DigitalOcean Premium Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) vs. DigitalOcean Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores)
My friend, I'm so glad you're here! Today I've spun up brand new instance from DigitalOcean and did some benchmarking. Each instance was spun up with 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 (4 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Last Benchmarked | Tue, 02 Jun 2026 10:00:52 GMT | Tue, 02 Jun 2026 06:00:52 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 | $32.00 | $64.00 |
| RAM (GB) | 4 | 8 |
| CPU Cores | 2 | 4 |
| Storage (TB) | 120 | 240 |
| Storage Type | NVMe | NVMe |
| Transfer (TB) | 4 | 6 |
CPU
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | GenuineIntel | GenuineIntel |
| Model Name | DO-Premium-Intel | DO-Premium-Intel |
| Clock Speed (MHz) | 2,494.14 | 1,995.31 |
| CPU Cache Size (KB) | 4,096.00 | 4,096.00 |
| BogoMips | 4,988.28 | 3,990.61 |
| Events per Second | 1,013.24 | 2,100.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.91 | 0.46 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.99 | 0.48 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 1.46 | 0.77 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.18 | 0.49 |
Memory
Memory Read
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 4,737,587.61 | 4,031,036.30 |
| Mebibytes per second | 4,626.55 | 3,936.56 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.19 | 0.09 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
Memory Write
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 4,690,301.22 | 4,327,248.72 |
| Mebibytes per second | 4,580.37 | 4,225.83 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.13 | 0.18 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
File I/O
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Reads per Second | 3,904.49 | 1,848.36 |
| Writes per Second | 2,603.00 | 1,232.24 |
| Fsyncs per Second | 8,340.46 | 3,943.27 |
| Read Mebibytes per Second | 61.01 | 28.88 |
| Written Mebibytes per Second | 40.67 | 19.25 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.07 | 0.14 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 6.68 | 32.73 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.23 | 0.83 |
Mutex
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 945.06 | 496.91 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 960.64 | 678.09 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 978.40 | 755.25 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 977.74 | 759.88 |
MySQL
MySQL Read-only
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 6,729.00 | 5,172.00 |
| Queries per second | 67,290.00 | 51,720.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.1 | 1.28 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.48 | 1.93 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 5.66 | 8.32 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.03 | 2.61 |
MySQL Write-only
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 6,393.00 | 2,301.00 |
| Queries per second | 63,930.00 | 23,010.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.87 | 1.35 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.56 | 4.34 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 6.8 | 12.64 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.22 | 7.3 |
MySQL Read/Write
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 3,171.00 | 1,495.00 |
| Queries per second | 31,710.00 | 14,950.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 2.04 | 2.89 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 3.15 | 6.68 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 16.44 | 19.01 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 4.18 | 10.46 |
MySQL INSERT
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 10,914.00 | 3,010.00 |
| Queries per second | 109,140.00 | 30,100.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.47 | 1.11 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.91 | 3.32 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 17.13 | 14.62 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.42 | 6.09 |
MySQL Bulk INSERT
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 1,346,717.00 | 1,201,092.00 |
| Queries per second | 13,467,170.00 | 12,010,920.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0.01 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 325.43 | 566.03 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
MySQL SELECT
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 186,816.00 | 157,927.00 |
| Queries per second | 1,868,160.00 | 1,579,270.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.03 | 0.04 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.05 | 0.06 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.96 | 2.99 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.07 | 0.09 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Points)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 6,818.00 | 5,434.00 |
| Queries per second | 68,180.00 | 54,340.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.51 | 0.45 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.46 | 1.84 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 4.34 | 14.81 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.96 | 2.71 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Ranges)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,024.00 | 6,582.00 |
| Queries per second | 70,240.00 | 65,820.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.52 | 0.57 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.42 | 1.52 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 3.69 | 5.15 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.93 | 2.66 |
MySQL UPDATE (Indexed)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 10,358.00 | 3,033.00 |
| Queries per second | 103,580.00 | 30,330.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.48 | 1 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.96 | 3.29 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 6.5 | 67.75 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.47 | 5.99 |
MySQL UPDATE (Non-Indexed)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 11,283.00 | 3,268.00 |
| Queries per second | 112,830.00 | 32,680.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.46 | 1.03 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.88 | 3.06 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 10.44 | 11.49 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.34 | 5.57 |
MySQL DELETE
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 108,489.00 | 24,924.00 |
| Queries per second | 1,084,890.00 | 249,240.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.04 | 0.04 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.09 | 0.4 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 3.68 | 26.64 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.12 | 2.81 |
Redis
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE per Second | 92,250.92 | 93,545.37 |
| PING_MBULK per Second | 93,370.68 | 87,796.30 |
| SET per Second | 88,731.15 | 93,457.94 |
| GET per Second | 94,339.62 | 94,250.71 |
| INCR per Second | 91,491.30 | 85,106.38 |
| LPUSH per Second | 86,132.64 | 95,057.03 |
| RPUSH per Second | 95,602.30 | 86,505.19 |
| LPOP per Second | 73,964.50 | 89,285.71 |
| RPOP per Second | 82,781.46 | 100,100.10 |
| SADD per Second | 79,428.12 | 90,661.83 |
| HSET per Second | 95,147.48 | 90,415.91 |
| SPOP per Second | 82,236.84 | 96,432.02 |
| ZADD per Second | 91,743.12 | 97,751.71 |
| ZPOPMIN per Second | 79,491.26 | 97,751.71 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) per Second | 51,786.64 | 58,997.05 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) per Second | 23,158.87 | 26,191.72 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) per Second | 16,113.44 | 15,961.69 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) per Second | 14,839.00 | 14,390.56 |
| MSET (10 keys) per Second | 92,936.80 | 73,152.89 |
Redis Average Latency (ms)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE | 0.32 | 0.28 |
| PING_MBULK | 0.31 | 0.31 |
| SET | 0.32 | 0.31 |
| GET | 0.33 | 0.28 |
| INCR | 0.32 | 0.31 |
| LPUSH | 0.30 | 0.29 |
| RPUSH | 0.28 | 0.32 |
| LPOP | 0.35 | 0.32 |
| RPOP | 0.32 | 0.27 |
| SADD | 0.33 | 0.32 |
| HSET | 0.32 | 0.29 |
| SPOP | 0.37 | 0.30 |
| ZADD | 0.29 | 0.31 |
| ZPOPMIN | 0.35 | 0.28 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) | 0.63 | 0.46 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) | 1.33 | 1.05 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) | 1.81 | 2.04 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) | 1.98 | 2.12 |
| MSET (10 keys) | 0.38 | 0.49 |
Conclusion
From the friendly robots:
Comparing the benchmark performance of DigitalOcean's Premium Intel instances, the 4 GB, 2 Cores model shows impressive results with high request per second rates and relatively low latencies for Redis operations, CPU events, and file I/O, especially excelling in memory read and write operations with minimal latencies. The 8 GB, 4 Cores model, while slightly slower in some specific metrics, provides superior overall performance across the board with higher request rates and lower latencies in most Redis commands, CPU events, and better file I/O and memory throughput. It's ideal for workloads that benefit from multiple CPU cores and more RAM, such as high-concurrency applications or those requiring heavy computation or I/O operations, whereas the smaller instance is better suited for moderately loaded applications or those prioritizing cost-efficiency with strong single-threaded performance.
From the friendly human:
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