UpCloud Balanced (1 GB) vs. DigitalOcean Regular (1 GB)
Updated Daily —
Fresh benchmarks coming at ya. Today I've spun up brand new instance from DigitalOcean and UpCloud and ran some benchmarks. All instances were spun up with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 and all resided in or around the New York / New Jersey area. Let's get into the numbers.
Overview
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Last Benchmarked | Sat, 12 Jul 2025 09:00:46 GMT | Sat, 12 Jul 2025 09:00:29 GMT |
| Linux Distro | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 |
| Kernel Version | 6.8.0-63-generic | 6.8.0-51-generic |
| MySQL Version | 8.0.42-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 | 8.0.42-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 |
| 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 7542 32-Core Processor | DO-Regular |
| Clock Speed (MHz) | 2,894.56 | 2,294.61 |
| CPU Cache Size (KB) | 512.00 | 4,096.00 |
| BogoMips | 5,789.12 | 4,589.21 |
| Events per Second | 1,598.32 | 604.24 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.6 | 0.97 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.63 | 1.65 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 1.77 | 5.81 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.65 | 3.3 |
Memory
Memory Read
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 5,296,342.95 | 3,844,888.22 |
| Mebibytes per second | 5,172.21 | 3,754.77 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.66 | 0.28 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
Memory Write
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 5,303,572.63 | 3,995,287.09 |
| Mebibytes per second | 5,179.27 | 3,901.65 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 1.11 | 1.31 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
File I/O
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Reads per Second | 2,673.39 | 623.29 |
| Writes per Second | 1,782.23 | 415.53 |
| Fsyncs per Second | 5,706.63 | 1,341.82 |
| Read Mebibytes per Second | 41.77 | 9.74 |
| Written Mebibytes per Second | 27.85 | 6.49 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.1 | 0.42 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 29.03 | 30.27 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.3 | 1.89 |
Mutex
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1,591.88 | 2,046.06 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1,598.83 | 2,060.79 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 1,605.31 | 2,074.66 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1,618.78 | 2,082.91 |
MySQL
MySQL Read-only
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,419.00 | 6,366.00 |
| Queries per second | 74,190.00 | 63,660.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.26 | 1.19 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.35 | 1.57 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 9.25 | 8.5 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.47 | 2.3 |
MySQL Write-only
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 4,494.00 | 899.00 |
| Queries per second | 44,940.00 | 8,990.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.44 | 5.11 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 2.22 | 11.12 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 140.18 | 35.42 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 3.02 | 17.01 |
MySQL Read/Write
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 2,493.00 | 689.00 |
| Queries per second | 24,930.00 | 6,890.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 2.77 | 8.15 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 4.01 | 14.51 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 43.94 | 62.58 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 5.37 | 21.5 |
MySQL INSERT
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 6,791.00 | 946.00 |
| Queries per second | 67,910.00 | 9,460.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.09 | 4.34 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.47 | 10.57 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 38.69 | 43.02 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.89 | 17.95 |
MySQL Bulk INSERT
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 1,171,967.00 | 767,507.00 |
| Queries per second | 11,719,670.00 | 7,675,070.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0.01 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 456.94 | 901.64 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
MySQL SELECT
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 177,998.00 | 162,028.00 |
| Queries per second | 1,779,980.00 | 1,620,280.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.05 | 0.04 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.06 | 0.06 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 3.8 | 5.83 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.07 | 0.1 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Points)
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,899.00 | 4,385.00 |
| Queries per second | 78,990.00 | 43,850.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.45 | 0.62 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.27 | 2.28 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 26.56 | 32.05 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.61 | 3.49 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Ranges)
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,696.00 | 3,711.00 |
| Queries per second | 76,960.00 | 37,110.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.48 | 0.74 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.3 | 2.69 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 3.7 | 6.97 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.67 | 4.41 |
MySQL UPDATE (Indexed)
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 6,305.00 | 1,001.00 |
| Queries per second | 63,050.00 | 10,010.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.89 | 3.97 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.59 | 9.99 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 94.06 | 29.35 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.3 | 16.71 |
MySQL UPDATE (Non-Indexed)
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 6,627.00 | 1,089.00 |
| Queries per second | 66,270.00 | 10,890.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.96 | 4.25 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.51 | 9.18 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 90.52 | 31.49 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.03 | 14.73 |
MySQL DELETE
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 61,421.00 | 4,337.00 |
| Queries per second | 614,210.00 | 43,370.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.05 | 0.04 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.16 | 2.3 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 59.51 | 37.61 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.25 | 11.45 |
Redis
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE per Second | 45,085.66 | 44,503.79 |
| PING_MBULK per Second | 45,641.26 | 42,105.26 |
| SET per Second | 44,843.05 | 41,017.23 |
| GET per Second | 45,413.26 | 49,431.54 |
| INCR per Second | 45,433.89 | 47,732.70 |
| LPUSH per Second | 45,433.89 | 48,332.53 |
| RPUSH per Second | 45,248.87 | 49,358.34 |
| LPOP per Second | 43,859.65 | 40,000.00 |
| RPOP per Second | 44,722.72 | 38,270.19 |
| SADD per Second | 45,703.84 | 42,123.00 |
| HSET per Second | 45,045.04 | 42,553.19 |
| SPOP per Second | 46,104.20 | 46,882.33 |
| ZADD per Second | 45,085.66 | 44,782.80 |
| ZPOPMIN per Second | 45,934.77 | 46,794.57 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) per Second | 29,222.68 | 24,679.17 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) per Second | 15,559.36 | 10,336.99 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) per Second | 10,643.96 | 5,029.42 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) per Second | 9,204.71 | 5,088.28 |
| MSET (10 keys) per Second | 40,338.84 | 42,123.00 |
Redis Average Latency (ms)
| UpCloud – Balanced (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE | 0.76 | 0.74 |
| PING_MBULK | 0.75 | 0.78 |
| SET | 0.77 | 0.82 |
| GET | 0.76 | 0.66 |
| INCR | 0.76 | 0.69 |
| LPUSH | 0.76 | 0.68 |
| RPUSH | 0.76 | 0.66 |
| LPOP | 0.79 | 0.84 |
| RPOP | 0.77 | 0.88 |
| SADD | 0.76 | 0.79 |
| HSET | 0.77 | 0.79 |
| SPOP | 0.75 | 0.70 |
| ZADD | 0.77 | 0.75 |
| ZPOPMIN | 0.75 | 0.70 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) | 1.22 | 1.44 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) | 2.36 | 3.51 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) | 3.46 | 6.92 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) | 4.00 | 7.00 |
| MSET (10 keys) | 0.87 | 0.84 |
Conclusion
After analyzing the benchmark results for the DigitalOcean and UpCloud instances, it's clear that both providers offer solid performance for a 1 GB RAM configuration, but they cater to slightly different use cases. The DigitalOcean instance excels in Redis operations, particularly in high-throughput scenarios like LPUSH and LRANGE, showcasing strong performance in average and peak latencies. It also performs well in MySQL OLTP operations, making it a good choice for CPU-intensive and I/O-heavy workloads. Conversely, the UpCloud instance, powered by an AMD EPYC processor, shows slightly better Redis performance in most operations, although it lags behind in complex Redis commands like LRANGE. It also performs well in MySQL operations, but its thread fairness and overall latency in CPU-bound tasks are slightly higher. Therefore, the DigitalOcean instance is ideal for applications that require high Redis throughput and efficient MySQL operations, while the UpCloud instance might be better suited for environments where the CPU's architecture provides a marginal performance edge, despite slightly higher latency in some benchmarks.
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