Linode Linode (4 GB) vs. UpCloud Balanced (2 GB, 2 Cores)
My friend, I'm so glad you're here! 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 or around the New York / New Jersey area. Let's get into the numbers.
Overview
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Last Benchmarked | Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:52 GMT | Fri, 29 May 2026 19:00:52 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 | $24.00 | €18.00 |
| RAM (GB) | 4 | 2 |
| CPU Cores | 2 | 2 |
| Storage (TB) | 80 | 60 |
| Storage Type | SSD | SSD |
| Transfer (TB) | 4 | 3 |
CPU
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | AuthenticAMD | AuthenticAMD |
| Model Name | AMD EPYC 7713 64-Core Processor | AMD EPYC 9575F 64-Core Processor |
| Clock Speed (MHz) | 2,000.00 | 3,295.46 |
| CPU Cache Size (KB) | 512.00 | 512.00 |
| BogoMips | 3,999.99 | 6,590.91 |
| Events per Second | 3,444.02 | 5,545.37 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.28 | 0.16 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.29 | 0.18 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 4.83 | 2.93 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.3 | 0.2 |
Memory
Memory Read
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 5,349,213.60 | 7,732,677.38 |
| Mebibytes per second | 5,223.84 | 7,551.44 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 3.16 | 0.17 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
Memory Write
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 5,332,401.09 | 7,756,433.87 |
| Mebibytes per second | 5,207.42 | 7,574.64 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 3.25 | 1.39 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
File I/O
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Reads per Second | 3,325.24 | 4,838.07 |
| Writes per Second | 2,216.89 | 3,225.38 |
| Fsyncs per Second | 7,095.98 | 10,322.92 |
| Read Mebibytes per Second | 51.96 | 75.59 |
| Written Mebibytes per Second | 34.64 | 50.40 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.08 | 0.05 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 13.12 | 39.37 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.22 | 0.21 |
Mutex
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 864.93 | 283.80 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 931.61 | 586.77 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 968.34 | 655.13 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 960.30 | 657.93 |
MySQL
MySQL Read-only
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,919.00 | 20,314.00 |
| Queries per second | 59,190.00 | 203,140.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.29 | 0.29 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.69 | 0.49 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 8 | 2.7 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.03 | 0.67 |
MySQL Write-only
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,152.00 | 6,498.00 |
| Queries per second | 51,520.00 | 64,980.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.22 | 0.75 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.94 | 1.54 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 24.88 | 25.75 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.52 | 2.18 |
MySQL Read/Write
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 2,609.00 | 4,282.00 |
| Queries per second | 26,090.00 | 42,820.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 2.83 | 1.07 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 3.83 | 2.33 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 8.83 | 42.94 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 4.74 | 4.33 |
MySQL INSERT
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,493.00 | 8,570.00 |
| Queries per second | 74,930.00 | 85,700.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.73 | 0.45 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.33 | 1.16 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 15.06 | 60.39 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.86 | 1.82 |
MySQL Bulk INSERT
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 1,754,467.00 | 2,278,717.00 |
| Queries per second | 17,544,670.00 | 22,787,170.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 418.75 | 3138.92 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
MySQL SELECT
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 130,180.00 | 633,330.00 |
| Queries per second | 1,301,800.00 | 6,333,300.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.05 | 0.01 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.08 | 0.02 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 4.63 | 2.01 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.1 | 0.02 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Points)
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 8,212.00 | 14,817.00 |
| Queries per second | 82,120.00 | 148,170.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.33 | 0.14 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.22 | 0.67 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 11.27 | 3.16 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.3 | 1.03 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Ranges)
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 8,956.00 | 16,892.00 |
| Queries per second | 89,560.00 | 168,920.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.42 | 0.14 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.12 | 0.59 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 4.66 | 1.43 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.44 | 0.9 |
MySQL UPDATE (Indexed)
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,381.00 | 8,405.00 |
| Queries per second | 73,810.00 | 84,050.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.81 | 0.51 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.35 | 1.19 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 8.43 | 31.61 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.76 | 1.67 |
MySQL UPDATE (Non-Indexed)
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,379.00 | 8,098.00 |
| Queries per second | 73,790.00 | 80,980.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.82 | 0.48 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.35 | 1.23 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 7.2 | 343.38 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.73 | 1.7 |
MySQL DELETE
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 58,502.00 | 178,682.00 |
| Queries per second | 585,020.00 | 1,786,820.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.04 | 0.01 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.17 | 0.06 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 8.26 | 1540.67 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.14 | 0.05 |
Redis
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE per Second | 44,444.45 | 194,552.53 |
| PING_MBULK per Second | 42,158.52 | 241,545.89 |
| SET per Second | 43,725.41 | 257,731.95 |
| GET per Second | 43,084.88 | 263,157.91 |
| INCR per Second | 43,917.44 | 263,852.25 |
| LPUSH per Second | 44,169.61 | 258,397.94 |
| RPUSH per Second | 42,918.46 | 246,913.58 |
| LPOP per Second | 43,630.02 | 260,416.67 |
| RPOP per Second | 42,900.04 | 268,817.19 |
| SADD per Second | 43,066.32 | 216,919.73 |
| HSET per Second | 42,826.55 | 123,304.56 |
| SPOP per Second | 43,821.21 | 158,478.61 |
| ZADD per Second | 43,706.29 | 147,710.48 |
| ZPOPMIN per Second | 46,554.93 | 127,064.80 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) per Second | 30,084.24 | 87,260.03 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) per Second | 21,141.65 | 62,735.26 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) per Second | 17,825.31 | 39,370.08 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) per Second | 15,969.34 | 31,959.09 |
| MSET (10 keys) per Second | 45,578.85 | 223,214.28 |
Redis Average Latency (ms)
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE | 0.58 | 0.15 |
| PING_MBULK | 0.61 | 0.11 |
| SET | 0.59 | 0.10 |
| GET | 0.60 | 0.10 |
| INCR | 0.59 | 0.10 |
| LPUSH | 0.58 | 0.10 |
| RPUSH | 0.60 | 0.11 |
| LPOP | 0.59 | 0.10 |
| RPOP | 0.60 | 0.10 |
| SADD | 0.60 | 0.13 |
| HSET | 0.60 | 0.24 |
| SPOP | 0.59 | 0.18 |
| ZADD | 0.59 | 0.18 |
| ZPOPMIN | 0.55 | 0.21 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) | 0.89 | 0.33 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) | 1.25 | 0.50 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) | 1.50 | 0.77 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) | 1.59 | 0.97 |
| MSET (10 keys) | 0.57 | 0.16 |
Conclusion
From the friendly robots:
After examining the benchmarks for both the Linode and UpCloud instances, it's clear that the Linode (4 GB) instance with its AMD EPYC 7642 processor offers slightly higher CPU and memory performance, with more consistent and lower latency across various metrics, while the UpCloud (2 GB, 2 cores) with its AMD EPYC 9575F processor shows superior Redis and MySQL performance, notably in raw requests per second and throughput rates. Linode excels in maintaining lower latencies and higher throughput in file I/O and memory operations, making it suitable for CPU-intensive and I/O-heavy workloads. On the other hand, UpCloud shines in Redis operations and MySQL read-heavy workloads, offering higher raw performance metrics. Depending on your specific needs, if you prioritize CPU and memory performance and lower latencies, Linode would be more beneficial, whereas if your application demands high throughput and speed in Redis and MySQL operations, UpCloud is the better choice.
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 UpCloud.
You can also support me directly by buying me a coffee.