DigitalOcean Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) vs. Vultr Cloud Compute (2 GB)
New day, new benchmarks. Today I've spun up brand new instance from DigitalOcean and Vultr and ran some benchmarks. Each instance was spun up with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 and were created in the New York area (or close to it). Without further ado, here's the results.
Overview
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Last Benchmarked | Tue, 02 Jun 2026 06:00:52 GMT | Tue, 02 Jun 2026 09:00:53 GMT |
| Linux Distro | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 |
| Kernel Version | 6.8.0-71-generic | 6.8.0-117-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 | $64.00 | $10.00 |
| RAM (GB) | 8 | 2 |
| CPU Cores | 4 | 1 |
| Storage (TB) | 240 | 50 |
| Storage Type | NVMe | SSD |
| Transfer (TB) | 6 | 2 |
CPU
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | GenuineIntel | GenuineIntel |
| Model Name | DO-Premium-Intel | Intel Core Processor (Skylake, IBRS, no TSX) |
| Clock Speed (MHz) | 1,995.31 | 3,792.00 |
| CPU Cache Size (KB) | 4,096.00 | 16,384.00 |
| BogoMips | 3,990.61 | 7,583.99 |
| Events per Second | 2,100.00 | 1,583.05 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.46 | 0.6 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.48 | 0.63 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.77 | 1.47 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.49 | 0.67 |
Memory
Memory Read
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 4,031,036.30 | 7,845,063.44 |
| Mebibytes per second | 3,936.56 | 7,661.19 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.09 | 0.22 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
Memory Write
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 4,327,248.72 | 7,631,333.85 |
| Mebibytes per second | 4,225.83 | 7,452.47 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.18 | 0.29 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
File I/O
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Reads per Second | 1,848.36 | 5,439.09 |
| Writes per Second | 1,232.24 | 3,626.06 |
| Fsyncs per Second | 3,943.27 | 11,608.88 |
| Read Mebibytes per Second | 28.88 | 84.99 |
| Written Mebibytes per Second | 19.25 | 56.66 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.14 | 0.05 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 32.73 | 9.72 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.83 | 0.16 |
Mutex
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 496.91 | 1,137.66 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 678.09 | 1,150.20 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 755.25 | 1,156.48 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 759.88 | 1,149.76 |
MySQL
MySQL Read-only
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,172.00 | 10,458.00 |
| Queries per second | 51,720.00 | 104,580.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.28 | 0.9 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.93 | 0.96 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 8.32 | 2.72 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.61 | 1.03 |
MySQL Write-only
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 2,301.00 | 9,453.00 |
| Queries per second | 23,010.00 | 94,530.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.35 | 0.66 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 4.34 | 1.06 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 12.64 | 2.97 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 7.3 | 1.44 |
MySQL Read/Write
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 1,495.00 | 4,003.00 |
| Queries per second | 14,950.00 | 40,030.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 2.89 | 1.86 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 6.68 | 2.5 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 19.01 | 10.15 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 10.46 | 3.19 |
MySQL INSERT
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 3,010.00 | 15,926.00 |
| Queries per second | 30,100.00 | 159,260.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.11 | 0.38 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 3.32 | 0.63 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 14.62 | 2.51 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 6.09 | 0.84 |
MySQL Bulk INSERT
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 1,201,092.00 | 1,958,342.00 |
| Queries per second | 12,010,920.00 | 19,583,420.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0.01 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 566.03 | 247.36 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
MySQL SELECT
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 157,927.00 | 211,764.00 |
| Queries per second | 1,579,270.00 | 2,117,640.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.04 | 0.04 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.06 | 0.05 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 2.99 | 3.71 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.09 | 0.07 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Points)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,434.00 | 10,600.00 |
| Queries per second | 54,340.00 | 106,000.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.45 | 0.3 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.84 | 0.94 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 14.81 | 2.98 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.71 | 1.23 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Ranges)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 6,582.00 | 11,141.00 |
| Queries per second | 65,820.00 | 111,410.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.57 | 0.16 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.52 | 0.9 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 5.15 | 3.25 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.66 | 1.16 |
MySQL UPDATE (Indexed)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 3,033.00 | 15,677.00 |
| Queries per second | 30,330.00 | 156,770.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1 | 0.39 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 3.29 | 0.64 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 67.75 | 10.64 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 5.99 | 0.92 |
MySQL UPDATE (Non-Indexed)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 3,268.00 | 16,119.00 |
| Queries per second | 32,680.00 | 161,190.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.03 | 0.37 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 3.06 | 0.62 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 11.49 | 2.08 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 5.57 | 0.84 |
MySQL DELETE
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 24,924.00 | 143,360.00 |
| Queries per second | 249,240.00 | 1,433,600.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.04 | 0.04 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.4 | 0.07 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 26.64 | 2.7 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.81 | 0.1 |
Redis
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE per Second | 93,545.37 | 54,764.51 |
| PING_MBULK per Second | 87,796.30 | 55,340.34 |
| SET per Second | 93,457.94 | 54,347.82 |
| GET per Second | 94,250.71 | 55,493.89 |
| INCR per Second | 85,106.38 | 54,975.26 |
| LPUSH per Second | 95,057.03 | 55,066.08 |
| RPUSH per Second | 86,505.19 | 54,054.05 |
| LPOP per Second | 89,285.71 | 54,318.30 |
| RPOP per Second | 100,100.10 | 54,975.26 |
| SADD per Second | 90,661.83 | 55,432.37 |
| HSET per Second | 90,415.91 | 54,854.64 |
| SPOP per Second | 96,432.02 | 55,493.89 |
| ZADD per Second | 97,751.71 | 54,406.96 |
| ZPOPMIN per Second | 97,751.71 | 53,390.28 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) per Second | 58,997.05 | 36,218.76 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) per Second | 26,191.72 | 19,864.92 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) per Second | 15,961.69 | 13,570.36 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) per Second | 14,390.56 | 12,000.48 |
| MSET (10 keys) per Second | 73,152.89 | 50,658.56 |
Redis Average Latency (ms)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE | 0.28 | 0.59 |
| PING_MBULK | 0.31 | 0.58 |
| SET | 0.31 | 0.60 |
| GET | 0.28 | 0.58 |
| INCR | 0.31 | 0.59 |
| LPUSH | 0.29 | 0.59 |
| RPUSH | 0.32 | 0.60 |
| LPOP | 0.32 | 0.60 |
| RPOP | 0.27 | 0.60 |
| SADD | 0.32 | 0.58 |
| HSET | 0.29 | 0.59 |
| SPOP | 0.30 | 0.58 |
| ZADD | 0.31 | 0.60 |
| ZPOPMIN | 0.28 | 0.61 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) | 0.46 | 0.94 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) | 1.05 | 1.75 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) | 2.04 | 2.61 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) | 2.12 | 2.96 |
| MSET (10 keys) | 0.49 | 0.69 |
Conclusion
From the friendly robots:
The DigitalOcean Premium Intel instance shows stronger performance in all benchmarks compared to the Vultr Cloud Compute instance, with higher RPS (requests per second) rates and lower latency across most metrics, especially in CPU-intensive and memory-bound tasks. DigitalOcean's instance delivers significantly better file I/O performance, throughput, and thread fairness, making it ideal for applications requiring high concurrency and low latency. In contrast, the Vultr instance, while cheaper, lags significantly in performance, making it suitable for lighter workloads or where cost is a more critical factor than performance. Overall, the DigitalOcean instance is superior for demanding applications, whereas the Vultr instance may suffice for less resource-intensive tasks.
From the friendly human:
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