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Hosting Drupal on DigitalOcean gives you power, flexibility, and control—but it also comes with a hidden cost most teams never calculate. In this episode, we break down the two main paths for running Drupal on DigitalOcean: the classic DIY approach (droplets, managed databases, marketplace one-click apps, and raw Kubernetes), and the fully automated DevOps approach powered by DevPanel, running entirely inside your own DigitalOcean account.

You’ll discover why many Drupal teams silently absorb 30–60 hours per week of DevOps work, what causes that “DevOps tax,” and how automation cuts that down to just 2–5 hours. We explore team-size recommendations, risk considerations, operational overhead, and the true total cost of ownership beyond the monthly hosting bill.

If you’ve ever felt that managing Drupal infrastructure steals too much time from actually building your site—this episode will change how you think about DigitalOcean, DevOps, and platform automation.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why DIY Drupal hosting on DigitalOcean becomes expensive as your team grows
• The hidden operational work most teams underestimate
• Why droplets, marketplace apps, and managed DBs still leave you with DevOps burden
• How Kubernetes on DO works—and why it’s often overkill
• How DevPanel automates the entire DevOps lifecycle inside your own DO account
• Why agencies benefit massively from automation
• How to calculate the real cost difference between DIY vs automated platforms
• The three questions every team should ask before choosing a hosting model

Perfect For

• Drupal developers
• DigitalOcean users
• Web agencies managing multiple client sites
• CTOs and technical leaders
• Teams trying to reduce DevOps workload and operational risk

Watch Video: https://youtu.be/hYWNBfLRf2Q 

Credits:

Video Sponsors:  https://www.drupalforge.org/
Infrastructure, tooling, and AI provider by https://devpanel.com/

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This episode of DrupalBrief is sponsored by DrupalForge.org

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