DigitalOcean Premium Intel (2 GB) vs. UpCloud Balanced (2 GB)
Same showdown, different day. Today I've spun up brand new instance from DigitalOcean and UpCloud and did some benchmarking. Each instance was running Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 and were created in the New York area (or close to it). Enough talk. Here's the data.
Overview
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Last Benchmarked | Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:52 GMT | Wed, 13 May 2026 07:00:52 GMT |
| Linux Distro | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 |
| Kernel Version | 6.8.0-71-generic | 6.8.0-111-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 | $16.00 | €13.00 |
| RAM (GB) | 2 | 2 |
| CPU Cores | 1 | 1 |
| Storage (TB) | 70 | 50 |
| Storage Type | NVMe | SSD |
| Transfer (TB) | 2 | 2 |
CPU
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | GenuineIntel | AuthenticAMD |
| Model Name | DO-Premium-Intel | AMD EPYC 9575F 64-Core Processor |
| Clock Speed (MHz) | 2,494.15 | 3,295.48 |
| CPU Cache Size (KB) | 4,096.00 | 512.00 |
| BogoMips | 4,988.29 | 6,590.95 |
| Events per Second | 518.31 | 5,025.21 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.86 | 0.18 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.93 | 0.2 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 4.38 | 5.35 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.81 | 0.22 |
Memory
Memory Read
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 4,375,352.00 | 5,932,400.60 |
| Mebibytes per second | 4,272.80 | 5,793.36 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 2.81 | 2.22 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
Memory Write
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 4,935,710.02 | 6,706,599.41 |
| Mebibytes per second | 4,820.03 | 6,549.41 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.24 | 1.56 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
File I/O
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Reads per Second | 4,206.54 | 3,214.64 |
| Writes per Second | 2,804.29 | 2,143.03 |
| Fsyncs per Second | 8,980.13 | 6,864.71 |
| Read Mebibytes per Second | 65.73 | 50.23 |
| Written Mebibytes per Second | 43.82 | 33.48 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.06 | 0.08 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 5.93 | 20.14 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.2 | 0.31 |
Mutex
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1,832.54 | 1,349.13 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1,851.61 | 1,353.60 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 1,863.92 | 1,361.99 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1,869.60 | 1,352.03 |
MySQL
MySQL Read-only
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 8,748.00 | 19,090.00 |
| Queries per second | 87,480.00 | 190,900.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.96 | 0.31 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.14 | 0.52 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 3.92 | 5.34 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.32 | 0.64 |
MySQL Write-only
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,593.00 | 3,974.00 |
| Queries per second | 75,930.00 | 39,740.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.75 | 0.87 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.32 | 2.51 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 7.42 | 38.67 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.93 | 5 |
MySQL Read/Write
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 3,281.00 | 2,830.00 |
| Queries per second | 32,810.00 | 28,300.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 2.13 | 1.29 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 3.04 | 3.53 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 11.52 | 56.72 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 4.33 | 6.32 |
MySQL INSERT
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 13,123.00 | 4,647.00 |
| Queries per second | 131,230.00 | 46,470.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.43 | 0.61 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.76 | 2.15 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 12.97 | 28.58 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.1 | 4.41 |
MySQL Bulk INSERT
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 1,434,092.00 | 2,249,592.00 |
| Queries per second | 14,340,920.00 | 22,495,920.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 324.31 | 207.34 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
MySQL SELECT
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 243,383.00 | 645,161.00 |
| Queries per second | 2,433,830.00 | 6,451,610.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.03 | 0.01 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.04 | 0.02 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 1.38 | 2.26 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.06 | 0.02 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Points)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 6,496.00 | 8,546.00 |
| Queries per second | 64,960.00 | 85,460.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.6 | 0.13 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.54 | 1.17 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 3.97 | 172.57 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.03 | 1.58 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Ranges)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,394.00 | 11,562.00 |
| Queries per second | 73,940.00 | 115,620.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.4 | 0.22 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.35 | 0.86 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 4.89 | 4.07 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.82 | 1.27 |
MySQL UPDATE (Indexed)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 13,152.00 | 4,711.00 |
| Queries per second | 131,520.00 | 47,110.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.43 | 0.73 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.76 | 2.12 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 6.75 | 30.41 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.14 | 3.96 |
MySQL UPDATE (Non-Indexed)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 13,414.00 | 5,393.00 |
| Queries per second | 134,140.00 | 53,930.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.42 | 0.48 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.74 | 1.85 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 16.17 | 39 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.06 | 3.43 |
MySQL DELETE
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 141,390.00 | 101,195.00 |
| Queries per second | 1,413,900.00 | 1,011,950.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.03 | 0.01 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.07 | 0.1 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 5.93 | 39.3 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.11 | 0.17 |
Redis
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE per Second | 75,414.78 | 130,208.34 |
| PING_MBULK per Second | 74,239.05 | 130,208.34 |
| SET per Second | 72,254.34 | 130,890.05 |
| GET per Second | 66,934.41 | 129,198.97 |
| INCR per Second | 74,626.87 | 128,534.70 |
| LPUSH per Second | 75,757.57 | 128,040.97 |
| RPUSH per Second | 73,206.44 | 126,582.27 |
| LPOP per Second | 72,463.77 | 124,688.28 |
| RPOP per Second | 74,074.07 | 127,226.46 |
| SADD per Second | 72,046.11 | 129,198.97 |
| HSET per Second | 72,358.90 | 133,511.34 |
| SPOP per Second | 75,930.14 | 139,275.77 |
| ZADD per Second | 74,183.98 | 130,039.02 |
| ZPOPMIN per Second | 76,161.46 | 129,701.68 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) per Second | 37,693.18 | 55,524.71 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) per Second | 16,581.00 | 28,785.26 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) per Second | 10,955.30 | 18,942.98 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) per Second | 9,151.64 | 17,038.68 |
| MSET (10 keys) per Second | 61,387.36 | 108,225.10 |
Redis Average Latency (ms)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE | 0.43 | 0.25 |
| PING_MBULK | 0.44 | 0.25 |
| SET | 0.45 | 0.26 |
| GET | 0.49 | 0.26 |
| INCR | 0.44 | 0.26 |
| LPUSH | 0.43 | 0.26 |
| RPUSH | 0.45 | 0.27 |
| LPOP | 0.46 | 0.27 |
| RPOP | 0.44 | 0.27 |
| SADD | 0.45 | 0.26 |
| HSET | 0.45 | 0.26 |
| SPOP | 0.43 | 0.24 |
| ZADD | 0.44 | 0.26 |
| ZPOPMIN | 0.43 | 0.26 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) | 0.96 | 0.66 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) | 2.22 | 1.27 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) | 3.33 | 1.95 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) | 3.97 | 2.16 |
| MSET (10 keys) | 0.58 | 0.34 |
Conclusion
From the friendly robots:
After comparing the benchmarks of DigitalOcean's Premium Intel (2 GB) instance and UpCloud's Balanced (2 GB) instance, it's clear that UpCloud's configuration outperforms DigitalOcean's in most metrics. UpCloud shows superior performance in Redis operations, CPU events, file I/O, and MySQL benchmarks, reflecting the benefits of its AMD EPYC 9575F processor, larger L3 cache, and higher throughput rates. However, DigitalOcean's instance has slightly better thread fairness and lower latency in memory operations and CPU performance in certain scenarios. The DigitalOcean instance may be more suitable for workloads that benefit from consistent lower latency and higher thread fairness, while the UpCloud instance is ideal for high-throughput, CPU-intensive, and I/O-heavy workloads.
From the friendly human:
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