DigitalOcean pays outside writers for open-source setup tutorials

DigitalOcean built its tutorial library with a writers' program that pays outside Community authors to cover open-source software. It raised the typical payout for a new tutorial to $300, paid by PayPal or as DO credit. An outside analysis credits more than 6,000 tutorials with over 5 million monthly visits, but that figure is an estimate and covers traffic, not signups or revenue.

By Race to Scale Desk, edited by Lila Odinaev. Published 24 Oct 2026. How we work

What they ran

DigitalOcean scaled tutorial production with an external writers' program that brought in outside authors. Its blog describes paying Community members for tutorials on deploying, configuring and developing open-source software. In a DigitalOcean blog post on Write for DOnations, the company raised the typical payout for a new tutorial to $300, sent by PayPal or as DO credit. Topics had to be open-source software only. DigitalOcean's history timeline lists the Community launch in the same entry as its Series A raise.

What happened

An outside analysis on markepear.dev counts more than 6,000 tutorials and credits them with over 5 million monthly visits. In a Hacker News thread, one commenter said finding a DigitalOcean tutorial reassures them. Another said the tutorials are why they became a customer.

What the account does not show

The traffic figure is a third-party estimate, not a number DigitalOcean published. The same author notes that visits are not signups or revenue. The sources give no baseline, so there is no before and after comparison. They also do not separate traffic from paid outside authors and traffic from staff writers. The timeline gives no year for the Community launch. The customer comments are two anecdotes, not a measured conversion rate.

Questions

How much did DigitalOcean pay writers per tutorial?

DigitalOcean raised the typical payout for a new tutorial from a Community author to $300, paid by PayPal or as DO credit.

How much traffic do DigitalOcean's tutorials bring in?

An outside analysis says more than 6,000 tutorials drive over 5 million monthly visits. That is an estimate and counts traffic, not signups or revenue.

What topics did DigitalOcean accept for paid tutorials?

It accepted only tutorials about open-source software, covering deployment, configuration and development.