I build Strapi into a docker container and deploy it on Digital Ocean App platform. Smallest instance for $5 per month is OK. It uses Digital Ocean Postgres for database and Digital Ocean Spaces for storage.
Droplet is more effort to set up, but you can then manage without Digital Ocean Postgres by using database stored on droplet. This can be backed up as cron job to S3 storage.
Also have one deployment in development using Neon for Postgres database which is free.