The theme and evolution process of digital economy at home and abroad were explored, the research hotspots and trends of digital economy literature at home and abroad were compared and analyzed, in order to provide countermeasures and suggestions for domestic digital economy research, and provide reference for promoting the innovation and development of domestic digital economy. Relevant literatures in the field of digital economy included in CNKI and WOS from 2013 to 2023 were collected, research topics through LDA topic model was mined, hot topics based on topic intensity values were identified, different time windows were divided, the similarity between topics was calculated to construct the evolution path between topics, and the similarities and differences in the evolution of hot topics in the field of digital economy at home and abroad were compared and analyzed. The results show that the hot topics and evolution paths of digital economy are explored. In terms of theme intensity, domestic research focuses on the regional effects of digital economy, while foreign research focuses on digital transformation. In the evolution of the theme, the domestic theme is more continuous, while the foreign theme is more derivative.