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Bundled object storage with CDN · by DigitalOcean

DigitalOcean Spaces

S3-compatible object storage for $5 a month including 250 GiB of storage, 1 TiB of transfer and a built-in CDN, from the developer-focused cloud.

Visit digitalocean.com ↗ Alternatives Paid EU region
DigitalOcean Spaces homepage
§1

Overview

DigitalOcean Spaces is S3-compatible object storage priced as a simple subscription. For $5 a month you get 250 GiB of storage and 1 TiB of outbound transfer, shared across all your buckets, plus a built-in CDN at no extra cost. Beyond that, storage costs $0.02 per GiB and transfer $0.01 per GiB, one of the lowest overage egress rates among general clouds.

Requests are not billed separately, so the bill depends only on stored data and outbound transfer. Traffic from a Spaces bucket to Droplets in the same region, or over the private VPC-local resolver, does not count against the allowance, which makes Spaces a natural place for uploads and backups from apps on Droplets or DigitalOcean Kubernetes.

A Cold Storage class at $0.007 per GiB-month targets archives and backups. It has a 30-day minimum retention, a 128 KiB minimum billable object size, and a $0.01/GiB retrieval fee once you read more than your average daily cold usage.

The main thing to know before paying is that the $5 base applies as long as any bucket exists. For a handful of files, a service with a free tier (R2, B2) costs less; for tens to hundreds of gigabytes with steady downloads, Spaces' bundle is simple and predictable.

§2

Pricing and plans

Plan Price What you get
Spaces subscription $5/mo 250 GiB storage and 1,024 GiB outbound transfer shared across up to 100 buckets
Extra storage $0.02/GiB-month Standard storage beyond 250 GiB
Extra transfer $0.01/GiB Outbound beyond 1 TiB; CDN and origin traffic both count
Cold Storage $0.007/GiB-month $0.01/GiB retrieval above average daily usage; 30-day minimum retention; 128 KiB minimum object size

Billing starts when the first bucket is created and is prorated hourly until all buckets are deleted, so the $5 base is charged even for an almost empty bucket. Transfer from Spaces to Droplets in the same region group is free, as is traffic over the VPC-local resolver. Cold Storage bills early deletion at $0.007/GiB-day equivalent for objects removed within 30 days (first 250 GiB per month free). New accounts may receive a time-limited promotional credit. Compliance certifications were not on the pages read.

Source: docs.digitalocean.com/products/spaces/details/pricing/ · prices as published, excluding tax.

§3

What it does

Built-in CDN
Enable the Spaces CDN per bucket at no extra charge; CDN and origin traffic share the transfer allowance.
Flat bundle
$5 covers 250 GiB and 1 TiB across up to 100 buckets, with no request fees.
Free in-region transfer
Downloads from Spaces to Droplets in the same region group, or via the VPC-local resolver, are free.
Cold Storage
A $0.007/GiB-month class for infrequently accessed data with retrieval and early-deletion rules.
S3-compatible API
Works with S3 SDKs, s3cmd, rclone and most S3 tools.
§4

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

  • Predictable $5 bundle with generous 1 TiB transfer
  • Low overage egress at $0.01/GiB
  • Free CDN included
  • No per-request charges
  • Free transfer to Droplets in the same region

Limitations

  • The $5 monthly base applies as soon as one bucket exists, even if it is nearly empty
  • No permanent free tier
  • Cold Storage has a 30-day minimum retention and 128 KiB minimum object size
  • Access to Spaces may be removed for accounts with unresolved billing issues
§5

Who it suits

Good for

  • Apps hosted on DigitalOcean Droplets or Kubernetes
  • Serving images and downloads through the built-in CDN
  • Small teams wanting a predictable monthly storage bill

Look elsewhere if

  • Hobby projects storing only a few megabytes
  • Multi-terabyte archives, where per-TB providers are cheaper
§6

Pricing history

  • Spaces Cold Storage generally available

    Announced 12 March 2026: a Cold Storage class for Spaces at $0.007/GiB-month with a 30-day minimum retention and $0.01/GiB retrieval beyond the included allowance. Source ↗

§7

Alternatives to DigitalOcean Spaces

Tool From Free option Stages
Akamai Object Storage (Linode) Bundled object storage
$5/mo Paid
Hetzner Object Storage EU object storage
€6.49/mo Paid
UploadThing File upload service for TypeScript apps
$10/mo Free tier
Supabase Managed Postgres backend platform
$25/mo Free tier
ImageKit Image and video CDN with media library
$89/mo Free tier
Bunny Storage Edge-replicated storage
Usage-based Paid

All file and object storage →

§8

Questions

How much does DigitalOcean Spaces cost?

$5 a month for 250 GiB of storage and 1 TiB of outbound transfer, then $0.02/GiB stored and $0.01/GiB transferred.

Does DigitalOcean Spaces have a free tier?

No. Billing starts when you create your first bucket, prorated hourly.

Is the Spaces CDN free?

Yes. The CDN is included; its traffic counts toward the same 1 TiB transfer allowance.

Is DigitalOcean Spaces S3 compatible?

Yes. Spaces is an S3-compatible service and works with standard S3 SDKs and tools.

Sources read for this page