DigitalOcean Premium AMD (4 GB, 2 Cores) vs. Vultr Cloud Compute (8 GB, 4 Cores)
Same showdown, different day. Today I've spun up some brand new instance from DigitalOcean and Vultr and did some benchmarking. Each instance was running Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 and were created in or around the New York / New Jersey area. Let's get into the numbers.
Overview
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Last Benchmarked | Sun, 24 May 2026 12:00:52 GMT | Sat, 23 May 2026 11:00:52 GMT |
| Linux Distro | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 |
| Kernel Version | 6.8.0-71-generic | 6.8.0-117-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 | Newark, NJ |
| Monthly Price | $28.00 | $40.00 |
| RAM (GB) | 4 | 8 |
| CPU Cores | 2 | 4 |
| Storage (TB) | 80 | 160 |
| Storage Type | NVMe | SSD |
| Transfer (TB) | 2 | 4 |
CPU
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | AuthenticAMD | GenuineIntel |
| Model Name | DO-Premium-AMD | Intel Xeon Processor (Skylake, IBRS) |
| Clock Speed (MHz) | 1,996.25 | 2,593.90 |
| CPU Cache Size (KB) | 512.00 | 16,384.00 |
| BogoMips | 3,992.49 | 5,187.80 |
| Events per Second | 1,250.09 | 1,100.82 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.6 | 0.88 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.8 | 0.91 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 8.38 | 1.56 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.64 | 0.97 |
Memory
Memory Read
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 5,148,927.52 | 3,685,781.23 |
| Mebibytes per second | 5,028.25 | 3,599.40 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.49 | 1.03 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
Memory Write
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 5,192,242.61 | 3,590,629.63 |
| Mebibytes per second | 5,070.55 | 3,506.47 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.18 | 1.16 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
File I/O
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Reads per Second | 1,872.20 | 4,999.39 |
| Writes per Second | 1,248.10 | 3,332.93 |
| Fsyncs per Second | 3,998.70 | 10,670.47 |
| Read Mebibytes per Second | 29.25 | 78.12 |
| Written Mebibytes per Second | 19.50 | 52.08 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.14 | 0.05 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 12.75 | 37.52 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.55 | 0.18 |
Mutex
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 907.41 | 369.37 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 929.16 | 416.22 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 946.89 | 441.77 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 943.16 | 442.73 |
MySQL
MySQL Read-only
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,709.00 | 5,144.00 |
| Queries per second | 57,090.00 | 51,440.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.35 | 1.72 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.75 | 1.94 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 4.79 | 7.67 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.14 | 2.35 |
MySQL Write-only
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 3,645.00 | 5,108.00 |
| Queries per second | 36,450.00 | 51,080.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.52 | 1.15 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 2.74 | 1.96 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 20.62 | 12.52 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 3.82 | 2.71 |
MySQL Read/Write
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 2,248.00 | 2,247.00 |
| Queries per second | 22,480.00 | 22,470.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 3.04 | 3.08 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 4.45 | 4.45 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 11.56 | 29.7 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 5.77 | 5.28 |
MySQL INSERT
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,528.00 | 7,630.00 |
| Queries per second | 55,280.00 | 76,300.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.92 | 0.71 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.81 | 1.31 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 11.49 | 29.81 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.97 | 1.55 |
MySQL Bulk INSERT
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 1,434,092.00 | 898,571.00 |
| Queries per second | 14,340,920.00 | 8,985,710.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0.01 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 423.16 | 505.86 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
MySQL SELECT
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 121,138.00 | 149,465.00 |
| Queries per second | 1,211,380.00 | 1,494,650.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.05 | 0.05 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.08 | 0.07 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.49 | 1.22 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.12 | 0.09 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Points)
