I think this is a case of you get what you pay for. $10/month is extremely cheap for hosting. Cheap hosts are great for sharing simple sites or (in the case of digital ocean) simple services with little foot traffic.
Since we're not a professional Internet media (it's not even a commercial project), when we don't hit HN top, the traffic is very low. Currently we're serving this post from a traditional hosting worth about $7/mo, and it handles the HN burst amazingly well.