UpCloud Balanced (2 GB) vs. Vultr High Frequency Intel (8 GB, 3 Cores)
Fresh benchmarks coming at ya. Today I've spun up some brand new instance from UpCloud and Vultr to run some benchmarks on. Each instance was 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
| UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (8 GB, 3 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Last Benchmarked | Wed, 13 May 2026 07:00:52 GMT | Wed, 13 May 2026 12:00:56 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 | New York, NY | Newark, NJ |
| Monthly Price | €13.00 | $48.00 |
| RAM (GB) | 2 | 8 |
| CPU Cores | 1 | 3 |
| Storage (TB) | 50 | 256 |
| Storage Type | SSD | NVMe |
| Transfer (TB) | 2 | 4 |
CPU
| UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (8 GB, 3 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | AuthenticAMD | GenuineIntel |
| Model Name | AMD EPYC 9575F 64-Core Processor | Intel Core Processor (Skylake, IBRS, no TSX) |
| Clock Speed (MHz) | 3,295.48 | 3,791.94 |
| CPU Cache Size (KB) | 512.00 | 16,384.00 |
| BogoMips | 6,590.95 | 7,583.88 |
| Events per Second | 5,025.21 | 1,588.61 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.18 | 0.6 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.2 | 0.63 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 5.35 | 1.06 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.22 | 0.67 |
Memory
Memory Read
| UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (8 GB, 3 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 5,932,400.60 | 7,884,082.37 |
| Mebibytes per second | 5,793.36 | 7,699.30 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 2.22 | 0.22 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
Memory Write
| UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (8 GB, 3 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 6,706,599.41 | 7,885,513.57 |
| Mebibytes per second | 6,549.41 | 7,700.70 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 1.56 | 0.22 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
File I/O
| UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (8 GB, 3 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Reads per Second | 3,214.64 | 8,376.82 |
| Writes per Second | 2,143.03 | 5,584.54 |
| Fsyncs per Second | 6,864.71 | 17,873.04 |
| Read Mebibytes per Second | 50.23 | 130.89 |
| Written Mebibytes per Second | 33.48 | 87.26 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.08 | 0.03 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 20.14 | 7.2 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.31 | 0.11 |
Mutex
| UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (8 GB, 3 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1,349.13 | 313.28 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1,353.60 | 357.73 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 1,361.99 | 383.79 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1,352.03 | 383.33 |
MySQL
MySQL Read-only
| UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (8 GB, 3 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 19,090.00 | 10,451.00 |
| Queries per second | 190,900.00 | 104,510.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.31 | 0.88 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.52 | 0.96 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 5.34 | 2.21 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.64 | 1.06 |
MySQL Write-only
| UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (8 GB, 3 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 3,974.00 | 9,424.00 |
| Queries per second | 39,740.00 | 94,240.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.87 | 0.66 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 2.51 | 1.06 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 38.67 | 2.59 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 5 | 1.34 |
MySQL Read/Write
| UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (8 GB, 3 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 2,830.00 | 4,489.00 |
| Queries per second | 28,300.00 | 44,890.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.29 | 1.66 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 3.53 | 2.23 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 56.72 | 3.58 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 6.32 | 2.66 |
MySQL INSERT
| UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (8 GB, 3 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 4,647.00 | 14,748.00 |
| Queries per second | 46,470.00 | 147,480.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.61 | 0.39 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 2.15 | 0.68 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 28.58 | 8.13 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 4.41 | 0.89 |
MySQL Bulk INSERT
| UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (8 GB, 3 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 2,249,592.00 | 2,395,217.00 |
| Queries per second | 22,495,920.00 | 23,952,170.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 207.34 | 208.41 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
