UpCloud Balanced (1 GB) vs. DigitalOcean Regular (1 GB)
Welcome to another round of the VPS Showdown. Today I've spun up some brand new instance from DigitalOcean and UpCloud to run some benchmarks on. Each instance was running Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 and all resided in or around the New York / New Jersey area. Enough talk. Here's the data.
Overview
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Last Benchmarked | Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:52 GMT | Thu, 30 Oct 2025 13:00:52 GMT |
| Linux Distro | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 |
| Kernel Version | 6.8.0-63-generic | 6.8.0-71-generic |
| MySQL Version | 8.0.43-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 | 8.0.43-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 |
| Redis Version | 7.0.15 | 7.0.15 |
| Location | New York, NY | New York, NY |
| Monthly Price | €7.00 | $6.00 |
| RAM (GB) | 1 | 1 |
| CPU Cores | 1 | 1 |
| Storage (TB) | 25 | 25 |
| Storage Type | SSD | SSD |
| Transfer (TB) | 1 | 1 |
CPU
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | AuthenticAMD | GenuineIntel |
| Model Name | AMD EPYC 9575F 64-Core Processor | DO-Regular |
| Clock Speed (MHz) | 3,295.42 | 2,294.61 |
| CPU Cache Size (KB) | 512.00 | 4,096.00 |
| BogoMips | 6,590.83 | 4,589.21 |
| Events per Second | 5,707.06 | 434.72 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.16 | 0.97 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.17 | 2.29 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.64 | 5.84 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.19 | 3.82 |
Memory
Memory Read
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 7,834,164.30 | 2,271,077.10 |
| Mebibytes per second | 7,650.55 | 2,217.85 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.23 | 3.16 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
Memory Write
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 7,903,681.50 | 3,571,915.45 |
| Mebibytes per second | 7,718.44 | 3,488.20 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.36 | 1.03 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
File I/O
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Reads per Second | 3,730.38 | 1,689.67 |
| Writes per Second | 2,486.92 | 1,126.45 |
| Fsyncs per Second | 7,967.13 | 3,608.72 |
| Read Mebibytes per Second | 58.29 | 26.40 |
| Written Mebibytes per Second | 38.86 | 17.60 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.07 | 0.15 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 39.97 | 4.63 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.23 | 0.44 |
Mutex
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1,153.85 | 2,188.92 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1,162.70 | 2,208.20 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 1,168.80 | 2,224.28 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1,170.65 | 2,238.47 |
MySQL
MySQL Read-only
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 24,839.00 | 4,947.00 |
| Queries per second | 248,390.00 | 49,470.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.29 | 1.23 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.4 | 2.02 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 7.06 | 8.78 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.56 | 2.66 |
MySQL Write-only
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,931.00 | 2,404.00 |
| Queries per second | 59,310.00 | 24,040.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.63 | 2.38 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.68 | 4.15 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 36.65 | 30.52 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 3.25 | 5.67 |
MySQL Read/Write
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 4,502.00 | 1,197.00 |
| Queries per second | 45,020.00 | 11,970.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.09 | 4.72 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 2.22 | 8.35 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 49.58 | 22.84 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 3.07 | 11.45 |
MySQL INSERT
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,380.00 | 3,197.00 |
| Queries per second | 73,800.00 | 31,970.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.5 | 1.76 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.35 | 3.12 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 119.93 | 13.76 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.22 | 4.41 |
MySQL Bulk INSERT
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 2,977,717.00 | 833,039.00 |
| Queries per second | 29,777,170.00 | 8,330,390.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0.01 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 173.9 | 685.52 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
MySQL SELECT
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 846,852.00 | 147,814.00 |
