What is the difference between a droplet and a snapshot?

A droplet and a snapshot serve different purposes within the Digital Ocean platform, each playing a distinct role in cloud infrastructure management. A droplet refers to a virtual private server that is created on Digital Ocean’s cloud platform. It represents a scalable computing resource that can be used to host applications, run websites, or perform various computing tasks. Users can choose different configurations when creating a droplet, including the operating system, memory, CPU, and storage options. Droplets can be easily created, destroyed, or modified according to the user’s needs. They are an essential component of Digital Ocean's infrastructure, allowing users to deploy applications quickly and efficiently. On the other hand, a snapshot is a feature that allows users to make a backup of their droplet at a specific point in time. It captures the state of a droplet, including all files, applications, and configurations, granting users the ability to restore the droplet to that particular state if necessary. This is particularly useful for recovering from accidental changes, software issues, or when users want to create a new droplet with the same setup as the original. Snapshots can be created manually or automatically, and they are beneficial for maintaining data integrity and facilitating development workflows. In summary, the main difference lies in their function: droplets are active virtual machines that run applications, while snapshots are backups that preserve the state of those droplets for future use or recovery. Users can find more information about these features on the Digital Ocean documentation page, which provides detailed guidelines on creating and managing droplets and snapshots.