DigitalOcean Regular (2 GB) vs. DigitalOcean Regular (8 GB, 4 Cores)
My friend, I'm so glad you're here! Today I've spun up brand new instance from DigitalOcean 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. Without further ado, here's the results.
Overview
| DigitalOcean – Regular (2 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Last Benchmarked | Tue, 12 May 2026 23:00:52 GMT | Mon, 11 May 2026 10:00:52 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 | $12.00 | $48.00 |
| RAM (GB) | 2 | 8 |
| CPU Cores | 1 | 4 |
| Storage (TB) | 50 | 160 |
| Storage Type | SSD | SSD |
| Transfer (TB) | 2 | 5 |
CPU
| DigitalOcean – Regular (2 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | GenuineIntel | GenuineIntel |
| Model Name | DO-Regular | DO-Regular |
| Clock Speed (MHz) | 2,294.61 | 2,494.14 |
| CPU Cache Size (KB) | 4,096.00 | 4,096.00 |
| BogoMips | 4,589.21 | 4,988.28 |
| Events per Second | 408.72 | 896.57 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.98 | 0.91 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 2.44 | 1.11 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 30.57 | 2.9 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 4.1 | 1.32 |
Memory
Memory Read
| DigitalOcean – Regular (2 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 1,633,276.41 | 4,379,540.09 |
| Mebibytes per second | 1,595.00 | 4,276.89 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 3.35 | 0.18 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
Memory Write
| DigitalOcean – Regular (2 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 1,592,941.48 | 4,212,238.67 |
| Mebibytes per second | 1,555.61 | 4,113.51 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 5.53 | 0.47 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
File I/O
| DigitalOcean – Regular (2 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Reads per Second | 1,584.78 | 5,311.94 |
| Writes per Second | 1,056.52 | 3,541.33 |
| Fsyncs per Second | 3,385.97 | 11,343.44 |
| Read Mebibytes per Second | 24.76 | 83.00 |
| Written Mebibytes per Second | 16.51 | 55.33 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.16 | 0.05 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 20.31 | 21.59 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.51 | 0.19 |
Mutex
| DigitalOcean – Regular (2 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 2,434.32 | 387.37 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 2,473.55 | 479.16 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 2,489.41 | 548.46 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2,493.86 | 549.52 |
MySQL
MySQL Read-only
| DigitalOcean – Regular (2 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 4,752.00 | 5,420.00 |
| Queries per second | 47,520.00 | 54,200.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.23 | 1.28 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 2.1 | 1.84 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 5.76 | 4.54 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.66 | 2.52 |
MySQL Write-only
| DigitalOcean – Regular (2 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 1,930.00 | 4,301.00 |
| Queries per second | 19,300.00 | 43,010.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 2.65 | 1.1 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 5.18 | 2.32 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 56.83 | 6.06 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 7.98 | 3.13 |
MySQL Read/Write
| DigitalOcean – Regular (2 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 1,306.00 | 2,038.00 |
| Queries per second | 13,060.00 | 20,380.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 4.6 | 2.9 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 7.65 | 4.9 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 28.54 | 27.95 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 10.09 | 6.32 |
MySQL INSERT
| DigitalOcean – Regular (2 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 3,148.00 | 5,949.00 |
| Queries per second | 31,480.00 | 59,490.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.72 | 0.84 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 3.17 | 1.68 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 32.67 | 11.06 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 4.41 | 2.43 |
MySQL Bulk INSERT
| DigitalOcean – Regular (2 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 669,209.00 | 1,317,592.00 |
| Queries per second | 6,692,090.00 | 13,175,920.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.02 | 0.01 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 772.1 | 327.97 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
MySQL SELECT
| DigitalOcean – Regular (2 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 136,020.00 | 138,526.00 |
| Queries per second | 1,360,200.00 | 1,385,260.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.04 | 0.04 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.07 | 0.07 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 3.33 | 1.74 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.11 | 0.11 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Points)
