DigitalOcean Functions vs AWS Lambda: pricing
DigitalOcean Functions is cheaper for this workload (about $1.80/mo vs $3.05/mo). DigitalOcean Functions is faas (gb-second only, no per-request fee) (No per-request fee) and AWS Lambda is faas (request + gb-second) ($0.20 / 1M). For 5M requests/month at 256 MB, 150 ms each plus 25 GB egress, the rough monthly totals are $1.80 and $3.05 respectively. Snapshot June 2026 — verify on the vendor's pricing page.
Data as of June 2026.
DigitalOcean Functions vs AWS Lambda side by side
| Cost factor | DigitalOcean Functions | AWS Lambda |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | DigitalOcean | Amazon Web Services |
| Pricing model | FaaS (GB-second only, no per-request fee) | FaaS (request + GB-second) |
| Per 1M requests | No per-request fee | $0.20 / 1M |
| Per GB-second | $0.0000185 / GB-s | $0.0000167 / GB-s |
| Free tier | 90,000 GiB-seconds (25 GiB-hours)/month free, no per-invocation charge; then $0.0000185 per GiB-second ($0.07/GiB-hour). 100 ms minimum per invocation. | 1,000,000 requests/month + 400,000 GB-s/month, perpetual (does not expire after 12 months). |
| Scale to zero | Yes | Yes |
| Egress | varies | $0.09/GB |
| Regions | DigitalOcean regions (NYC, SFO, AMS, FRA, etc.). | 30+ AWS regions worldwide. |
Sources: DigitalOcean pricing · Amazon Web Services pricing.
Sample monthly cost
A rough monthly total for a sample workload: 5,000,000 requests/month, each ~150 ms at 256 MB of memory, plus 25 GB of egress. Computed after each platform's free tier; excludes platform minimums and regional variation, so treat it as a starting point:
| Component | DigitalOcean Functions | AWS Lambda |
|---|---|---|
| Compute (after free tier) | $1.80 | $0.80 |
| Egress (25 GB) | varies | $2.25 |
| Estimated total / month | $1.80 | $3.05 |
Verdict
On cost for this sample workload, DigitalOcean Functions is cheaper for this workload (about $1.80/mo vs $3.05/mo). But price is not the only factor: DigitalOcean Functions (no per-request fee — pay only for gb-seconds) versus AWS Lambda (mature, deepest aws ecosystem (api gateway, sqs, dynamodb, eventbridge)). Read each platform's full breakdown — DigitalOcean Functions and AWS Lambda — and model your own workload in the calculator.
Frequently asked questions
Is DigitalOcean Functions or AWS Lambda cheaper?
For a sample workload of 5M requests/month at 256 MB, 150 ms each plus 25 GB egress, DigitalOcean Functions is cheaper for this workload (about $1.80/mo vs $3.05/mo). This is illustrative and after each platform's free tier; your real cost depends on memory, duration, egress and region. snapshot captured June 2026.
How do DigitalOcean Functions and AWS Lambda price requests?
DigitalOcean Functions: Billed only on GiB-seconds: $0.0000185 per GiB-second ($0.07/GiB-hour) after 90,000 GiB-s (25 GiB-hours) free/month. No per-invocation fee at all. 100 ms minimum per invocation. AWS Lambda: $0.20 per 1M requests + $0.0000166667 per GB-second (x86). Arm/Graviton2 is ~20% cheaper. Billed per 1 ms. Memory is configurable 128 MB-10 GB and sets the GB-second rate. Snapshot June 2026 — verify on the vendor's pricing page.
Do DigitalOcean Functions and AWS Lambda scale to zero?
DigitalOcean Functions: yes, no charge when idle. AWS Lambda: yes, no charge when idle. Scale-to-zero saves money for spiky traffic but adds cold-start latency on the first request.
Which has the better free tier, DigitalOcean Functions or AWS Lambda?
DigitalOcean Functions: 90,000 GiB-seconds (25 GiB-hours)/month free, no per-invocation charge; then $0.0000185 per GiB-second ($0.07/GiB-hour). 100 ms minimum per invocation. AWS Lambda: 1,000,000 requests/month + 400,000 GB-s/month, perpetual (does not expire after 12 months).
More comparisons
Last updated: 2026-06-21