Linode Nanode (1 GB) vs. UpCloud Balanced (2 GB)
Welcome to another round of the VPS Showdown. Today I've spun up brand new instance from Linode and UpCloud to run some benchmarks on. Each instance was running 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
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Last Benchmarked | Mon, 11 May 2026 08:00:52 GMT | Wed, 13 May 2026 07:00:52 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 | New York, NY |
| Monthly Price | $5.00 | €13.00 |
| RAM (GB) | 1 | 2 |
| CPU Cores | 1 | 1 |
| Storage (TB) | 25 | 50 |
| Storage Type | SSD | SSD |
| Transfer (TB) | 1 | 2 |
CPU
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | AuthenticAMD | AuthenticAMD |
| Model Name | AMD EPYC 7642 48-Core Processor | AMD EPYC 9575F 64-Core Processor |
| Clock Speed (MHz) | 2,300.00 | 3,295.48 |
| CPU Cache Size (KB) | 512.00 | 512.00 |
| BogoMips | 4,599.99 | 6,590.95 |
| Events per Second | 775.25 | 5,025.21 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.6 | 0.18 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.27 | 0.2 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 13.19 | 5.35 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.43 | 0.22 |
Memory
Memory Read
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 4,816,011.71 | 5,932,400.60 |
| Mebibytes per second | 4,703.14 | 5,793.36 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 2.65 | 2.22 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
Memory Write
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 5,028,052.52 | 6,706,599.41 |
| Mebibytes per second | 4,910.21 | 6,549.41 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.65 | 1.56 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
File I/O
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Reads per Second | 1,745.08 | 3,214.64 |
| Writes per Second | 1,163.32 | 2,143.03 |
| Fsyncs per Second | 3,734.14 | 6,864.71 |
| Read Mebibytes per Second | 27.27 | 50.23 |
| Written Mebibytes per Second | 18.18 | 33.48 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.15 | 0.08 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 111.66 | 20.14 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.42 | 0.31 |
Mutex
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1,765.15 | 1,349.13 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1,776.48 | 1,353.60 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 1,784.54 | 1,361.99 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1,771.29 | 1,352.03 |
MySQL
MySQL Read-only
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 6,475.00 | 19,090.00 |
| Queries per second | 64,750.00 | 190,900.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.35 | 0.31 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.54 | 0.52 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 16.82 | 5.34 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.89 | 0.64 |
MySQL Write-only
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 4,612.00 | 3,974.00 |
| Queries per second | 46,120.00 | 39,740.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.31 | 0.87 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 2.17 | 2.51 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 25.08 | 38.67 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 3.25 | 5 |
MySQL Read/Write
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 2,257.00 | 2,830.00 |
| Queries per second | 22,570.00 | 28,300.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 2.94 | 1.29 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 4.43 | 3.53 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 284.62 | 56.72 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 5.57 | 6.32 |
MySQL INSERT
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 8,257.00 | 4,647.00 |
| Queries per second | 82,570.00 | 46,470.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.68 | 0.61 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.21 | 2.15 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 18.06 | 28.58 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.64 | 4.41 |
MySQL Bulk INSERT
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 996,869.00 | 2,249,592.00 |
| Queries per second | 9,968,690.00 | 22,495,920.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 636.05 | 207.34 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
MySQL SELECT
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 131,656.00 | 645,161.00 |
| Queries per second | 1,316,560.00 | 6,451,610.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.05 | 0.01 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.08 | 0.02 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 16.69 | 2.26 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.11 | 0.02 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Points)
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 6,583.00 | 8,546.00 |
| Queries per second | 65,830.00 | 85,460.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.58 | 0.13 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.52 | 1.17 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 10.35 | 172.57 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.14 | 1.58 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Ranges)
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 6,958.00 | 11,562.00 |
| Queries per second | 69,580.00 | 115,620.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.52 | 0.22 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.44 | 0.86 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 10.88 | 4.07 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.96 | 1.27 |
MySQL UPDATE (Indexed)
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,379.00 | 4,711.00 |
| Queries per second | 73,790.00 | 47,110.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.72 | 0.73 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.35 | 2.12 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 54.41 | 30.41 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.03 | 3.96 |
MySQL UPDATE (Non-Indexed)
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,578.00 | 5,393.00 |
| Queries per second | 75,780.00 | 53,930.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.73 | 0.48 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.32 | 1.85 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 163.64 | 39 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.86 | 3.43 |
MySQL DELETE
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 56,096.00 | 101,195.00 |
| Queries per second | 560,960.00 | 1,011,950.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.05 | 0.01 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.18 | 0.1 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 15.75 | 39.3 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.1 | 0.17 |
Redis
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE per Second | 38,037.28 | 130,208.34 |
| PING_MBULK per Second | 39,077.77 | 130,208.34 |
| SET per Second | 38,520.80 | 130,890.05 |
| GET per Second | 39,888.31 | 129,198.97 |
| INCR per Second | 35,663.34 | 128,534.70 |
| LPUSH per Second | 37,878.79 | 128,040.97 |
| RPUSH per Second | 38,446.75 | 126,582.27 |
| LPOP per Second | 38,138.82 | 124,688.28 |
| RPOP per Second | 38,314.18 | 127,226.46 |
| SADD per Second | 39,047.25 | 129,198.97 |
| HSET per Second | 37,664.79 | 133,511.34 |
| SPOP per Second | 39,169.61 | 139,275.77 |
| ZADD per Second | 38,328.86 | 130,039.02 |
| ZPOPMIN per Second | 38,284.84 | 129,701.68 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) per Second | 25,886.62 | 55,524.71 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) per Second | 14,273.48 | 28,785.26 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) per Second | 10,143.02 | 18,942.98 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) per Second | 8,834.70 | 17,038.68 |
| MSET (10 keys) per Second | 37,009.62 | 108,225.10 |
Redis Average Latency (ms)
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE | 0.90 | 0.25 |
| PING_MBULK | 0.86 | 0.25 |
| SET | 0.88 | 0.26 |
| GET | 0.84 | 0.26 |
| INCR | 0.96 | 0.26 |
| LPUSH | 0.90 | 0.26 |
| RPUSH | 0.89 | 0.27 |
| LPOP | 0.90 | 0.27 |
| RPOP | 0.89 | 0.27 |
| SADD | 0.86 | 0.26 |
| HSET | 0.88 | 0.26 |
| SPOP | 0.85 | 0.24 |
| ZADD | 0.88 | 0.26 |
| ZPOPMIN | 0.89 | 0.26 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) | 1.34 | 0.66 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) | 2.54 | 1.27 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) | 3.55 | 1.95 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) | 4.07 | 2.16 |
| MSET (10 keys) | 0.95 | 0.34 |
Conclusion
From the friendly robots:
Comparing the benchmarks of Linode's Nanode (1 GB) and UpCloud's Balanced (2 GB) instances, the UpCloud instance consistently demonstrates superior performance across most metrics. The UpCloud instance performs notably better in Redis operations, achieving higher requests per second and lower average latencies across various commands, indicating superior throughput and lower response times. The CPU performance is also markedly higher on the UpCloud instance, handling more events per second with lower latencies. File I/O operations show better throughput and lower average latencies on UpCloud, and memory operations also exhibit lower latencies and higher operation counts per second. While Linode's instance provides more cost-effectiveness at $5/month compared to UpCloud's $13/month, the overall better performance metrics of the UpCloud instance make it a more suitable choice for applications demanding higher CPU, memory, and I/O performance, whereas Linode's Nanode might be more appropriate for cost-sensitive scenarios or applications with lower resource requirements.
From the friendly human:
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