| DigitalOcean – Regular (2 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 3,617.00 | 4,975.00 |
| Queries per second | 36,170.00 | 49,750.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.82 | 0.53 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 2.76 | 2.01 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 12.27 | 5.74 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 3.82 | 2.97 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Ranges)
| DigitalOcean – Regular (2 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 3,087.00 | 5,697.00 |
| Queries per second | 30,870.00 | 56,970.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.67 | 0.65 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 3.23 | 1.75 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 8.52 | 4.64 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 5.18 | 2.66 |
MySQL UPDATE (Indexed)
| DigitalOcean – Regular (2 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 2,586.00 | 6,546.00 |
| Queries per second | 25,860.00 | 65,460.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.8 | 0.74 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 3.86 | 1.53 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 45.13 | 12.42 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 6.21 | 2.14 |
MySQL UPDATE (Non-Indexed)
| DigitalOcean – Regular (2 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 3,094.00 | 6,682.00 |
| Queries per second | 30,940.00 | 66,820.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.83 | 0.69 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 3.23 | 1.49 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 35.75 | 10.51 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 4.65 | 2.14 |
MySQL DELETE
| DigitalOcean – Regular (2 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 19,562.00 | 50,636.00 |
| Queries per second | 195,620.00 | 506,360.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.04 | 0.04 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.51 | 0.2 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 32.94 | 44.03 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 3.02 | 1.37 |
Redis
| DigitalOcean – Regular (2 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE per Second | 39,729.84 | 58,207.21 |
| PING_MBULK per Second | 42,176.30 | 56,915.20 |
| SET per Second | 40,833.00 | 56,148.23 |
| GET per Second | 34,590.11 | 58,685.45 |
| INCR per Second | 35,410.77 | 61,312.08 |
| LPUSH per Second | 39,184.95 | 61,162.08 |
| RPUSH per Second | 36,509.68 | 65,832.78 |
| LPOP per Second | 36,791.76 | 56,980.06 |
| RPOP per Second | 38,834.95 | 55,248.62 |
| SADD per Second | 35,727.05 | 58,038.30 |
| HSET per Second | 35,790.98 | 60,350.03 |
| SPOP per Second | 39,478.88 | 65,316.79 |
| ZADD per Second | 38,850.04 | 54,525.63 |
| ZPOPMIN per Second | 40,338.84 | 54,406.96 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) per Second | 17,461.15 | 37,850.11 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) per Second | 7,711.29 | 18,106.10 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) per Second | 4,860.50 | 11,355.89 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) per Second | 4,094.67 | 9,591.41 |
| MSET (10 keys) per Second | 32,041.01 | 56,657.22 |
Redis Average Latency (ms)
| DigitalOcean – Regular (2 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (8 GB, 4 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE | 0.83 | 0.46 |
| PING_MBULK | 0.78 | 0.47 |
| SET | 0.82 | 0.51 |
| GET | 0.94 | 0.47 |
| INCR | 0.93 | 0.45 |
| LPUSH | 0.85 | 0.48 |
| RPUSH | 0.91 | 0.43 |
| LPOP | 0.92 | 0.51 |
| RPOP | 0.87 | 0.50 |
| SADD | 0.92 | 0.45 |
| HSET | 0.93 | 0.48 |
| SPOP | 0.84 | 0.45 |
| ZADD | 0.86 | 0.50 |
| ZPOPMIN | 0.82 | 0.50 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) | 2.05 | 0.85 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) | 4.59 | 1.61 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) | 7.19 | 2.62 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) | 8.42 | 3.23 |
| MSET (10 keys) | 1.12 | 0.55 |
Conclusion
From the friendly robots:
The DigitalOcean Regular (2 GB) instance shows robust performance for Redis operations, achieving high request rates with low average latencies, especially for simple commands like PING and SET. The CPU, memory, and I/O benchmarks also display good performance with low latencies and high throughput. However, it falls short in handling intensive tasks such as large range queries in Redis or bulk MySQL operations compared to its more powerful counterpart. The DigitalOcean Regular (8 GB, 4 Cores) instance significantly outperforms the lower-spec model in all metrics, providing higher request rates, lower latencies, and greater throughput across CPU, Redis, MySQL, and I/O benchmarks. This instance is ideal for CPU-intensive, I/O-heavy workloads, and applications requiring higher memory and more CPU power. For developers seeking high performance with moderate resource requirements, the 2 GB instance is sufficient, but for more demanding applications, the 8 GB, 4 Cores instance is the better choice.
From the friendly human:
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