DigitalOcean Premium AMD (2 GB, 2 Cores) vs. DigitalOcean Premium AMD (8 GB, 4 Cores)
Fresh benchmarks coming at ya. Today I've spun up brand new instance from DigitalOcean and did some benchmarking. All instances were spun up with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 and were created in the New York area (or close to it). Let's get into the numbers.
Overview
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (2 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Last Benchmarked | Sun, 31 May 2026 03:00:52 GMT | Sun, 31 May 2026 20:00:52 GMT |
| Linux Distro | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 |
| Kernel Version | 6.8.0-71-generic | 6.8.0-71-generic |
| MySQL Version | 8.0.45-0ubuntu0.24.04.1 | 8.0.45-0ubuntu0.24.04.1 |
| Redis Version | 7.0.15 | 7.0.15 |
| Location | New York, NY | New York, NY |
| Monthly Price | $21.00 | $56.00 |
| RAM (GB) | 2 | 8 |
| CPU Cores | 2 | 4 |
| Storage (TB) | 60 | 160 |
| Storage Type | NVMe | NVMe |
| Transfer (TB) | 3 | 5 |
CPU
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (2 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | AuthenticAMD | AuthenticAMD |
| Model Name | DO-Premium-AMD | DO-Premium-AMD |
| Clock Speed (MHz) | 1,996.25 | 1,996.25 |
| CPU Cache Size (KB) | 512.00 | 512.00 |
| BogoMips | 3,992.50 | 3,992.50 |
| Events per Second | 1,599.39 | 1,535.42 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.59 | 0.59 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.62 | 0.65 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.82 | 0.89 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.67 | 0.69 |
Memory
Memory Read
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (2 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 5,207,157.62 | 4,867,578.39 |
| Mebibytes per second | 5,085.11 | 4,753.49 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.2 | 0.19 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
Memory Write
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (2 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 5,245,096.07 | 4,347,879.44 |
| Mebibytes per second | 5,122.16 | 4,245.98 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.13 | 0.56 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
File I/O
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (2 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Reads per Second | 1,715.61 | 2,384.51 |
| Writes per Second | 1,143.67 | 1,589.67 |
| Fsyncs per Second | 3,669.98 | 5,095.64 |
| Read Mebibytes per Second | 26.81 | 37.26 |
| Written Mebibytes per Second | 17.87 | 24.84 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.15 | 0.11 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 16.22 | 9.42 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.54 | 0.58 |
Mutex
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (2 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 556.73 | 325.10 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 825.56 | 435.66 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 865.15 | 487.90 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 861.95 | 484.44 |
MySQL
MySQL Read-only
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (2 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 6,259.00 | 5,392.00 |
| Queries per second | 62,590.00 | 53,920.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.31 | 1.37 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.6 | 1.85 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 4.28 | 3 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.96 | 2.35 |
MySQL Write-only
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (2 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 3,970.00 | 3,296.00 |
| Queries per second | 39,700.00 | 32,960.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.36 | 1.47 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 2.52 | 3.03 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 11.04 | 19.45 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 3.55 | 4.41 |
MySQL Read/Write
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (2 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 2,013.00 | 1,930.00 |
| Queries per second | 20,130.00 | 19,300.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 3.03 | 3.41 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 4.96 | 5.18 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 24.99 | 26.77 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 6.91 | 6.55 |
MySQL INSERT
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (2 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,675.00 | 4,756.00 |
| Queries per second | 56,750.00 | 47,560.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.96 | 1.08 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.76 | 2.1 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 12.44 | 40.66 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.91 | 3.25 |
MySQL Bulk INSERT
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (2 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 1,463,217.00 | 1,434,092.00 |
| Queries per second | 14,632,170.00 | 14,340,920.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0.01 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 443.24 | 418.16 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
MySQL SELECT
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (2 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 125,762.00 | 125,686.00 |