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,236.00 | 4,249.00 |
| Queries per second | 72,360.00 | 42,490.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.39 | 0.83 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.38 | 2.35 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 11.87 | 6.6 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.96 | 3.02 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Ranges)
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 6,838.00 | 2,637.00 |
| Queries per second | 68,380.00 | 26,370.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.48 | 0.94 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.46 | 3.79 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 3.05 | 6.3 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2 | 5.09 |
MySQL UPDATE (Indexed)
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,395.00 | 7,166.00 |
| Queries per second | 53,950.00 | 71,660.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.97 | 0.7 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.85 | 1.39 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 12.35 | 28.84 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.91 | 1.79 |
MySQL UPDATE (Non-Indexed)
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,623.00 | 7,661.00 |
| Queries per second | 56,230.00 | 76,610.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.17 | 0.7 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.78 | 1.3 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 12.35 | 33.97 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.61 | 1.58 |
MySQL DELETE
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 41,076.00 | 69,690.00 |
| Queries per second | 410,760.00 | 696,900.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.05 | 0.05 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.24 | 0.14 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 16.65 | 27.73 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.67 | 0.87 |
Redis
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE per Second | 56,882.82 | 54,436.58 |
| PING_MBULK per Second | 54,466.23 | 48,828.12 |
| SET per Second | 52,219.32 | 51,572.98 |
| GET per Second | 53,676.86 | 48,239.27 |
| INCR per Second | 52,548.61 | 52,328.62 |
| LPUSH per Second | 53,966.54 | 45,454.54 |
| RPUSH per Second | 53,361.79 | 49,751.24 |
| LPOP per Second | 51,546.39 | 53,390.28 |
| RPOP per Second | 53,648.07 | 53,648.07 |
| SADD per Second | 51,652.89 | 48,285.85 |
| HSET per Second | 52,219.32 | 51,493.30 |
| SPOP per Second | 53,022.27 | 52,910.05 |
| ZADD per Second | 52,301.26 | 53,504.55 |
| ZPOPMIN per Second | 50,968.40 | 53,590.57 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) per Second | 40,666.94 | 28,645.09 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) per Second | 24,213.07 | 13,131.98 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) per Second | 16,608.54 | 8,529.51 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) per Second | 15,661.71 | 7,479.99 |
| MSET (10 keys) per Second | 52,493.44 | 49,212.60 |
Redis Average Latency (ms)
| DigitalOcean – Premium AMD (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE | 0.46 | 0.47 |
| PING_MBULK | 0.48 | 0.53 |
| SET | 0.50 | 0.50 |
| GET | 0.48 | 0.54 |
| INCR | 0.50 | 0.49 |
| LPUSH | 0.49 | 0.58 |
| RPUSH | 0.49 | 0.52 |
| LPOP | 0.51 | 0.49 |
| RPOP | 0.50 | 0.48 |
| SADD | 0.51 | 0.54 |
| HSET | 0.50 | 0.53 |
| SPOP | 0.49 | 0.49 |
| ZADD | 0.50 | 0.48 |
| ZPOPMIN | 0.51 | 0.48 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) | 0.66 | 0.91 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) | 1.20 | 1.94 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) | 1.65 | 3.00 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) | 1.79 | 3.43 |
| MSET (10 keys) | 0.54 | 0.77 |
Conclusion
From the friendly robots:
The DigitalOcean Premium AMD instance offers robust performance with strong single-threaded performance in benchmarks, especially in CPU-intensive tasks and I/O operations, achieving high Redis request rates and low latencies, and delivering excellent memory transfer speeds and thread fairness. The Vultr Cloud Compute instance, however, shows slightly higher multi-threaded performance with its 4-core Intel Xeon configuration, excelling in overall CPU event throughput and offering stronger MySQL bulk insert performance, though it has higher latency in Redis operations and slightly worse I/O performance. For developers and sysadmins favoring CPU-heavy workloads or requiring rapid memory operations, the DigitalOcean instance is preferable, while the Vultr instance shines for those needing more cores and greater overall CPU capacity with slightly lower latency in complex database operations.
From the friendly human:
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