Linode Nanode (1 GB) vs. UpCloud Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores)
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 (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Last Benchmarked | Fri, 29 May 2026 15:00:53 GMT | Fri, 29 May 2026 16:00:52 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 | €26.00 |
| 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) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | AuthenticAMD | AuthenticAMD |
| Model Name | AMD EPYC 7642 48-Core Processor | AMD EPYC 9575F 64-Core Processor |
| Clock Speed (MHz) | 2,300.00 | 3,295.46 |
| CPU Cache Size (KB) | 512.00 | 512.00 |
| BogoMips | 4,599.99 | 6,590.91 |
| Events per Second | 1,022.23 | 5,582.43 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.61 | 0.16 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.98 | 0.18 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 5.4 | 1.95 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.39 | 0.19 |
Memory
Memory Read
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 5,296,233.64 | 7,746,441.01 |
| Mebibytes per second | 5,172.10 | 7,564.88 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 3.05 | 0.1 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
Memory Write
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 5,154,651.90 | 7,742,895.80 |
| Mebibytes per second | 5,033.84 | 7,561.42 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 3.06 | 0.11 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
File I/O
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Reads per Second | 2,055.76 | 4,718.71 |
| Writes per Second | 1,370.51 | 3,145.81 |
| Fsyncs per Second | 4,389.22 | 10,070.88 |
| Read Mebibytes per Second | 32.12 | 73.73 |
| Written Mebibytes per Second | 21.41 | 49.15 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.13 | 0.06 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 12.79 | 37.33 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.35 | 0.2 |
Mutex
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1,633.32 | 562.90 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1,644.62 | 581.26 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 1,653.29 | 589.26 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1,648.20 | 590.56 |
MySQL
MySQL Read-only
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,575.00 | 20,181.00 |
| Queries per second | 75,750.00 | 201,810.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.22 | 0.3 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.32 | 0.49 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 4.67 | 2.53 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.42 | 0.62 |
MySQL Write-only
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,800.00 | 6,603.00 |
| Queries per second | 58,000.00 | 66,030.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.15 | 0.68 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.72 | 1.51 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 12.35 | 62.49 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.39 | 2.18 |
MySQL Read/Write
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 2,955.00 | 4,468.00 |
| Queries per second | 29,550.00 | 44,680.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 2.64 | 1.09 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 3.38 | 2.24 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 22.69 | 51.5 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 4.41 | 3.3 |
MySQL INSERT
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 8,921.00 | 8,261.00 |
| Queries per second | 89,210.00 | 82,610.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.65 | 0.45 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.12 | 1.21 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 8.92 | 55.23 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.42 | 1.76 |
MySQL Bulk INSERT
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 1,288,467.00 | 3,385,467.00 |
| Queries per second | 12,884,670.00 | 33,854,670.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 398.24 | 194.62 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
MySQL SELECT
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 170,179.00 | 551,542.00 |
| Queries per second | 1,701,790.00 | 5,515,420.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.05 | 0.01 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.06 | 0.02 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 7.27 | 16.17 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.08 | 0.02 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Points)
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,819.00 | 11,591.00 |
| Queries per second | 78,190.00 | 115,910.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.42 | 0.22 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.28 | 0.86 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 6.03 | 11.7 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.64 | 1.3 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Ranges)
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,328.00 | 16,138.00 |
| Queries per second | 73,280.00 | 161,380.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.3 | 0.15 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.36 | 0.62 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 4.97 | 1.76 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.76 | 0.95 |
MySQL UPDATE (Indexed)
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 8,603.00 | 7,911.00 |
| Queries per second | 86,030.00 | 79,110.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.69 | 0.49 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.16 | 1.26 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 6.97 | 81.28 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.7 | 1.86 |
MySQL UPDATE (Non-Indexed)
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,719.00 | 8,236.00 |
| Queries per second | 77,190.00 | 82,360.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.65 | 0.44 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.29 | 1.21 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 54.76 | 74.78 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.73 | 1.86 |
MySQL DELETE
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 80,451.00 | 232,164.00 |
| Queries per second | 804,510.00 | 2,321,640.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.05 | 0.01 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.12 | 0.04 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 16.14 | 61.37 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.42 | 0.04 |
Redis
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE per Second | 44,052.86 | 124,223.60 |
| PING_MBULK per Second | 44,563.28 | 123,001.23 |
| SET per Second | 44,072.28 | 126,903.55 |
| GET per Second | 44,345.89 | 111,731.84 |
| INCR per Second | 42,535.09 | 120,336.95 |
| LPUSH per Second | 41,545.49 | 121,802.68 |
| RPUSH per Second | 37,299.52 | 130,039.02 |
| LPOP per Second | 43,327.55 | 133,155.80 |
| RPOP per Second | 43,103.45 | 129,701.68 |
| SADD per Second | 43,994.72 | 122,100.12 |
| HSET per Second | 43,956.04 | 132,100.39 |
| SPOP per Second | 44,130.62 | 128,040.97 |
| ZADD per Second | 42,390.84 | 129,198.97 |
| ZPOPMIN per Second | 43,159.26 | 122,850.12 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) per Second | 28,843.38 | 100,908.17 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) per Second | 15,153.81 | 54,024.85 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) per Second | 10,595.47 | 38,804.81 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) per Second | 9,122.42 | 25,106.70 |
| MSET (10 keys) per Second | 40,112.31 | 198,019.80 |
Redis Average Latency (ms)
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE | 0.78 | 0.23 |
| PING_MBULK | 0.77 | 0.22 |
| SET | 0.78 | 0.21 |
| GET | 0.77 | 0.23 |
| INCR | 0.80 | 0.22 |
| LPUSH | 0.82 | 0.22 |
| RPUSH | 0.90 | 0.22 |
| LPOP | 0.80 | 0.22 |
| RPOP | 0.80 | 0.21 |
| SADD | 0.78 | 0.22 |
| HSET | 0.79 | 0.21 |
| SPOP | 0.77 | 0.21 |
| ZADD | 0.81 | 0.21 |
| ZPOPMIN | 0.79 | 0.21 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) | 1.23 | 0.30 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) | 2.38 | 0.55 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) | 3.44 | 0.75 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) | 3.96 | 1.15 |
| MSET (10 keys) | 0.88 | 0.19 |
Conclusion
From the friendly robots:
The Linode Nanode (1 GB) instance, equipped with a single AMD EPYC 7642 core, shows high Redis performance metrics with impressive RPS rates and relatively low latency across most operations, although it struggles with larger LRANGE operations. The UpCloud Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) instance, powered by a more powerful AMD EPYC 9575F processor, excels in both Redis and MySQL benchmarks, delivering significantly higher RPS rates and lower latencies, although its I/O performance and memory transfer rates are not as pronounced. The UpCloud instance also shows stronger CPU performance with higher events per second and better thread fairness. Given these results, the UpCloud Balanced instance is better suited for CPU-intensive and memory-heavy workloads requiring higher throughput and lower latency, while the Linode Nanode could serve as an economical option for simpler, less resource-demanding applications.
From the friendly human:
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