Linode Linode (2 GB) vs. UpCloud Balanced (2 GB)
Fresh benchmarks coming at ya. Today I've spun up some brand new instance from Linode and UpCloud and did some benchmarking. All instances were spun up with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 and were created in the New York area (or close to it). Time to see who showed up today.
Overview
| Linode – (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Last Benchmarked | Sun, 10 May 2026 21:00:56 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 | $12.00 | €13.00 |
| RAM (GB) | 2 | 2 |
| CPU Cores | 1 | 1 |
| Storage (TB) | 50 | 50 |
| Storage Type | SSD | SSD |
| Transfer (TB) | 2 | 2 |
CPU
| Linode – (2 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 | 4,600.00 | 6,590.95 |
| Events per Second | 765.10 | 5,025.21 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.61 | 0.18 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.3 | 0.2 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 35.81 | 5.35 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.35 | 0.22 |
Memory
Memory Read
| Linode – (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 2,970,961.88 | 5,932,400.60 |
| Mebibytes per second | 2,901.33 | 5,793.36 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 9.03 | 2.22 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
Memory Write
| Linode – (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 5,197,117.30 | 6,706,599.41 |
| Mebibytes per second | 5,075.31 | 6,549.41 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 2.74 | 1.56 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
File I/O
| Linode – (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Reads per Second | 2,661.20 | 3,214.64 |
| Writes per Second | 1,774.13 | 2,143.03 |
| Fsyncs per Second | 5,678.72 | 6,864.71 |
| Read Mebibytes per Second | 41.58 | 50.23 |
| Written Mebibytes per Second | 27.72 | 33.48 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.1 | 0.08 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 63.92 | 20.14 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.33 | 0.31 |
Mutex
| Linode – (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1,634.87 | 1,349.13 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1,644.40 | 1,353.60 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 1,652.34 | 1,361.99 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1,648.20 | 1,352.03 |
MySQL
MySQL Read-only
| Linode – (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 6,265.00 | 19,090.00 |
| Queries per second | 62,650.00 | 190,900.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.38 | 0.31 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.59 | 0.52 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 6.6 | 5.34 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.39 | 0.64 |
MySQL Write-only
| Linode – (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,494.00 | 3,974.00 |
| Queries per second | 54,940.00 | 39,740.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.1 | 0.87 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.82 | 2.51 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 15.54 | 38.67 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.52 | 5 |
MySQL Read/Write
| Linode – (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 2,670.00 | 2,830.00 |
| Queries per second | 26,700.00 | 28,300.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 2.94 | 1.29 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 3.74 | 3.53 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 14.72 | 56.72 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 4.82 | 6.32 |
MySQL INSERT
| Linode – (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 9,139.00 | 4,647.00 |
| Queries per second | 91,390.00 | 46,470.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.67 | 0.61 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.09 | 2.15 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 8.4 | 28.58 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.42 | 4.41 |
MySQL Bulk INSERT
| Linode – (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 1,142,842.00 | 2,249,592.00 |
| Queries per second | 11,428,420.00 | 22,495,920.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 447.65 | 207.34 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
MySQL SELECT
| Linode – (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 148,728.00 | 645,161.00 |
| Queries per second | 1,487,280.00 | 6,451,610.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.05 | 0.01 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.07 | 0.02 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 4.91 | 2.26 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.09 | 0.02 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Points)
| Linode – (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,446.00 | 8,546.00 |
| Queries per second | 74,460.00 | 85,460.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.45 | 0.13 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.34 | 1.17 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 6.58 | 172.57 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.73 | 1.58 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Ranges)
| Linode – (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,227.00 | 11,562.00 |
| Queries per second | 72,270.00 | 115,620.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.49 | 0.22 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.38 | 0.86 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 6.65 | 4.07 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.79 | 1.27 |
MySQL UPDATE (Indexed)
| Linode – (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,935.00 | 4,711.00 |
| Queries per second | 79,350.00 | 47,110.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.74 | 0.73 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.26 | 2.12 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 22.04 | 30.41 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.82 | 3.96 |
MySQL UPDATE (Non-Indexed)
| Linode – (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 8,591.00 | 5,393.00 |
| Queries per second | 85,910.00 | 53,930.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.69 | 0.48 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.16 | 1.85 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 7.91 | 39 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.58 | 3.43 |
MySQL DELETE
| Linode – (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 65,409.00 | 101,195.00 |
| Queries per second | 654,090.00 | 1,011,950.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.05 | 0.01 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.15 | 0.1 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 12.01 | 39.3 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.94 | 0.17 |
Redis
| Linode – (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE per Second | 40,518.64 | 130,208.34 |
| PING_MBULK per Second | 40,799.68 | 130,208.34 |
| SET per Second | 39,292.73 | 130,890.05 |
| GET per Second | 41,050.90 | 129,198.97 |
| INCR per Second | 40,816.32 | 128,534.70 |
| LPUSH per Second | 40,733.20 | 128,040.97 |
| RPUSH per Second | 41,237.11 | 126,582.27 |
| LPOP per Second | 38,565.37 | 124,688.28 |
| RPOP per Second | 40,338.84 | 127,226.46 |
| SADD per Second | 33,344.45 | 129,198.97 |
| HSET per Second | 39,447.73 | 133,511.34 |
| SPOP per Second | 41,254.12 | 139,275.77 |
| ZADD per Second | 39,308.18 | 130,039.02 |
| ZPOPMIN per Second | 40,420.37 | 129,701.68 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) per Second | 27,063.60 | 55,524.71 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) per Second | 15,021.78 | 28,785.26 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) per Second | 10,577.53 | 18,942.98 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) per Second | 9,311.85 | 17,038.68 |
| MSET (10 keys) per Second | 38,461.54 | 108,225.10 |
Redis Average Latency (ms)
| Linode – (2 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE | 0.84 | 0.25 |
| PING_MBULK | 0.83 | 0.25 |
| SET | 0.87 | 0.26 |
| GET | 0.83 | 0.26 |
| INCR | 0.84 | 0.26 |
| LPUSH | 0.84 | 0.26 |
| RPUSH | 0.83 | 0.27 |
| LPOP | 0.91 | 0.27 |
| RPOP | 0.85 | 0.27 |
| SADD | 0.99 | 0.26 |
| HSET | 0.86 | 0.26 |
| SPOP | 0.82 | 0.24 |
| ZADD | 0.86 | 0.26 |
| ZPOPMIN | 0.84 | 0.26 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) | 1.28 | 0.66 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) | 2.39 | 1.27 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) | 3.42 | 1.95 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) | 3.86 | 2.16 |
| MSET (10 keys) | 0.91 | 0.34 |
Conclusion
From the friendly robots:
The Linode instance excels in simple Redis operations with impressive rates and low latency, making it suitable for applications requiring high throughput and low-latency responses, but its performance in complex Redis commands and large list range operations is comparatively slower. The UpCloud instance, however, demonstrates superior performance in complex Redis operations, making it more suitable for workloads involving extensive data processing and large data structures, but its basic Redis operations are slower than Linode's. Both instances perform well in CPU-intensive tasks and offer substantial file I/O capabilities, making them viable for general-purpose computing needs, but UpCloud's superior memory throughput makes it a better choice for memory-intensive tasks. For developers and sysadmins, UpCloud might be more beneficial for CPU-heavy, data-processing workloads, whereas Linode could serve better for simpler, high-throughput applications.
From the friendly human:
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