Linode Nanode (1 GB) vs. Vultr High Frequency Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores)
My friend, I'm so glad you're here! Today I've spun up some brand new instance from Linode and Vultr and ran some benchmarks. 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
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Last Benchmarked | Fri, 29 May 2026 15:00:53 GMT | Thu, 28 May 2026 13:00:52 GMT |
| Linux Distro | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 |
| Kernel Version | 6.8.0-111-generic | 6.8.0-117-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 | Newark, NJ | Newark, NJ |
| Monthly Price | $5.00 | $24.00 |
| RAM (GB) | 1 | 4 |
| CPU Cores | 1 | 2 |
| Storage (TB) | 25 | 128 |
| Storage Type | SSD | NVMe |
| Transfer (TB) | 1 | 3 |
CPU
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | AuthenticAMD | GenuineIntel |
| Model Name | AMD EPYC 7642 48-Core Processor | Intel Core Processor (Skylake, IBRS, no TSX) |
| Clock Speed (MHz) | 2,300.00 | 3,792.10 |
| CPU Cache Size (KB) | 512.00 | 16,384.00 |
| BogoMips | 4,599.99 | 7,584.20 |
| Events per Second | 1,022.23 | 1,588.30 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.61 | 0.6 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.98 | 0.63 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 5.4 | 2.53 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.39 | 0.67 |
Memory
Memory Read
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 5,296,233.64 | 7,767,168.13 |
| Mebibytes per second | 5,172.10 | 7,585.13 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 3.05 | 0.14 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
Memory Write
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 5,154,651.90 | 7,671,210.57 |
| Mebibytes per second | 5,033.84 | 7,491.42 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 3.06 | 0.16 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
File I/O
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Reads per Second | 2,055.76 | 7,590.32 |
| Writes per Second | 1,370.51 | 5,060.18 |
| Fsyncs per Second | 4,389.22 | 16,192.90 |
| Read Mebibytes per Second | 32.12 | 118.60 |
| Written Mebibytes per Second | 21.41 | 79.07 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.13 | 0.03 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 12.79 | 3.33 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.35 | 0.12 |
Mutex
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1,633.32 | 479.97 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1,644.62 | 532.61 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 1,653.29 | 559.12 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1,648.20 | 559.50 |
MySQL
MySQL Read-only
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,575.00 | 10,394.00 |
| Queries per second | 75,750.00 | 103,940.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.22 | 0.87 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.32 | 0.96 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 4.67 | 3.16 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.42 | 1.1 |
MySQL Write-only
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,800.00 | 10,121.00 |
| Queries per second | 58,000.00 | 101,210.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.15 | 0.65 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.72 | 0.99 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 12.35 | 2.7 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.39 | 1.25 |
MySQL Read/Write
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 2,955.00 | 4,888.00 |
| Queries per second | 29,550.00 | 48,880.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 2.64 | 1.64 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 3.38 | 2.04 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 22.69 | 3.73 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 4.41 | 2.39 |
MySQL INSERT
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 8,921.00 | 15,934.00 |
| Queries per second | 89,210.00 | 159,340.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.65 | 0.37 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.12 | 0.63 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 8.92 | 12.33 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.42 | 0.8 |
MySQL Bulk INSERT
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 1,288,467.00 | 2,278,717.00 |
| Queries per second | 12,884,670.00 | 22,787,170.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 398.24 | 202.25 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
MySQL SELECT
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 170,179.00 | 231,909.00 |
| Queries per second | 1,701,790.00 | 2,319,090.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.05 | 0.03 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.06 | 0.04 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 7.27 | 0.7 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.08 | 0.06 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Points)
