DigitalOcean Regular (1 GB) vs. DigitalOcean Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores)
My friend, I'm so glad you're here! Today I've spun up some brand new instance from DigitalOcean and ran some benchmarks. Each instance was spun up with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 and all resided in or around the New York / New Jersey area. Let's get into the numbers.
Overview
| DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Last Benchmarked | Sat, 30 May 2026 16:00:52 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 | $6.00 | $64.00 |
| RAM (GB) | 1 | 8 |
| CPU Cores | 1 | 4 |
| Storage (TB) | 25 | 240 |
| Storage Type | SSD | NVMe |
| Transfer (TB) | 1 | 6 |
CPU
| DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | GenuineIntel | GenuineIntel |
| Model Name | DO-Regular | 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 | 529.66 | 2,100.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.92 | 0.46 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.88 | 0.48 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 16.46 | 0.77 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 3.43 | 0.49 |
Memory
Memory Read
| DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 3,987,036.39 | 4,031,036.30 |
| Mebibytes per second | 3,893.59 | 3,936.56 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 4.4 | 0.09 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
Memory Write
| DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 3,995,737.24 | 4,327,248.72 |
| Mebibytes per second | 3,902.09 | 4,225.83 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 4.17 | 0.18 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
File I/O
| DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Reads per Second | 1,945.54 | 1,848.36 |
| Writes per Second | 1,297.00 | 1,232.24 |
| Fsyncs per Second | 4,155.18 | 3,943.27 |
| Read Mebibytes per Second | 30.40 | 28.88 |
| Written Mebibytes per Second | 20.27 | 19.25 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.13 | 0.14 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 9.2 | 32.73 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.37 | 0.83 |
Mutex
| DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 2,822.79 | 496.91 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 2,870.31 | 678.09 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 2,894.40 | 755.25 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2,880.27 | 759.88 |
MySQL
MySQL Read-only
| DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,259.00 | 5,172.00 |
| Queries per second | 52,590.00 | 51,720.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.18 | 1.28 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.9 | 1.93 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 8 | 8.32 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.57 | 2.61 |
MySQL Write-only
| DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 2,346.00 | 2,301.00 |
| Queries per second | 23,460.00 | 23,010.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.49 | 1.35 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 4.25 | 4.34 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 52.22 | 12.64 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 8.13 | 7.3 |
MySQL Read/Write
| DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 1,464.00 | 1,495.00 |
| Queries per second | 14,640.00 | 14,950.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 3.41 | 2.89 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 6.82 | 6.68 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 29.15 | 19.01 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 11.24 | 10.46 |
MySQL INSERT
| DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 6,314.00 | 3,010.00 |
| Queries per second | 63,140.00 | 30,100.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.59 | 1.11 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.58 | 3.32 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 14.38 | 14.62 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.52 | 6.09 |
MySQL Bulk INSERT
| DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 964,103.00 | 1,201,092.00 |
| Queries per second | 9,641,030.00 | 12,010,920.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0.01 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 533.45 | 566.03 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
MySQL SELECT
| DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 149,521.00 | 157,927.00 |
| Queries per second | 1,495,210.00 | 1,579,270.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.04 | 0.04 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.07 | 0.06 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 3.86 | 2.99 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.11 | 0.09 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Points)
| DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 3,958.00 | 5,434.00 |
| Queries per second | 39,580.00 | 54,340.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.48 | 0.45 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 2.52 | 1.84 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 9.22 | 14.81 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 3.68 | 2.71 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Ranges)
| DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 4,379.00 | 6,582.00 |
| Queries per second | 43,790.00 | 65,820.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.79 | 0.57 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 2.28 | 1.52 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 6.74 | 5.15 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 3.36 | 2.66 |
MySQL UPDATE (Indexed)
| DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 4,761.00 | 3,033.00 |
| Queries per second | 47,610.00 | 30,330.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.7 | 1 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 2.1 | 3.29 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 14.39 | 67.75 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 3.75 | 5.99 |
MySQL UPDATE (Non-Indexed)
| DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 4,433.00 | 3,268.00 |
| Queries per second | 44,330.00 | 32,680.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.82 | 1.03 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 2.25 | 3.06 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 47.54 | 11.49 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 4.1 | 5.57 |
MySQL DELETE
| DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 33,039.00 | 24,924.00 |
| Queries per second | 330,390.00 | 249,240.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.04 | 0.04 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 10.34 | 26.64 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.7 | 2.81 |
Redis
| DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE per Second | 39,745.63 | 93,545.37 |
| PING_MBULK per Second | 34,602.07 | 87,796.30 |
| SET per Second | 33,036.01 | 93,457.94 |
| GET per Second | 41,186.16 | 94,250.71 |
| INCR per Second | 42,918.46 | 85,106.38 |
| LPUSH per Second | 37,495.31 | 95,057.03 |
| RPUSH per Second | 37,160.91 | 86,505.19 |
| LPOP per Second | 33,955.86 | 89,285.71 |
| RPOP per Second | 38,714.67 | 100,100.10 |
| SADD per Second | 39,416.63 | 90,661.83 |
| HSET per Second | 35,880.88 | 90,415.91 |
| SPOP per Second | 34,506.55 | 96,432.02 |
| ZADD per Second | 26,511.13 | 97,751.71 |
| ZPOPMIN per Second | 31,877.59 | 97,751.71 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) per Second | 16,152.48 | 58,997.05 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) per Second | 9,134.09 | 26,191.72 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) per Second | 5,766.68 | 15,961.69 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) per Second | 4,820.90 | 14,390.56 |
| MSET (10 keys) per Second | 27,457.44 | 73,152.89 |
Redis Average Latency (ms)
| DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE | 0.84 | 0.28 |
| PING_MBULK | 0.94 | 0.31 |
| SET | 1.01 | 0.31 |
| GET | 0.81 | 0.28 |
| INCR | 0.78 | 0.31 |
| LPUSH | 0.89 | 0.29 |
| RPUSH | 0.90 | 0.32 |
| LPOP | 0.99 | 0.32 |
| RPOP | 0.87 | 0.27 |
| SADD | 0.85 | 0.32 |
| HSET | 0.93 | 0.29 |
| SPOP | 0.96 | 0.30 |
| ZADD | 1.24 | 0.31 |
| ZPOPMIN | 1.04 | 0.28 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) | 2.25 | 0.46 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) | 3.93 | 1.05 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) | 6.15 | 2.04 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) | 7.38 | 2.12 |
| MSET (10 keys) | 1.27 | 0.49 |
Conclusion
From the friendly robots:
Based on the provided benchmark results, the DigitalOcean Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) instance significantly outperforms the Regular (1 GB) instance in all categories including Redis operations, CPU events per second, file I/O throughput, memory operations per second, and MySQL operations, with notably higher request rates per second (rps) and significantly lower latencies across all metrics, making it ideal for CPU-intensive, I/O-heavy workloads, and applications requiring high concurrency and throughput. Conversely, the Regular (1 GB) instance, while still competent for basic tasks, shows clear limitations in terms of raw performance, making it more suitable for less demanding applications where cost is a primary concern rather than performance.
From the friendly human:
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