Cube vs DigitalOcean

The short version

DigitalOcean offers three ways to run a coding agent in October 2026:

• A Droplet: a classic VPS. Install Claude Code or Codex, run it in tmux, and look after the server yourself.
• Managed Agents (public preview): DigitalOcean runs your agent harness (Claude Code, Codex CLI, OpenCode, Hermes and others) in its own microVM per session, with APIs, per-second billing for active CPU, and pause and resume.
• MicroVMs (public preview): lower-level microVMs you start from a container image, which pause when idle and resume in milliseconds with their memory intact.

Cube is your own Linux computer in the cloud with an app for your Mac, the browser and your phone. Your repos, a Git worktree per task and all your agent sessions live on it, ready in about two minutes.

Cube vs a Droplet

	DigitalOcean Droplet	Cube
Setup	You create a user, SSH keys and firewall, and keep the OS updated	Ready in about two minutes; sign in and pick your repos
CPU	Basic plans are shared CPU; dedicated plans cost more	Shared vCPUs with guaranteed RAM
Price	Basic: $24/month for 2 vCPUs and 4 GiB, $48 for 4 vCPUs and 8 GiB	$12/month for 2 vCPUs and 4 GB; $6 per vCPU
When you’re not using it	Still billed while powered off; destroy it to stop billing	Pause it: $2 per vCPU a month, files and sessions kept
Agents	Install and update them yourself	22 agents, one click each
Access	SSH	Mac app, any browser, phone, and SSH

A Droplet gives you full control and a generous bandwidth allowance. You also own the server work: DigitalOcean’s recommended setup starts with a non-root user, SSH keys and a firewall.

Cube vs Managed Agents and MicroVMs

	DigitalOcean Managed Agents / MicroVMs	Cube
Status	Public preview	Publicly available, no waitlist
Shape	A microVM per agent session, driven by API and CLI	One computer for all your agents
Pause	Keeps files, processes and context; can pause automatically when idle	Keeps files and your agent sessions; running processes stop until you resume
Billing	Per second for active CPU (Managed Agents) or vCPU and memory while running (MicroVMs: $0.022 per vCPU-hour, $0.0085 per GiB-hour), plus storage	Per second while running; a lower rate while paused
Built for	Teams building agents into products and workflows	A developer and their coding agents
Interface	doctl CLI and APIs	Mac app, any browser, phone, and SSH

DigitalOcean’s new products are strong where Cube is not: their pause freezes running processes in place, and they’re built to run many isolated sessions from code. On Cube, pausing keeps your files and agent sessions, and you pick the sessions back up after you resume. Cube is built for a person: one persistent computer with your repos, tools and logins, an app to see every session, and nothing to configure.

When to choose DigitalOcean

• A Droplet if you’re comfortable administering Linux, want root and full control, and leave the server on anyway.
• Managed Agents or MicroVMs if you’re building agents into a product or pipeline, want a fresh isolated environment per session from an API, or need pause and resume that keeps processes running, and you’re fine with preview software.

When to choose Cube

• You want your coding agents on a computer that’s ready in minutes, without running a server.
• You want all your repos, worktrees and sessions in one app, on your Mac, in the browser and on your phone.
• You’d rather pay a lower paused rate than keep paying for a powered-off server.