DigitalOcean Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) vs. Linode Nanode (1 GB)
New day, new benchmarks. Today I've spun up some brand new instance from DigitalOcean and Linode and ran my world famous suite of benchmarking scripts. All instances were spun up with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 and were created in or around the New York / New Jersey area. Without further ado, here's the results.
Overview
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Last Benchmarked | Tue, 26 May 2026 20:00:52 GMT | Fri, 29 May 2026 15:00:53 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 | Newark, NJ |
| Monthly Price | $64.00 | $5.00 |
| RAM (GB) | 8 | 1 |
| CPU Cores | 4 | 1 |
| Storage (TB) | 240 | 25 |
| Storage Type | NVMe | SSD |
| Transfer (TB) | 6 | 1 |
CPU
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | GenuineIntel | AuthenticAMD |
| Model Name | DO-Premium-Intel | AMD EPYC 7642 48-Core Processor |
| Clock Speed (MHz) | 2,494.13 | 2,300.00 |
| CPU Cache Size (KB) | 4,096.00 | 512.00 |
| BogoMips | 4,988.26 | 4,599.99 |
| Events per Second | 1,068.15 | 1,022.23 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.86 | 0.61 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.94 | 0.98 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 1.39 | 5.4 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.03 | 2.39 |
Memory
Memory Read
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 4,958,780.82 | 5,296,233.64 |
| Mebibytes per second | 4,842.56 | 5,172.10 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.08 | 3.05 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
Memory Write
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 4,877,083.39 | 5,154,651.90 |
| Mebibytes per second | 4,762.78 | 5,033.84 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.76 | 3.06 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
File I/O
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Reads per Second | 8,134.88 | 2,055.76 |
| Writes per Second | 5,423.26 | 1,370.51 |
| Fsyncs per Second | 17,358.91 | 4,389.22 |
| Read Mebibytes per Second | 127.11 | 32.12 |
| Written Mebibytes per Second | 84.74 | 21.41 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.03 | 0.13 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 8.03 | 12.79 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.12 | 0.35 |
Mutex
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 389.56 | 1,633.32 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 415.95 | 1,644.62 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 445.64 | 1,653.29 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 442.73 | 1,648.20 |
MySQL
MySQL Read-only
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,080.00 | 7,575.00 |
| Queries per second | 70,800.00 | 75,750.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.16 | 1.22 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.41 | 1.32 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 2.34 | 4.67 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.93 | 1.42 |
MySQL Write-only
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 6,772.00 | 5,800.00 |
| Queries per second | 67,720.00 | 58,000.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.81 | 1.15 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.47 | 1.72 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 5.6 | 12.35 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2 | 2.39 |
MySQL Read/Write
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 3,057.00 | 2,955.00 |
| Queries per second | 30,570.00 | 29,550.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 2.1 | 2.64 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 3.27 | 3.38 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 6.2 | 22.69 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 4.18 | 4.41 |
MySQL INSERT
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 9,678.00 | 8,921.00 |
| Queries per second | 96,780.00 | 89,210.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.48 | 0.65 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.03 | 1.12 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 7.81 | 8.92 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.5 | 1.42 |
MySQL Bulk INSERT
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 1,550,592.00 | 1,288,467.00 |
| Queries per second | 15,505,920.00 | 12,884,670.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0.01 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 281.02 | 398.24 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
MySQL SELECT
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 173,698.00 | 170,179.00 |
| Queries per second | 1,736,980.00 | 1,701,790.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.03 | 0.05 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.06 | 0.06 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.88 | 7.27 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.08 | 0.08 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Points)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 6,644.00 | 7,819.00 |
| Queries per second | 66,440.00 | 78,190.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.49 | 0.42 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.5 | 1.28 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 3.52 | 6.03 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.18 | 1.64 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Ranges)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 6,810.00 | 7,328.00 |
| Queries per second | 68,100.00 | 73,280.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.39 | 0.3 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.47 | 1.36 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 3.76 | 4.97 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.26 | 1.76 |
MySQL UPDATE (Indexed)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 9,478.00 | 8,603.00 |
| Queries per second | 94,780.00 | 86,030.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.48 | 0.69 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.05 | 1.16 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 7.37 | 6.97 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.55 | 1.7 |
MySQL UPDATE (Non-Indexed)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 9,891.00 | 7,719.00 |
| Queries per second | 98,910.00 | 77,190.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.47 | 0.65 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.01 | 1.29 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 6.91 | 54.76 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.47 | 1.73 |
MySQL DELETE
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 98,737.00 | 80,451.00 |
| Queries per second | 987,370.00 | 804,510.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.04 | 0.05 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.1 | 0.12 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 20.97 | 16.14 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.13 | 0.42 |
Redis
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE per Second | 90,661.83 | 44,052.86 |
| PING_MBULK per Second | 90,334.23 | 44,563.28 |
| SET per Second | 88,967.98 | 44,072.28 |
| GET per Second | 101,010.10 | 44,345.89 |
| INCR per Second | 56,689.34 | 42,535.09 |
| LPUSH per Second | 50,327.12 | 41,545.49 |
| RPUSH per Second | 59,772.86 | 37,299.52 |
| LPOP per Second | 116,686.12 | 43,327.55 |
| RPOP per Second | 118,906.06 | 43,103.45 |
| SADD per Second | 116,550.12 | 43,994.72 |
| HSET per Second | 116,822.43 | 43,956.04 |
| SPOP per Second | 115,606.94 | 44,130.62 |
| ZADD per Second | 116,959.06 | 42,390.84 |
| ZPOPMIN per Second | 117,785.63 | 43,159.26 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) per Second | 78,003.12 | 28,843.38 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) per Second | 37,481.26 | 15,153.81 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) per Second | 24,137.10 | 10,595.47 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) per Second | 21,294.72 | 9,122.42 |
| MSET (10 keys) per Second | 120,481.93 | 40,112.31 |
Redis Average Latency (ms)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE | 0.29 | 0.78 |
| PING_MBULK | 0.30 | 0.77 |
| SET | 0.31 | 0.78 |
| GET | 0.29 | 0.77 |
| INCR | 0.46 | 0.80 |
| LPUSH | 0.52 | 0.82 |
| RPUSH | 0.43 | 0.90 |
| LPOP | 0.22 | 0.80 |
| RPOP | 0.22 | 0.80 |
| SADD | 0.22 | 0.78 |
| HSET | 0.22 | 0.79 |
| SPOP | 0.23 | 0.77 |
| ZADD | 0.23 | 0.81 |
| ZPOPMIN | 0.22 | 0.79 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) | 0.38 | 1.23 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) | 0.71 | 2.38 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) | 1.07 | 3.44 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) | 1.21 | 3.96 |
| MSET (10 keys) | 0.26 | 0.88 |
Conclusion
From the friendly robots:
Comparing the two instances, the DigitalOcean Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) configuration demonstrates superior performance across most metrics, particularly in CPU-intensive and I/O-heavy tasks, as evidenced by higher RPS rates and lower latencies in Redis and MySQL benchmarks. It excels in complex operations such as LRANGE and MSET while also providing robust file I/O capabilities with higher throughput and lower latency. In contrast, the Linode Nanode (1 GB) offers respectable performance but falls short in comparison to the more powerful DigitalOcean instance, showing lower RPS rates and higher latencies, especially in larger data set operations. For developers requiring high CPU and memory throughput, or those engaging in extensive I/O operations, the DigitalOcean instance is the better choice, while the Linode Nanode may suffice for more modest, cost-sensitive workloads.
From the friendly human:
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