How to set up WordPress on a DigitalOcean droplet (London, 2026)

This guide takes you from nothing to a working WordPress site on a DigitalOcean droplet in London (region LON1), using DigitalOcean's WordPress 1-Click image from its Marketplace. The steps follow DigitalOcean's own documentation, which we checked on 2 November 2026. We have not run a droplet through every step for this article, so treat it as a walkthrough of the documented process, not a test report.

Who this is for, and who should use something else

A droplet is a virtual server. DigitalOcean gives you the machine, and you look after everything on it: WordPress updates, the operating system, backups and security. DigitalOcean support covers tickets and community help, and it does not cover WordPress itself.

This route suits you if you are comfortable typing commands into a terminal, want full control, or run several small projects and want to pay per server. If you would rather not manage a server, look at Cloudways vs DigitalOcean. Cloudways runs on DigitalOcean servers, manages the server for you and still offers a London region, though you pay more for it. You can read our DigitalOcean review first, and our best hosting for developers page lists the alternatives.

If you want someone else to handle updates, backups and security, a managed host is the better fit. Visit Cloudways if you want a middle option, or see the cost comparison below.

What it costs before you start

DigitalOcean's Basic droplets, checked on its pricing page on 2 November 2026:

The $4 droplet is below the 1 GB minimum the WordPress image needs, so skip it. DigitalOcean's documentation gives 1 GB RAM, 1 core and 25 GB of disk as the minimum, and 2 GB or more of RAM, 2 or more cores and 50 GB or more of disk as the recommendation for production. The $12 size has 2 GiB of memory but one vCPU, so the 2-core recommendation points to the $18 size (2 GiB, 2 vCPU, 60 GiB). We think $12 is a reasonable start for a small business site, and you can resize later.

• Billing is per second since 1 January 2026, with a minimum charge of 60 seconds or $0.01.
• Backups add 20% of the droplet price for weekly backups or 30% for daily backups.
• Snapshots cost $0.06 per GB per month.
• An optional Managed Database is a separate charge on top of the droplet.

The real monthly cost

The droplet price is not the whole cost for most people. This table is our estimate of a typical first-time setup, not a DigitalOcean charge. Many first-time administrators now pay for a ChatGPT or Claude subscription to help them read error messages and write commands. In the UK that is roughly £15 to £20 a month, and we have assumed it here.

Once you add the subscription, the DIY route costs about as much as a managed plan, and you still do the maintenance. HostPresto prices exclude VAT and are paid annually, with two months free. Visit DigitalOcean if the DIY route is still what you want.

Before you start

• A domain name that you can edit DNS records for.
• A DigitalOcean account.
• An SSH key. This is a pair of files: a private key that stays on your computer and a public key that you give to DigitalOcean.

To make a key on a Mac or Linux, open Terminal and run ssh-keygen. On Windows 11, open PowerShell and run the same command. Accept the default file location when asked, and the public key is saved as a file ending in .pub, which is the one you paste into DigitalOcean.

ssh-keygen

Set up WordPress, step by step

1. In your DigitalOcean account, open the Marketplace and deploy the WordPress 1-Click image as a new droplet.
2. Choose the London region (LON1).
3. Choose a size. The minimum is 1 GB of RAM; we suggest the $12 size above for a live site.
4. Add your SSH key.
5. Optional: add a Managed Database, which gives you a Managed MySQL cluster. You can skip this, and the image installs MySQL 8.0 on the droplet itself.
6. Create the droplet and copy its IP address when it appears.

The image runs Ubuntu 24.04, Caddy 2, PHP 8.3 FPM, MySQL 8.0, the latest WordPress, WP-CLI, the WP-Fail2Ban plugin, fail2ban and the UFW firewall, with ports 22, 80 and 443 open.

Finish the install over SSH

7. Open http://your-droplet-ip in a browser. You will see a setup-pending page. That is expected.
8. Connect to the droplet from your terminal:

   ssh root@your-droplet-ip

9. The setup script runs on your first login. It detects the droplet IP and asks for your email address, an admin username, an admin password and a site title. Answer each prompt.
10. The script then gets a Let's Encrypt certificate for the IP, configures Caddy to redirect HTTP to HTTPS and installs WP-Fail2Ban. This takes about 2 to 3 minutes.
11. Open https://your-droplet-ip to see the site, and log in at https://your-droplet-ip/wp-admin.

Point your domain at the droplet

12. At your domain's DNS provider, create an A record that points to the droplet IP.
13. Wait 5 to 60 minutes for the record to spread.
14. Run the domain script on the droplet:

    /root/wp_setup_domain.sh

The script configures Caddy for your domain, sets up SSL for the domain and updates the WordPress URLs. Caddy renews the certificates automatically.

The first hour after install

A fresh droplet is public on the internet from the moment you create it. DigitalOcean's documentation lists these security practices, and we would do them before adding content.

1. Change the default admin username if you left it as something obvious, and use strong passwords.
2. Enable automatic security updates.
3. Set up backups or snapshots. Weekly backups cost 20% of the droplet price and daily backups 30%. Snapshots are $0.06 per GB per month.
4. Test a restore. A backup you have never restored is an assumption.
5. Install a security plugin. The documentation suggests Wordfence or Sucuri.
6. Work through DigitalOcean's Initial Server Setup guide, which has two goals: create a non-root user with sudo rights, and disable root login.

Item 6 matters because the setup above uses ssh root@. Once you have a non-root user working, close that door.

Keeping it running

You are the system administrator now. A short weekly routine:

• Update WordPress core.
• Check which plugins need updates.
• Export the database as an extra copy.
• Update the operating system with apt.

The first three have WP-CLI commands, run on the droplet:

wp core update --allow-root
wp plugin list --allow-root
wp db export --allow-root

Where things live on the droplet:

Troubleshooting

These checks come from DigitalOcean's documentation.

• The setup script did not run. Run it by hand: /root/wp_setup.sh
• HTTPS failed. Check the web server with systemctl status caddy, then read its log with journalctl -u caddy.
• The site is down. Check PHP with systemctl status php8.3-fpm and the firewall with ufw status. Ports 22, 80 and 443 should be open.

If none of those explain it, open a support ticket or ask in the community. DigitalOcean will not debug WordPress for you.

When to give up and move to Cloudways or a managed host

In our view, move when maintenance starts costing more than the saving. Signs: you skip updates because you are busy, you have not tested a restore, you are paying for an AI subscription mainly to keep the server alive, or the site earns money and downtime hurts.

Cloudways keeps the DigitalOcean servers and takes over the server management; its Micro plan is $14 a month for 1 GB of RAM, with backups as a paid add-on. A managed WordPress host such as HostPresto goes further, with the technical account manager, staging and daily backups on its Managed plans. Our best hosting for beginners page and the overall ranking show where each sits, and when to upgrade from shared to managed covers the decision in more detail.