The matchup desk
DigitalOcean App Platform or Sevalla
Two tools, read side by side from their own public pages.
This week’s matchup
These are both places to run code that already exists. App Platform is DigitalOcean's most hands-off compute option, starting at $0/month, with CPU autoscaling and one bill alongside DigitalOcean's databases, storage and inference. Sevalla meters everything by usage and adds an MCP server, so an AI assistant can create deployments and read logs and metrics itself. Pick by where you want the agent's work to stop: at the code, or at production.
The case for DigitalOcean App Platform
Your project is small and you want to launch on a plan that starts at $0/month. You need dedicated egress IPs, log forwarding or application monitoring as part of the hosting service. Your stack already uses DigitalOcean databases, storage or inference and you want a single account. You may later move to Droplets or managed Kubernetes inside the same cloud.
DigitalOcean App Platform on file
Hosting
A fully managed PaaS for building, deploying, and scaling web applications, APIs, and static sites.
- Git-based deployments
- Built-in CI/CD
- Horizontal scaling
- CPU-based autoscaling
- Automatic HTTPS
- Custom domains
- Automatic OS patching
- Application metrics
The case for Sevalla
Your coding assistant should create deployments and diagnose failed releases over MCP, within per-project permission limits. You ship from a Dockerfile or a prebuilt container image rather than only from Git. You want S3-compatible object storage on Cloudflare R2 with no data transfer fees next to your app. You run small static sites that fit the free allowance of 100GB bandwidth and 600 build minutes.
Hosting
Sevalla hosts applications, databases, object storage, and static sites without requiring customers to manage infrastructure.
- Application hosting
- Database hosting
- Object storage
- Static site hosting
- Git auto-deploys
- Docker deployments
- Automatic backups
- Auto-scaling
At a glance
| Aspect | DigitalOcean App Platform | Sevalla |
|---|---|---|
| Role of AI agents | Agents are not part of the deployment flow; App Platform sits in an account that also offers DigitalOcean's inference and managed agent services. | An MCP server lets an assistant launch app and database deployments and inspect logs and metrics, scoped by project isolation and narrowed permissions. |
| Code input | Git-based deployments feed a built-in CI/CD pipeline, with rollbacks if a release goes wrong. | Accepts public or private Git repositories, Dockerfiles and container images, redeploying when new commits land. |
| Scaling | Horizontal scaling and autoscaling on CPU for running apps. | Application hosting lists auto-scaling; databases are listed with vertical scaling only. |
| Data services | Managed databases are a separate DigitalOcean product from $15/month, covering MongoDB, Kafka, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Caching, Valkey and OpenSearch. | Database hosting from $5/month across 5 types with daily automatic backups and private networking, plus object storage at $0.02 per GB per month. |
| Billing | App Platform starts at $0/month, with related services such as Droplets ($4/month) and Kubernetes ($12/month) priced separately on the same bill. | Consumption-based with no plans and no per-seat fees; app and database hosting each start at $5/month with a free trial, and a cost calculator helps estimate spend. |
| Footprint | Runs on DigitalOcean's cloud, where resources in the same region connect over private networking; not self-hostable. | Apps and databases in 25 data centers, object storage in 6 locations, static content from more than 260 points of presence. |
Reader mail
Which platform lets an AI coding assistant take over releases?
Sevalla. Its MCP server gives a connected agent the ability to deploy applications and databases and to read logs and metrics when something breaks. App Platform deploys through Git and CI/CD instead.
How much does a managed database add on each?
DigitalOcean's managed databases start at $15/month as a separate product. Sevalla's database hosting starts at $5/month and comes with a free trial.
What are the limits on Sevalla's free static hosting?
Each static site can be up to 1GB, an account can hold up to 100 sites, and the allowance includes 100GB of bandwidth and 600 build minutes under fair use terms.
What happens if a team outgrows App Platform?
Within DigitalOcean, the next steps are Droplets, which are virtual machines starting at $4/month, or managed Kubernetes starting at $12/month. Both are separate services that leave more setup to the team.