Linode Linode (4 GB) vs. UpCloud Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores)
Same showdown, different day. Today I've spun up brand new instance from Linode and UpCloud and ran my world famous suite of benchmarking scripts. All instances were running Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 and all resided in or around the New York / New Jersey area. Without further ado, here's the results.
Overview
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Last Benchmarked | Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:52 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 | $24.00 | €26.00 |
| RAM (GB) | 4 | 4 |
| CPU Cores | 2 | 2 |
| Storage (TB) | 80 | 80 |
| Storage Type | SSD | SSD |
| Transfer (TB) | 4 | 4 |
CPU
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 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 | 5,582.43 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.28 | 0.16 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.29 | 0.18 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 4.83 | 1.95 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.3 | 0.19 |
Memory
Memory Read
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 5,349,213.60 | 7,746,441.01 |
| Mebibytes per second | 5,223.84 | 7,564.88 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 3.16 | 0.1 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
Memory Write
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 5,332,401.09 | 7,742,895.80 |
| Mebibytes per second | 5,207.42 | 7,561.42 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 3.25 | 0.11 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
File I/O
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Reads per Second | 3,325.24 | 4,718.71 |
| Writes per Second | 2,216.89 | 3,145.81 |
| Fsyncs per Second | 7,095.98 | 10,070.88 |
| Read Mebibytes per Second | 51.96 | 73.73 |
| Written Mebibytes per Second | 34.64 | 49.15 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.08 | 0.06 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 13.12 | 37.33 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.22 | 0.2 |
Mutex
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 864.93 | 562.90 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 931.61 | 581.26 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 968.34 | 589.26 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 960.30 | 590.56 |
MySQL
MySQL Read-only
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,919.00 | 20,181.00 |
| Queries per second | 59,190.00 | 201,810.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.29 | 0.3 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.69 | 0.49 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 8 | 2.53 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.03 | 0.62 |
MySQL Write-only
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,152.00 | 6,603.00 |
| Queries per second | 51,520.00 | 66,030.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.22 | 0.68 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.94 | 1.51 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 24.88 | 62.49 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.52 | 2.18 |
MySQL Read/Write
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 2,609.00 | 4,468.00 |
| Queries per second | 26,090.00 | 44,680.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 2.83 | 1.09 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 3.83 | 2.24 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 8.83 | 51.5 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 4.74 | 3.3 |
MySQL INSERT
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,493.00 | 8,261.00 |
| Queries per second | 74,930.00 | 82,610.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.73 | 0.45 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.33 | 1.21 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 15.06 | 55.23 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.86 | 1.76 |
MySQL Bulk INSERT
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 1,754,467.00 | 3,385,467.00 |
| Queries per second | 17,544,670.00 | 33,854,670.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 418.75 | 194.62 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
MySQL SELECT
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 130,180.00 | 551,542.00 |
| Queries per second | 1,301,800.00 | 5,515,420.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.05 | 0.01 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.08 | 0.02 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 4.63 | 16.17 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.1 | 0.02 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Points)
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 8,212.00 | 11,591.00 |
| Queries per second | 82,120.00 | 115,910.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.33 | 0.22 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.22 | 0.86 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 11.27 | 11.7 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.3 | 1.3 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Ranges)
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 8,956.00 | 16,138.00 |
| Queries per second | 89,560.00 | 161,380.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.42 | 0.15 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.12 | 0.62 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 4.66 | 1.76 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.44 | 0.95 |
MySQL UPDATE (Indexed)
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,381.00 | 7,911.00 |
| Queries per second | 73,810.00 | 79,110.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.81 | 0.49 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.35 | 1.26 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 8.43 | 81.28 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.76 | 1.86 |
MySQL UPDATE (Non-Indexed)
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,379.00 | 8,236.00 |
| Queries per second | 73,790.00 | 82,360.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.82 | 0.44 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.35 | 1.21 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 7.2 | 74.78 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.73 | 1.86 |
MySQL DELETE
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 58,502.00 | 232,164.00 |
| Queries per second | 585,020.00 | 2,321,640.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.04 | 0.01 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.17 | 0.04 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 8.26 | 61.37 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.14 | 0.04 |
Redis
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE per Second | 44,444.45 | 124,223.60 |
| PING_MBULK per Second | 42,158.52 | 123,001.23 |
| SET per Second | 43,725.41 | 126,903.55 |
| GET per Second | 43,084.88 | 111,731.84 |
| INCR per Second | 43,917.44 | 120,336.95 |
| LPUSH per Second | 44,169.61 | 121,802.68 |
| RPUSH per Second | 42,918.46 | 130,039.02 |
| LPOP per Second | 43,630.02 | 133,155.80 |
| RPOP per Second | 42,900.04 | 129,701.68 |
| SADD per Second | 43,066.32 | 122,100.12 |
| HSET per Second | 42,826.55 | 132,100.39 |
| SPOP per Second | 43,821.21 | 128,040.97 |
| ZADD per Second | 43,706.29 | 129,198.97 |
| ZPOPMIN per Second | 46,554.93 | 122,850.12 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) per Second | 30,084.24 | 100,908.17 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) per Second | 21,141.65 | 54,024.85 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) per Second | 17,825.31 | 38,804.81 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) per Second | 15,969.34 | 25,106.70 |
| MSET (10 keys) per Second | 45,578.85 | 198,019.80 |
Redis Average Latency (ms)
| Linode – (4 GB) | UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE | 0.58 | 0.23 |
| PING_MBULK | 0.61 | 0.22 |
| SET | 0.59 | 0.21 |
| GET | 0.60 | 0.23 |
| INCR | 0.59 | 0.22 |
| LPUSH | 0.58 | 0.22 |
| RPUSH | 0.60 | 0.22 |
| LPOP | 0.59 | 0.22 |
| RPOP | 0.60 | 0.21 |
| SADD | 0.60 | 0.22 |
| HSET | 0.60 | 0.21 |
| SPOP | 0.59 | 0.21 |
| ZADD | 0.59 | 0.21 |
| ZPOPMIN | 0.55 | 0.21 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) | 0.89 | 0.30 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) | 1.25 | 0.55 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) | 1.50 | 0.75 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) | 1.59 | 1.15 |
| MSET (10 keys) | 0.57 | 0.19 |
Conclusion
From the friendly robots:
After analyzing the benchmarks for both the Linode (4 GB) and UpCloud Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) instances, it's clear that the UpCloud configuration excels in Redis operations with significantly higher requests per second and lower latencies, which makes it superior for memory-intensive workloads. Linode demonstrates slightly better performance in CPU tasks, I/O operations, and memory management, reflecting its more powerful CPU. However, UpCloud’s superior CPU model, despite having fewer cores, leads to better overall CPU performance metrics. Therefore, for high-demand Redis operations and CPU-intensive tasks, UpCloud is preferable, whereas Linode might be better suited for scenarios that benefit more from robust I/O and memory handling. The choice ultimately depends on the specific workload requirements, with UpCloud recommended for high concurrency and low latency, and Linode for applications prioritizing I/O performance.
From the friendly human:
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