How to Cancel DigitalOcean in 2026 (Delete Droplets + Stop Charges)

DigitalOcean's $4-6/month droplets are cheap enough to forget about — and that's exactly how they keep billing you. Here's how to find and delete everything.

Step 1: Audit All Resources

1. Log in to cloud.digitalocean.com
2. Check the Billing page for current charges
3. Review ALL sections in the left sidebar:

• Droplets (VMs) — including powered-off ones
• Kubernetes clusters ($12+/month)
• Databases ($15+/month each)
• Spaces (S3-compatible storage, $5/month minimum)
• Volume storage ($0.10/GB/month)
• Load balancers ($12/month each)
• Floating IPs/Reserved IPs ($4/month if unattached)
• Snapshots ($0.05/GB/month)
• App Platform apps ($5+/month)
• Container Registry
• Domains (free, but check for records to preserve)

Step 2: Export Your Data

• Droplet files: SSH in and rsync or scp your files to local
• Databases: Use pg_dump (Postgres), mysqldump (MySQL), or mongodump (MongoDB)
• Spaces: Use s3cmd sync or rclone to download all files
• DNS records: Screenshot or export via API: doctl compute domain records list yourdomain.com
• App Platform: Code is in your Git repo already

Step 3: Delete All Resources

Delete in this order to avoid dependency errors:

1. App Platform apps
2. Load balancers
3. Kubernetes clusters
4. Managed databases
5. Droplets
6. Volumes (must be detached first)
7. Spaces (must be emptied first)
8. Snapshots and backups
9. Reserved/Floating IPs
10. Container Registry
11. Domains and DNS records
12. SSH keys, firewalls, VPCs

Step 4: Close Your Account

1. Verify all resources are deleted (Billing should show $0 projected)
2. Go to Settings → Account
3. Click Deactivate Account
4. Confirm deletion
5. Remove the payment method

Getting a Refund

• Account credits: Non-refundable (including promo credits)
• Charges for deleted resources: Prorated to the hour. Delete early = only pay for hours used.
• Forgotten resources: Contact support. DO has refunded users for clearly-forgotten droplets in some cases.
• Compromised account: File a support ticket immediately — they'll investigate and may waive charges

Cheaper Alternatives

• Hetzner ($3.79/month): Better specs than DO at 30-40% less. CX22 (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM) = $4.15 vs DO's $12 equivalent. European data centers.
• Vultr ($2.50/month): Cheapest VPS with more locations than DO. Good API.
• Oracle Cloud (free tier): 2 free ARM VMs (4 cores, 24GB RAM total) — genuinely generous free tier that doesn't expire.
• Railway ($5/mo credit): If you just need app hosting without managing a server.
• Coolify (free, self-hosted): Install on any cheap VPS for a PaaS experience.