52 in managed kubernetes
Segment leader
43%
Google Kubernetes Engine
- First choices
- 39 across its categories
- Named in
- 121 answers
- Its own site cited
- in 114 of the answers that named it
Search figures are US estimates from DataForSEO, read September 28, 2026; AI search demand is its modeled, directional estimate, not a count of queries to any assistant. The answers are this edition's. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
Names read as DigitalOcean Kubernetes
What the judge wrote, as written, with how often. The vendor table decides that these count as DigitalOcean Kubernetes; a claim can dispute any of them.
DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) 21DigitalOcean 7DigitalOcean DOKS 2DigitalOcean Managed Kubernetes 2DigitalOcean (DOKS) 1DigitalOcean Kubernetes – DOKS 1DigitalOcean's DOKS (DigitalOcean Kubernetes) 1
Follow DigitalOcean Kubernetes
An email the morning each edition publishes: where this product moved, where it held, and by how much against the noise floor. One address, confirmed by a click; a stop link in every email.
Already following? Everything you follow, with a stop for each.
The company
DigitalOcean is the company behind DigitalOcean Kubernetes.ShowHide
The company
DigitalOcean is the company behind DigitalOcean Kubernetes.
ShowHideOn record
Company recordsIn its own words
Stated by the vendor, not checked- Positioning
- Learn everything about DigitalOcean Kubernetes—including how you can save time and deploy your container workloads without configuring everything from scratch.
- For
- developers, lean engineering teams, organizations prioritizing transparent pricing and straightforward management
- Price stated
- free control plane; worker nodes starting at $12/month digitalocean.com/resources/articles/kubernetes-digitalocean-vs-aws
- Starting price
- $12/month digitalocean.com/resources/articles/kubernetes-digitalocean-vs-aws
- Free plan or trial
- free control plane digitalocean.com/resources/articles/kubernetes-digitalocean-vs-aws
- Certifications
- CNCF-certified
- Customers named
- Hack The BoxBatchAtom LearningUrlboxPiCapTangoNoBidPlayflow Cloud
- Not stated on the pages read
- Integrations, hosting
What DigitalOcean Kubernetes's own pages state, read September 28, 2026: digitalocean.com/resources/doks, digitalocean.com/resources/articles/kubernetes-digitalocean-vs-aws, digitalocean.com/resources/articles/digitalocean-kubernetes-vs-google-kubernetes, docs.digitalocean.com/products/kubernetes/details/managed. A claimed page can correct any of them.
Is this your product?
Claim this page
Claiming is free and changes nothing in the data. A claimed page shows a verified contact who is told when each edition publishes and when DigitalOcean Kubernetes's standing changes by more than the noise floor; the right to propose corrections to the vendor table, meaning names the judge wrote that should or should not read as DigitalOcean Kubernetes, applied by version and listed in the change log; and a one-line description supplied by the vendor and marked as such.
What a new claim receivesHide what a new claim receives
A new claim receives the current edition's vendor brief for DigitalOcean Kubernetes by email, built from the raw record of the edition. It shows:
- where DigitalOcean Kubernetes is named, by buyer and by framing, and which cells hold its first choices;
- the claims the models make when they name it, ranked, with the strongest and the weakest quoted;
- its vocabulary against the segment leader's, and the pages the models cited;
- who was chosen in the answers that did not name DigitalOcean Kubernetes, and every reason the record gives;
- a battlecard for each top rival: the head-to-head split, why they win, and the reservation quoted against them;
- one page of published figures cleared to show a buyer.
Badges
Wins only: a badge exists where DigitalOcean Kubernetes is ranked in a category's top three this edition. Three sizes, one file each, light and dark; the code is under each.ShowHide
Badges
Wins only: a badge exists where DigitalOcean Kubernetes is ranked in a category's top three this edition. Three sizes, one file each, light and dark; the code is under each.
ShowHideDigitalOcean Kubernetes is among the products AI models recommend first in Managed Kubernetes platforms this edition. Each badge says so in the buyer's words, names the edition, and links to the standing. The next edition issues a new badge; this one stays true as a record of October 2026.
Wide · 320 × 104 Website, beside other badges
Square · 240 × 240 LinkedIn, slides
Compact · 200 × 56 Email signature, footer
Badges read on light and dark pages. Alt text carries the claim, the category, the edition and the index, so it stays a citation where the image does not load.