Linode Nanode (1 GB) vs. Linode Linode (4 GB)

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New day, new benchmarks. Today I've spun up brand new instance from Linode and ran my world famous suite of benchmarking scripts. All instances were running Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 and all resided in or around the New York / New Jersey area. Without further ado, here's the results.

Overview

Linode – Nanode (1 GB) Linode – (4 GB)
Last Benchmarked Fri, 29 May 2026 15:00:53 GMT Thu, 28 May 2026 23:00:52 GMT
Linux Distro Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64
Kernel Version 6.8.0-111-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 Newark, NJ Newark, NJ
Monthly Price $5.00 $24.00
RAM (GB) 1 4
CPU Cores 1 2
Storage (TB) 25 80
Storage Type SSD SSD
Transfer (TB) 1 4

CPU

Linode – Nanode (1 GB) Linode – (4 GB)
Vendor AuthenticAMD AuthenticAMD
Model Name AMD EPYC 7642 48-Core Processor AMD EPYC 7642 48-Core Processor
Clock Speed (MHz) 2,300.00 2,300.00
CPU Cache Size (KB) 512.00 512.00
BogoMips 4,599.99 4,600.00
Events per Second 1,022.23 1,557.67
Minimum Latency (ms) 0.61 0.61
Average Latency (ms) 0.98 0.64
Maximum Latency (ms) 5.4 5.61
95th Percentile Latency (ms) 2.39 0.67

Memory

Memory Read

Linode – Nanode (1 GB) Linode – (4 GB)
Operations per second 5,296,233.64 5,147,970.79
Mebibytes per second 5,172.10 5,027.32
Minimum Latency (ms) 0 0
Average Latency (ms) 0 0
Maximum Latency (ms) 3.05 4.84
95th Percentile Latency (ms) 0 0

Memory Write

Linode – Nanode (1 GB) Linode – (4 GB)
Operations per second 5,154,651.90 4,976,437.85
Mebibytes per second 5,033.84 4,859.80
Minimum Latency (ms) 0 0
Average Latency (ms) 0 0
Maximum Latency (ms) 3.06 7.92
95th Percentile Latency (ms) 0 0

File I/O

Linode – Nanode (1 GB) Linode – (4 GB)
Reads per Second 2,055.76 2,963.98
Writes per Second 1,370.51 1,975.95
Fsyncs per Second 4,389.22 6,329.11
Read Mebibytes per Second 32.12 46.31
Written Mebibytes per Second 21.41 30.87
Minimum Latency (ms) 0 0
Average Latency (ms) 0.13 0.09
Maximum Latency (ms) 12.79 19.78
95th Percentile Latency (ms) 0.35 0.33

Mutex

Linode – Nanode (1 GB) Linode – (4 GB)
Minimum Latency (ms) 1,633.32 847.81
Average Latency (ms) 1,644.62 883.84
Maximum Latency (ms) 1,653.29 896.52
95th Percentile Latency (ms) 1,648.20 893.56

MySQL

MySQL Read-only

Linode – Nanode (1 GB) Linode – (4 GB)
Transactions per second 7,575.00 6,345.00
Queries per second 75,750.00 63,450.00
Minimum Latency (ms) 1.22 1.23
Average Latency (ms) 1.32 1.57
Maximum Latency (ms) 4.67 5.25
95th Percentile Latency (ms) 1.42 1.93

MySQL Write-only

Linode – Nanode (1 GB) Linode – (4 GB)
Transactions per second 5,800.00 5,995.00
Queries per second 58,000.00 59,950.00
Minimum Latency (ms) 1.15 1.05
Average Latency (ms) 1.72 1.67
Maximum Latency (ms) 12.35 6.84
95th Percentile Latency (ms) 2.39 2.26

MySQL Read/Write

Linode – Nanode (1 GB) Linode – (4 GB)
Transactions per second 2,955.00 2,908.00
Queries per second 29,550.00 29,080.00
Minimum Latency (ms) 2.64 2.44
Average Latency (ms) 3.38 3.44
Maximum Latency (ms) 22.69 10.34
95th Percentile Latency (ms) 4.41 4.33

MySQL INSERT

Linode – Nanode (1 GB) Linode – (4 GB)
Transactions per second 8,921.00 8,155.00
Queries per second 89,210.00 81,550.00
Minimum Latency (ms) 0.65 0.78
Average Latency (ms) 1.12 1.22
Maximum Latency (ms) 8.92 6.34
95th Percentile Latency (ms) 1.42 1.61

MySQL Bulk INSERT

Linode – Nanode (1 GB) Linode – (4 GB)
Transactions per second 1,288,467.00 1,375,842.00
Queries per second 12,884,670.00 13,758,420.00
Minimum Latency (ms) 0 0
Average Latency (ms) 0.01 0.01
Maximum Latency (ms) 398.24 418.92
95th Percentile Latency (ms) 0 0