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,819.00 | 11,913.00 |
| Queries per second | 78,190.00 | 119,130.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.42 | 0.27 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.28 | 0.84 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 6.03 | 2.73 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.64 | 1.06 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Ranges)
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,328.00 | 10,519.00 |
| Queries per second | 73,280.00 | 105,190.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.36 | 0.95 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 4.97 | 3.4 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.76 | 1.23 |
MySQL UPDATE (Indexed)
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 8,603.00 | 15,622.00 |
| Queries per second | 86,030.00 | 156,220.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.69 | 0.38 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.16 | 0.64 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 6.97 | 1.76 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.7 | 0.86 |
MySQL UPDATE (Non-Indexed)
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,719.00 | 16,370.00 |
| Queries per second | 77,190.00 | 163,700.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.65 | 0.38 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.29 | 0.61 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 54.76 | 2.37 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.73 | 0.8 |
MySQL DELETE
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 80,451.00 | 154,877.00 |
| Queries per second | 804,510.00 | 1,548,770.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.05 | 0.03 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.12 | 0.06 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 16.14 | 3.84 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.42 | 0.07 |
Redis
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE per Second | 44,052.86 | 87,565.68 |
| PING_MBULK per Second | 44,563.28 | 87,565.68 |
| SET per Second | 44,072.28 | 88,339.23 |
| GET per Second | 44,345.89 | 88,731.15 |
| INCR per Second | 42,535.09 | 88,417.33 |
| LPUSH per Second | 41,545.49 | 88,888.89 |
| RPUSH per Second | 37,299.52 | 89,206.06 |
| LPOP per Second | 43,327.55 | 88,967.98 |
| RPOP per Second | 43,103.45 | 89,126.56 |
| SADD per Second | 43,994.72 | 88,888.89 |
| HSET per Second | 43,956.04 | 88,339.23 |
| SPOP per Second | 44,130.62 | 88,339.23 |
| ZADD per Second | 42,390.84 | 88,731.15 |
| ZPOPMIN per Second | 43,159.26 | 88,495.58 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) per Second | 28,843.38 | 66,050.20 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) per Second | 15,153.81 | 37,285.61 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) per Second | 10,595.47 | 26,343.52 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) per Second | 9,122.42 | 23,452.16 |
| MSET (10 keys) per Second | 40,112.31 | 89,686.10 |
Redis Average Latency (ms)
| Linode – Nanode (1 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE | 0.78 | 0.30 |
| PING_MBULK | 0.77 | 0.29 |
| SET | 0.78 | 0.29 |
| GET | 0.77 | 0.29 |
| INCR | 0.80 | 0.29 |
| LPUSH | 0.82 | 0.29 |
| RPUSH | 0.90 | 0.29 |
| LPOP | 0.80 | 0.29 |
| RPOP | 0.80 | 0.29 |
| SADD | 0.78 | 0.29 |
| HSET | 0.79 | 0.29 |
| SPOP | 0.77 | 0.29 |
| ZADD | 0.81 | 0.29 |
| ZPOPMIN | 0.79 | 0.29 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) | 1.23 | 0.39 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) | 2.38 | 0.69 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) | 3.44 | 0.98 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) | 3.96 | 1.09 |
| MSET (10 keys) | 0.88 | 0.29 |
Conclusion
From the friendly robots:
Based on the benchmark results, the Linode Nanode (1 GB) excels in memory-bound operations with high Redis throughput and low latency for both read and write operations, making it suitable for small-scale applications, caching, or low-traffic web services. Conversely, the Vultr High Frequency Intel instance, boasting double the CPU cores and four times the RAM, delivers significantly higher performance in CPU-intensive tasks and larger datasets, particularly excelling in Redis commands and I/O operations, making it ideal for more demanding applications such as high-traffic websites, database servers, or applications requiring parallel processing. Overall, Linode's Nanode is best for minimal resource needs with tight budgets, while Vultr's instance is ideal for performance-sensitive workloads needing more processing power and memory.
From the friendly human:
If you found this VPS Showdown helpful in your search for a hosting provider, please consider supporting my efforts by signing up using my referral links for Linode and Vultr.
You can also support me directly by buying me a coffee.