Introducing Scalable Storage for PostgreSQL and MySQL Managed Databases

Whether it’s IoT (Internet of Things) sensors collecting temperature data to measure climate change, an e-commerce website keeping inventory up to date on Black Friday, or an AI company gathering voice recordings to train its latest large language model, nearly all businesses need a database that can scale as their data storage requirements change and their data footprints expand.

For startups and small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with limited resources, having flexible and cost-effective storage options can be as important as having the database itself. That’s why we’re excited to introduce a new solution that can reduce costs for those businesses: Scalable Storage for DigitalOcean PostgreSQL and MySQL Managed Databases. Scalable Storage enables users to increase disk storage without needing to upgrade compute and memory to meet those storage demands.

Alongside Scalable Storage, we’re adding more database configuration options, increasing storage limits on existing configuration options, and implementing a more intuitive database creation and resizing workflow to make using DigitalOcean even simpler.

Get to know Scalable Storage for Managed Databases

Scalable Storage gives users the flexibility to add storage to MySQL and PostgreSQL Managed Databases at cost-effective prices with as little friction as possible. That means your business can scale seamlessly with a variety of shared and dedicated configuration options to suit the unique needs of your business.

Add disk storage without adding compute and memory: The main benefit of this offering is that users can add disk storage in 10 GB increments each priced at $2/month to meet constantly shifting demand without needing to increase compute and memory and avoid any downtime in the process. Users can also change disk storage capacity using the Cloud Console or via API—simple, intuitive, and practical.

Greater disk storage capacity: All Managed Database plans now come with a range of disk storage options to start with or to upgrade your existing plan, beginning with a minimum amount that can be increased from two to five times the starting amount.

Managed Databases now have more storage—up to 15 TB—so you can future-proof your database and ensure that it can handle the largest of database production workloads.

Monitoring to optimize costs: Monitor your compute, memory, and disk utilization data and set alerts, so you can scale your compute, memory, and storage when it matters most. Only pay for the database compute and storage resources you need, so you can be sure that you’re optimizing costs.

Plan updates that work well with Scalable Storage

Basic Compute plan updates:* Scalable Storage provides new and existing databases on affordable Basic CPU configuration plans to scale up their disk storage by two to three times the minimum amount, up to a maximum of 580 GB. With solid base performance, this option is a great entry-level option at the most affordable price for customers with minor to moderate workloads.

[New] Basic Shared Premium plans: Our new Basic Premium Intel and AMD configuration plans are great for users who need cost-effective database configuration options with larger disk storage and higher performance requirements. With NVMe SSD drives, higher compute performance, and disk storage that can be scaled up to five times the minimum amount for all plans up to 5 TB, these plans are great mid-range options for any use case.

Dedicated Compute plan updates: Get the best performance with maximum storage using our updated General Purpose and Storage Optimized configuration plans, which can now have disk storage scaled up to five times the minimum amount. General Purpose and Storage Optimized configurations provide greater stability than Basic CPU configurations to more effectively support customers with mission-critical workloads. Storage-Optimized plans provide faster read/write performance via NVMe SSD storage and the largest disk storage capacities with storage capacities of up to 15 TB to handle the most demanding production workloads.

Pricing that’s predictable, transparent, and affordable

We’re splitting the pricing of our database configuration plans into two categories: compute (vCPU and RAM) and disk storage. Each 10 GB increment of disk storage is charged at a flat rate of $2.00 per month with no additional fees. New database clusters start at $15 per month: $13 for compute, and $2 for 10 GB of storage.

All MySQL and PostgreSQL database configuration plans start with a minimum disk storage amount. With Scalable Storage, you can increase that minimum disk storage in increments of 10 GB up to a set maximum limit for that plan. If you need more disk storage than that plan’s limit, you will have to upgrade your compute plan to another plan that provides a higher storage limit.

As always with DigitalOcean, pricing is predictable, so users always pay flat rate prices for compute and storage options regardless of data center locations. At database creation or resizing, users will see a simple, clear cost breakdown, so there are no surprises.

To find out more about the configuration plans, including storage ranges, maximum limits, and total pricing of all database configurations, please refer to the pricing page.

How to take advantage of Scalable Storage

You can scale storage independently when resizing an existing database cluster or creating a database cluster via the UI or API. You can also do so with standby nodes and read replicas.

If you wish to adjust storage via the API, refer to our documentation pages.

Try Scalable Storage today

Scalable Storage provides flexible and cost-effective options to Managed Databases, which is vital for startups and SMBs with growing and changing business needs. Learn more about Scalable Storage in our docs, and start taking advantage of the benefits today by updating your existing Managed Databases.

Need help regarding Scalable Storage? Contact our sales team or connect with a DigitalOcean Partner who can advise you on architecture reviews, deployments, and other infrastructure assistance.

*We are discontinuing two Basic CPU configuration plans with 600 GB and 1.22 TB of disk storage. Existing customers on these plans will be able to continue using them without disruption. For more information, please refer to Plan Deprecation info in our product documentation.