| Queries per second | 8,468,520.00 | 1,478,140.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0.04 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0.07 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 1.33 | 1.74 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.02 | 0.11 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Points)
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 14,803.00 | 4,051.00 |
| Queries per second | 148,030.00 | 40,510.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.17 | 0.57 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.67 | 2.46 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 6.04 | 11.75 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.97 | 3.62 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Ranges)
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 16,381.00 | 3,658.00 |
| Queries per second | 163,810.00 | 36,580.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.16 | 0.69 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.61 | 2.73 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 2.58 | 6.66 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.97 | 4.74 |
MySQL UPDATE (Indexed)
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 8,491.00 | 3,277.00 |
| Queries per second | 84,910.00 | 32,770.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.47 | 1.7 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.18 | 3.05 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 44.18 | 32.29 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.67 | 4.41 |
MySQL UPDATE (Non-Indexed)
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 8,500.00 | 3,525.00 |
| Queries per second | 85,000.00 | 35,250.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.46 | 1.62 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.18 | 2.83 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 35.43 | 12.51 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.7 | 4.1 |
MySQL DELETE
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 289,704.00 | 17,063.00 |
| Queries per second | 2,897,040.00 | 170,630.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0.04 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.03 | 0.58 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 56.6 | 22.64 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.03 | 3.3 |
Redis
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE per Second | 163,398.70 | 25,503.70 |
| PING_MBULK per Second | 170,357.75 | 31,585.60 |
| SET per Second | 163,666.12 | 32,216.49 |
| GET per Second | 154,559.50 | 40,144.52 |
| INCR per Second | 143,884.89 | 42,863.27 |
| LPUSH per Second | 154,083.20 | 38,226.30 |
| RPUSH per Second | 164,473.69 | 42,480.88 |
| LPOP per Second | 166,666.66 | 43,478.26 |
| RPOP per Second | 162,074.56 | 44,365.57 |
| SADD per Second | 171,232.88 | 40,584.41 |
| HSET per Second | 150,829.56 | 42,517.01 |
| SPOP per Second | 170,357.75 | 43,591.98 |
| ZADD per Second | 149,700.61 | 37,327.36 |
| ZPOPMIN per Second | 170,940.17 | 41,459.37 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) per Second | 87,719.30 | 20,020.02 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) per Second | 41,459.37 | 9,682.42 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) per Second | 26,997.84 | 5,348.74 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) per Second | 23,299.16 | 5,316.60 |
| MSET (10 keys) per Second | 138,696.25 | 30,684.26 |
Redis Average Latency (ms)
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE | 0.20 | 1.28 |
| PING_MBULK | 0.19 | 1.02 |
| SET | 0.20 | 1.03 |
| GET | 0.22 | 0.83 |
| INCR | 0.23 | 0.77 |
| LPUSH | 0.22 | 0.88 |
| RPUSH | 0.21 | 0.78 |
| LPOP | 0.21 | 0.78 |
| RPOP | 0.21 | 0.76 |
| SADD | 0.20 | 0.82 |
| HSET | 0.22 | 0.78 |
| SPOP | 0.20 | 0.76 |
| ZADD | 0.23 | 0.90 |
| ZPOPMIN | 0.20 | 0.80 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) | 0.41 | 1.77 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) | 0.86 | 3.72 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) | 1.33 | 6.50 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) | 1.53 | 6.60 |
| MSET (10 keys) | 0.26 | 1.15 |
Conclusion
From the friendly robots:
After analyzing the benchmark results for the DigitalOcean and UpCloud instances, it's clear that the UpCloud instance excels in overall performance, particularly in Redis operations where it achieves significantly higher request rates per second and lower latency across various commands. The UpCloud instance also outperforms in CPU benchmarks, file I/O operations, and memory operations, indicating superior handling of compute-intensive tasks. The DigitalOcean instance, while competent, lags behind in these areas, suggesting it may be more suitable for less demanding workloads. Therefore, the UpCloud instance is ideal for applications requiring high throughput and low latency, such as real-time data processing and high-performance web services, whereas the DigitalOcean instance might be better for more budget-conscious users or applications with moderate performance requirements.
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 DigitalOcean and UpCloud.
You can also support me directly by buying me a coffee.