| Queries per second | 1,257,620.00 | 1,256,860.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.05 | 0.05 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.08 | 0.08 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 1.37 | 0.84 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.11 | 0.11 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Points)
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (2 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,556.00 | 7,055.00 |
| Queries per second | 75,560.00 | 70,550.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.51 | 0.33 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.32 | 1.42 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 6.33 | 7.12 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.79 | 2.07 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Ranges)
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (2 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 6,802.00 | 6,592.00 |
| Queries per second | 68,020.00 | 65,920.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.57 | 0.43 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.47 | 1.52 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 3.15 | 3.28 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.96 | 2.03 |
MySQL UPDATE (Indexed)
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (2 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,367.00 | 5,138.00 |
| Queries per second | 53,670.00 | 51,380.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.96 | 1.07 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.86 | 1.94 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 13.89 | 39.78 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.71 | 2.81 |
MySQL UPDATE (Non-Indexed)
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (2 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,465.00 | 4,781.00 |
| Queries per second | 54,650.00 | 47,810.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.97 | 1.13 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.83 | 2.09 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 15.94 | 19.23 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.76 | 3.07 |
MySQL DELETE
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (2 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 59,025.00 | 41,513.00 |
| Queries per second | 590,250.00 | 415,130.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.04 | 0.05 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.17 | 0.24 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 9.29 | 11.7 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.3 | 1.67 |
Redis
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (2 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE per Second | 52,631.58 | 62,073.25 |
| PING_MBULK per Second | 54,436.58 | 58,719.91 |
| SET per Second | 54,112.55 | 54,171.18 |
| GET per Second | 55,370.98 | 64,308.68 |
| INCR per Second | 54,141.85 | 55,648.30 |
| LPUSH per Second | 53,908.36 | 55,493.89 |
| RPUSH per Second | 53,792.36 | 52,938.06 |
| LPOP per Second | 52,938.06 | 62,539.09 |
| RPOP per Second | 54,141.85 | 66,269.05 |
| SADD per Second | 53,248.14 | 62,189.05 |
| HSET per Second | 53,908.36 | 55,157.20 |
| SPOP per Second | 52,521.01 | 54,674.69 |
| ZADD per Second | 53,850.30 | 55,035.77 |
| ZPOPMIN per Second | 54,259.36 | 55,035.77 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) per Second | 39,093.04 | 37,355.25 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) per Second | 24,962.56 | 21,715.53 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) per Second | 18,402.65 | 16,084.93 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) per Second | 15,748.03 | 14,990.26 |
| MSET (10 keys) per Second | 68,212.83 | 57,770.08 |
Redis Average Latency (ms)
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (2 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE | 0.51 | 0.42 |
| PING_MBULK | 0.48 | 0.44 |
| SET | 0.48 | 0.48 |
| GET | 0.47 | 0.40 |
| INCR | 0.48 | 0.47 |
| LPUSH | 0.48 | 0.47 |
| RPUSH | 0.48 | 0.49 |
| LPOP | 0.49 | 0.42 |
| RPOP | 0.48 | 0.39 |
| SADD | 0.49 | 0.42 |
| HSET | 0.48 | 0.47 |
| SPOP | 0.49 | 0.47 |
| ZADD | 0.48 | 0.48 |
| ZPOPMIN | 0.48 | 0.47 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) | 0.68 | 0.78 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) | 1.08 | 1.26 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) | 1.45 | 1.71 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) | 1.82 | 1.91 |
| MSET (10 keys) | 0.39 | 0.47 |
Conclusion
From the friendly robots:
The DigitalOcean Premium AMD instances show distinct differences in benchmark performance based on CPU cores and RAM. The smaller instance (2 GB, 2 Cores) excels in specific operations like Redis LPUSH and LRANGE, offering higher requests per second (rps) and lower latency for a range of Redis commands. It also demonstrates excellent file I/O performance, with higher throughput and lower latency for both read and write operations. The larger instance (8 GB, 4 Cores) offers higher overall rps across Redis operations but with slightly higher latencies, especially in longer LRANGE operations. It shows comparable CPU performance but with greater variability in thread fairness and higher latency for MySQL operations like oltp_read_write and oltp_update_non_index. Given these results, the 2 GB, 2 Cores instance is ideal for workloads emphasizing high I/O performance and Redis operations, while the 8 GB, 4 Cores instance is better suited for more memory-intensive tasks requiring higher CPU and RAM, despite slightly higher latencies.
From the friendly human:
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