DigitalOcean Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) vs. Vultr High Frequency Intel (1 GB)
My friend, I'm so glad you're here! Today I've spun up some brand new instance from DigitalOcean and Vultr to run some benchmarks on. All instances were spun up with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 and were created in or around the New York / New Jersey area. Time to see who showed up today.
Overview
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Last Benchmarked | Tue, 02 Jun 2026 06:00:52 GMT | Tue, 02 Jun 2026 13:00:52 GMT |
| Linux Distro | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 |
| Kernel Version | 6.8.0-71-generic | 6.8.0-117-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 | $6.00 |
| RAM (GB) | 8 | 1 |
| CPU Cores | 4 | 1 |
| Storage (TB) | 240 | 32 |
| Storage Type | NVMe | NVMe |
| Transfer (TB) | 6 | 1 |
CPU
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (1 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 | 1,610.13 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.46 | 0.59 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.48 | 0.62 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.77 | 2.23 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.49 | 0.65 |
Memory
Memory Read
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 4,031,036.30 | 7,926,735.23 |
| Mebibytes per second | 3,936.56 | 7,740.95 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.09 | 0.12 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
Memory Write
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 4,327,248.72 | 7,829,978.57 |
| Mebibytes per second | 4,225.83 | 7,646.46 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.18 | 1.01 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
File I/O
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Reads per Second | 1,848.36 | 4,623.06 |
| Writes per Second | 1,232.24 | 3,082.04 |
| Fsyncs per Second | 3,943.27 | 9,865.12 |
| Read Mebibytes per Second | 28.88 | 72.24 |
| Written Mebibytes per Second | 19.25 | 48.16 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.14 | 0.06 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 32.73 | 1.44 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.83 | 0.18 |
Mutex
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 496.91 | 1,066.91 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 678.09 | 1,072.39 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 755.25 | 1,077.58 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 759.88 | 1,069.86 |
MySQL
MySQL Read-only
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,172.00 | 10,351.00 |
| Queries per second | 51,720.00 | 103,510.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.28 | 0.9 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.93 | 0.97 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 8.32 | 7.08 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.61 | 1.03 |
MySQL Write-only
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 2,301.00 | 9,881.00 |
| Queries per second | 23,010.00 | 98,810.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.35 | 0.63 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 4.34 | 1.01 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 12.64 | 3.54 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 7.3 | 1.3 |
MySQL Read/Write
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 1,495.00 | 4,464.00 |
| Queries per second | 14,950.00 | 44,640.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 2.89 | 1.81 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 6.68 | 2.24 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 19.01 | 14.82 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 10.46 | 2.76 |
MySQL INSERT
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 3,010.00 | 16,897.00 |
| Queries per second | 30,100.00 | 168,970.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.11 | 0.38 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 3.32 | 0.59 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 14.62 | 2.68 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 6.09 | 0.75 |
MySQL Bulk INSERT
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 1,201,092.00 | 2,133,092.00 |
| Queries per second | 12,010,920.00 | 21,330,920.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 566.03 | 261.58 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
MySQL SELECT
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 157,927.00 | 226,612.00 |
| Queries per second | 1,579,270.00 | 2,266,120.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.04 | 0.04 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.06 | 0.04 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 2.99 | 4.34 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.09 | 0.05 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Points)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,434.00 | 11,104.00 |
| Queries per second | 54,340.00 | 111,040.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.45 | 0.31 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.84 | 0.9 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 14.81 | 3.85 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.71 | 1.16 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Ranges)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 6,582.00 | 11,218.00 |
| Queries per second | 65,820.00 | 112,180.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.57 | 0.28 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.52 | 0.89 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 5.15 | 2.88 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.66 | 1.16 |
MySQL UPDATE (Indexed)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 3,033.00 | 16,175.00 |
| Queries per second | 30,330.00 | 161,750.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1 | 0.38 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 3.29 | 0.62 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 67.75 | 2.37 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 5.99 | 0.86 |
MySQL UPDATE (Non-Indexed)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 3,268.00 | 16,898.00 |
| Queries per second | 32,680.00 | 168,980.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.03 | 0.37 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 3.06 | 0.59 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 11.49 | 5.32 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 5.57 | 0.8 |
MySQL DELETE
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 24,924.00 | 151,969.00 |
| Queries per second | 249,240.00 | 1,519,690.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.04 | 0.04 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.4 | 0.07 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 26.64 | 5.32 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.81 | 0.09 |
Redis
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE per Second | 93,545.37 | 55,772.45 |
| PING_MBULK per Second | 87,796.30 | 56,401.58 |
| SET per Second | 93,457.94 | 55,928.41 |
| GET per Second | 94,250.71 | 56,818.18 |
| INCR per Second | 85,106.38 | 56,529.11 |
| LPUSH per Second | 95,057.03 | 55,463.12 |
| RPUSH per Second | 86,505.19 | 55,555.56 |
| LPOP per Second | 89,285.71 | 55,066.08 |
| RPOP per Second | 100,100.10 | 53,966.54 |
| SADD per Second | 90,661.83 | 55,865.92 |
| HSET per Second | 90,415.91 | 55,035.77 |
| SPOP per Second | 96,432.02 | 56,211.35 |
| ZADD per Second | 97,751.71 | 55,679.29 |
| ZPOPMIN per Second | 97,751.71 | 56,689.34 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) per Second | 58,997.05 | 37,271.71 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) per Second | 26,191.72 | 20,973.15 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) per Second | 15,961.69 | 14,166.31 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) per Second | 14,390.56 | 12,725.88 |
| MSET (10 keys) per Second | 73,152.89 | 51,786.64 |
Redis Average Latency (ms)
| DigitalOcean – Premium Intel (8 GB, 4 Cores) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE | 0.28 | 0.57 |
| PING_MBULK | 0.31 | 0.56 |
| SET | 0.31 | 0.57 |
| GET | 0.28 | 0.56 |
| INCR | 0.31 | 0.56 |
| LPUSH | 0.29 | 0.58 |
| RPUSH | 0.32 | 0.58 |
| LPOP | 0.32 | 0.59 |
| RPOP | 0.27 | 0.61 |
| SADD | 0.32 | 0.58 |
| HSET | 0.29 | 0.59 |
| SPOP | 0.30 | 0.57 |
| ZADD | 0.31 | 0.58 |
| ZPOPMIN | 0.28 | 0.56 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) | 0.46 | 0.92 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) | 1.05 | 1.66 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) | 2.04 | 2.53 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) | 2.12 | 2.84 |
| MSET (10 keys) | 0.49 | 0.67 |
Conclusion
From the friendly robots:
The DigitalOcean Premium Intel instance, with 4 CPU cores and 8 GB of RAM, outperforms the Vultr High Frequency Intel instance with 1 CPU core and 1 GB of RAM in nearly all benchmark categories. The DigitalOcean instance shows significantly higher rates of operations per second across Redis commands, CPU events, file I/O operations, and memory operations, along with better throughput and lower latency. The Vultr instance, while competent in single-threaded tasks, lags behind in multi-threaded operations and overall system performance. This makes the DigitalOcean instance the better choice for CPU-intensive, I/O-heavy, and memory-demanding workloads, whereas the Vultr instance is more suitable for simpler, less resource-intensive tasks due to its lower core count, RAM, and network bandwidth.
From the friendly human:
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