As a cloud infrastructure provider catering to developers and small businesses, DigitalOcean makes deploying and scaling applications extraordinarily simple. Their intuitive interface, predictable pricing, and developer friendly tools explain DigitalOcean‘s meteoric growth, with over 500,000 businesses now relying on their services.
And if you use a referral link when signing up, you can receive $200 in free credit – an incredible perk allowing new users to explore DigitalOcean‘s offerings at no cost.
In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll uncover:
- Key details around DigitalOcean referral rewards and requirements
- 5+ valid referral links providing $200 in credit
- Strategies to fully utilize your $200 credit in the first 60 days
- Analysis on retaining DigitalOcean post-credit based on their competitive pricing
- Plus additional tips, statistics, and insights as a DigitalOcean customer ourselves
Let‘s get started.
Why Developers and Businesses Love DigitalOcean
As context, DigitalOcean aims to provide robust and affordable infrastructure specifically for developers, startups and SMBs. Their suite of products includes:
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🖥️Cloud Servers (Droplets) – Flexible Linux-based virtual machines
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☁️Managed Databases– Fully managed MySQL, PostgreSQL and Redis
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🚢Kubernetes Clusters– Simply deploy and scale containerized apps
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📦Spaces Object Storage– Robust block storage integrated with CDN networking
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🌐App Platform– Serverless platform to build, deploy and scale apps
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🔒Cloud Firewalls– Configure firewalls to secure and isolate resources
And more – all optimized for developers building modern applications.
But beyond the products, what makes DigitalOcean so beloved among its over 500K customers?
Simplicity and Ease of Use
DigitalOcean minimizes complexity, allowing users to deploy infrastructure within 55 seconds through an intuitive control panel and API. Prebuilt app configs remove headaches when launching workloads.
Predictable Pricing
Services use simple and consistent hourly or monthly rates, with transparent pricing calculators. No surprise hikes or hidden fees.
Reliable Performance
A global footprint of datacenters provides low latency access worldwide alongside redundancy and failover. For peace of mind, they deliver 99.99% uptime and 24/7 technical support.
Robust Security
From encrypted disks to private networking, firewall rules, and SOC 2 compliance, security is baked into DigitalOcean‘s DNA.
Cost Efficiency
DigitalOcean is optimized for efficiency – only pay for resources used without overhead. Plus discounts up 80% by pre-paying capacity reservations.
In summary – simplicity, transparency, reliability, security and cost efficiency… explains DigitalOcean‘sexponential success over the past decade!
Now let‘s explore how to unlock $200 in free credits through their referral program.
Unlock $200 in Service Credit with Referral Links
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DigitalOcean offers a referral program providing both referrers and referees perks like service credits.
For example, as a referrer when you share your unique signup link, you‘ll get a cool t-shirt after your referee spends $25.
But more importantly, the referee (the new user) gets $200 in infrastructure credit by using your referral link and entering billing details.
Considering a basic Droplet starts at just $5/month, $200 in free credit allows exploring DigitalOcean‘s services for months at no cost.
Let‘s outline the steps to secure this $200 credit:
Step 1) Obtain a Referral Link
First, you need a valid referral link, which I‘ve provided 5+ of within this guide.
Each link allows one user to sign up and obtain the $200 credit.
Step 2) Click the Referral Link
Actually click or copy/paste one of provided referral links to begin signing up:
Referral Link Example A: https://linkA
Referral Link Example B: https://linkB
And so on.
Step 3) Sign Up and Add Billing Method
Complete signup process and add valid credit/debit card within first 30 days.
Important: entering billing info is required to obtain the $200 credit
Step 4) Verify Email Address
Check inbox for a confirmation email from DigitalOcean and click verification link inside to complete signup.
Step 5) $200 Credit Applied!
Congratulations! Your credit will automatically appear on your billing page.
You have 60 days to utilize this free credit before it expires.
Now let‘s outline 5+ valid referral links to choose from.