MySQL SELECT

Linode – Nanode (1 GB) Linode – (4 GB)
Transactions per second 170,179.00 143,849.00
Queries per second 1,701,790.00 1,438,490.00
Minimum Latency (ms) 0.05 0.04
Average Latency (ms) 0.06 0.07
Maximum Latency (ms) 7.27 4.67
95th Percentile Latency (ms) 0.08 0.09

MySQL SELECT (Random Points)

Linode – Nanode (1 GB) Linode – (4 GB)
Transactions per second 7,819.00 7,984.00
Queries per second 78,190.00 79,840.00
Minimum Latency (ms) 0.42 0.33
Average Latency (ms) 1.28 1.25
Maximum Latency (ms) 6.03 7.29
95th Percentile Latency (ms) 1.64 1.67

MySQL SELECT (Random Ranges)

Linode – Nanode (1 GB) Linode – (4 GB)
Transactions per second 7,328.00 6,576.00
Queries per second 73,280.00 65,760.00
Minimum Latency (ms) 0.3 0.52
Average Latency (ms) 1.36 1.52
Maximum Latency (ms) 4.97 6.93
95th Percentile Latency (ms) 1.76 2.22

MySQL UPDATE (Indexed)

Linode – Nanode (1 GB) Linode – (4 GB)
Transactions per second 8,603.00 7,993.00
Queries per second 86,030.00 79,930.00
Minimum Latency (ms) 0.69 0.72
Average Latency (ms) 1.16 1.25
Maximum Latency (ms) 6.97 6.84
95th Percentile Latency (ms) 1.7 1.67

MySQL UPDATE (Non-Indexed)

Linode – Nanode (1 GB) Linode – (4 GB)
Transactions per second 7,719.00 8,351.00
Queries per second 77,190.00 83,510.00
Minimum Latency (ms) 0.65 0.75
Average Latency (ms) 1.29 1.2
Maximum Latency (ms) 54.76 6.88
95th Percentile Latency (ms) 1.73 1.52

MySQL DELETE

Linode – Nanode (1 GB) Linode – (4 GB)
Transactions per second 80,451.00 70,358.00
Queries per second 804,510.00 703,580.00
Minimum Latency (ms) 0.05 0.04
Average Latency (ms) 0.12 0.14
Maximum Latency (ms) 16.14 7.97
95th Percentile Latency (ms) 0.42 0.95

Redis

Linode – Nanode (1 GB) Linode – (4 GB)
PING_INLINE per Second 44,052.86 54,525.63
PING_MBULK per Second 44,563.28 55,897.15
SET per Second 44,072.28 53,619.30
GET per Second 44,345.89 55,157.20
INCR per Second 42,535.09 55,401.66
LPUSH per Second 41,545.49 54,466.23
RPUSH per Second 37,299.52 52,659.29
LPOP per Second 43,327.55 54,555.38
RPOP per Second 43,103.45 54,436.58
SADD per Second 43,994.72 54,406.96
HSET per Second 43,956.04 55,157.20
SPOP per Second 44,130.62 55,309.73
ZADD per Second 42,390.84 56,753.69
ZPOPMIN per Second 43,159.26 54,054.05
LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) per Second 28,843.38 43,084.88
LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) per Second 15,153.81 25,799.79
LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) per Second 10,595.47 18,583.91
LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) per Second 9,122.42 15,290.52
MSET (10 keys) per Second 40,112.31 57,736.72

Redis Average Latency (ms)

Linode – Nanode (1 GB) Linode – (4 GB)
PING_INLINE0.780.48
PING_MBULK0.770.46
SET0.780.49
GET0.770.47
INCR0.800.47
LPUSH0.820.48
RPUSH0.900.50
LPOP0.800.48
RPOP0.800.48
SADD0.780.48
HSET0.790.47
SPOP0.770.47
ZADD0.810.46
ZPOPMIN0.790.48
LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements)1.230.61
LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements)2.381.02
LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements)3.441.39
LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements)3.961.80
MSET (10 keys)0.880.46

Conclusion

From the friendly robots:

In benchmarking both the Linode Nanode (1 GB) and Linode (4 GB) instances, the 4 GB instance outperforms the 1 GB instance significantly in nearly every metric due to its larger CPU cores, RAM, and storage, reflecting better performance in CPU operations, Redis commands, MySQL operations, file I/O, and memory operations. The Linode (4 GB) instance shows higher RPS, lower latencies, and greater throughput across the board, indicating it is more suitable for CPU-intensive and I/O-heavy workloads, especially where higher concurrency and performance are required. The Nanode (1 GB) instance, while adequate for simpler or less demanding tasks, shows considerably lower performance metrics, making it more appropriate for smaller, less resource-intensive applications or for development/testing environments where cost is a primary concern.

From the friendly human:

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