5+ DigitalOcean Referral Links ($200 Credit)
Below are 5+ working DigitalOcean referral links as of February 2023, each providing $200 in account credit:
| Referral Link | Offer | Credit Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Link 1 | $200 Credit | 60 Days |
| Link 2 | $200 Credit | 60 Days |
| Link 3 | $200 Credit | 60 Days |
| Link 4 | $200 Credit | 60 Days |
| Link 5 | $200 Credit | 60 Days |
| Link 6 | $200 Credit | 60 Days |
To recap, simply click a link, complete signup, add payment method within 30 days, and verify your email to secure $200 in free infrastructure credit!
Referral Link Limitations
Please note a couple limitations when using DigitalOcean referrals:
- Only one referral link / credit can be claimed per new customer
- Link can only be used when signing up for a new DigitalOcean account
- Unused credit expires 60 days after being issued
Outside of that – take full advantage of exploring DigitalOcean‘s services with your $200!
Strategies to Maximize Your $200 Credit
With $200 in free infrastructure credit, how can we make the most of it during the 60 day period?
Here are my top tips as an industry professional:
1. Deploy Production Workloads
Don‘t just "test" DigitalOcean with your credit…deploy real apps and sites handling production traffic!
For example, utilize that $200 towards hosting:
- Client websites/web apps
- MVP prototypes
- Internal tools or dashboards
- Public Slack/Discord communities
Delivering real business value maximizes the return.
2. Explore Managed Services
DigitalOcean‘s managed services like Databases, Kubernetes and App Platform offer incredible value but generally carry higher resource costs.
The $200 credit lets you validate managed services by deploying free production workloads on:
- Managed PostgreSQL
- Managed Redis
- DigitalOcean Kubernetes
- App Platform Serverless
3. Train Data Models
Running data science workloads like machine learning training on cloud infrastructure can get expensive.
But with your $200 credit, spin up GPU acceleration to train ML models at no cost!
4. Learn through Experimentation
Use this free testing budget to experiment and educate yourself on best practices around:
- Infrastructure architecting
- VPC networking
- Traffic load balancing
- Resource right-sizing
- Automation workflows
- Infrastructure monitoring
- Cost optimization levers
Hands-on learning will serve you well even post-credit.
Retaining DigitalOcean Post Credit
Once your initial $200 credit expires after 2 months, you may wonder whether DigitalOcean still remains cost effective.
The answer is a resounding yes!
Unlike the "shock" of cloud bills from AWS/Azure/GCP, DigitalOcean‘s pricing stays transparent and predictable.
Some ways they maintain affordability at scale:
COST OPTIMIZATION LENSE
- Monitoring tools – Track resource utilization to optimize and cut waste
- Right-sized instances – Prevent overspending on overpowered configs
- Auto-scale groups – Add/remove capacity based on demand
- Shutdown capabilities – Stop unused capacity without losing data
- Reserved Instance discounts – Up to 80% savings for 1-3 yr commitments
- Object Storage vs Block Storage – Store data in cost-optimized mediums
- Load balancing – Distribute traffic across multiple smaller workloads
Simply put – DigitalOcean wants you to maximize ROI while minimizing waste.
TRANSPARENT PRICING
- No surprise hikes – Steady hourly and monthly rates since 2011
- Total usage cost visibility – Account usage dashboard
- Pricing calculator – Estimate your monthly spend
- Cost alerts – Receive budget threshold notifications
- Predictable discounts – Reserved capacity savings known upfront
So rest assured, you can continue leveraging DigitalOcean post-credit in a financially prudent way.
Their business model wins when customers achieve positive ROI. By optimizing efficiency and transparency, DigitalOcean aligns incentives for mutually beneficial outcomes.
Key Takeaways
Let‘s summarize the key points covered in this guide:
🔹 DigitalOcean makes deploying infrastructure and apps extraordinarily simple
🔹 Referral links provide new users $200 in free credits
🔹 Over 5 valid referral links shared here
🔹 Remember to add payment method and verify email to secure credit
🔹 $200 can be used on any DigitalOcean services
🔹 Credit expires after 60 days so leverage quickly
🔹 DigitalOcean remains cost-competitive long term through optimization
I hope this guide gives you high confidence in maximizing value from your DigitalOcean referral. Their services provide immense quality for reasonable costs.
Feel free to bookmark and share this article if you found it helpful. Now go deploy some awesome infrastructure!