MySQL SELECT
| UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (8 GB, 3 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 645,161.00 | 234,211.00 |
| Queries per second | 6,451,610.00 | 2,342,110.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0.03 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.02 | 0.04 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 2.26 | 0.3 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.02 | 0.05 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Points)
| UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (8 GB, 3 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 8,546.00 | 12,201.00 |
| Queries per second | 85,460.00 | 122,010.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.13 | 0.22 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.17 | 0.82 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 172.57 | 2.86 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.58 | 1.04 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Ranges)
| UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (8 GB, 3 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 11,562.00 | 10,460.00 |
| Queries per second | 115,620.00 | 104,600.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.22 | 0.32 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.86 | 0.96 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 4.07 | 2.97 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.27 | 1.23 |
MySQL UPDATE (Indexed)
| UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (8 GB, 3 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 4,711.00 | 15,980.00 |
| Queries per second | 47,110.00 | 159,800.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.73 | 0.39 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 2.12 | 0.63 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 30.41 | 12.56 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 3.96 | 0.87 |
MySQL UPDATE (Non-Indexed)
| UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (8 GB, 3 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,393.00 | 15,997.00 |
| Queries per second | 53,930.00 | 159,970.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.48 | 0.38 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.85 | 0.62 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 39 | 6.69 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 3.43 | 0.87 |
MySQL DELETE
| UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (8 GB, 3 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 101,195.00 | 140,187.00 |
| Queries per second | 1,011,950.00 | 1,401,870.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0.03 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.1 | 0.07 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 39.3 | 7.56 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.17 | 0.08 |
Redis
| UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (8 GB, 3 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE per Second | 130,208.34 | 89,126.56 |
| PING_MBULK per Second | 130,208.34 | 88,028.16 |
| SET per Second | 130,890.05 | 89,047.20 |
| GET per Second | 129,198.97 | 87,032.20 |
| INCR per Second | 128,534.70 | 87,950.75 |
| LPUSH per Second | 128,040.97 | 88,731.15 |
| RPUSH per Second | 126,582.27 | 88,652.48 |
| LPOP per Second | 124,688.28 | 88,417.33 |
| RPOP per Second | 127,226.46 | 88,809.95 |
| SADD per Second | 129,198.97 | 87,565.68 |
| HSET per Second | 133,511.34 | 86,805.56 |
| SPOP per Second | 139,275.77 | 87,565.68 |
| ZADD per Second | 130,039.02 | 88,967.98 |
| ZPOPMIN per Second | 129,701.68 | 88,417.33 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) per Second | 55,524.71 | 63,775.51 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) per Second | 28,785.26 | 37,453.18 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) per Second | 18,942.98 | 26,441.04 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) per Second | 17,038.68 | 23,601.61 |
| MSET (10 keys) per Second | 108,225.10 | 91,324.20 |
Redis Average Latency (ms)
| UpCloud – Balanced (2 GB) | Vultr – High Frequency Intel (8 GB, 3 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE | 0.25 | 0.29 |
| PING_MBULK | 0.25 | 0.29 |
| SET | 0.26 | 0.29 |
| GET | 0.26 | 0.30 |
| INCR | 0.26 | 0.29 |
| LPUSH | 0.26 | 0.29 |
| RPUSH | 0.27 | 0.29 |
| LPOP | 0.27 | 0.29 |
| RPOP | 0.27 | 0.29 |
| SADD | 0.26 | 0.29 |
| HSET | 0.26 | 0.30 |
| SPOP | 0.24 | 0.29 |
| ZADD | 0.26 | 0.29 |
| ZPOPMIN | 0.26 | 0.29 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) | 0.66 | 0.40 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) | 1.27 | 0.68 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) | 1.95 | 0.96 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) | 2.16 | 1.08 |
| MSET (10 keys) | 0.34 | 0.29 |
Conclusion
From the friendly robots:
Upon comparing the benchmarks of the UpCloud Balanced (2 GB) instance and the Vultr High Frequency Intel (8 GB, 3 Cores) instance, it is clear that the Vultr instance outperforms the UpCloud instance in most metrics, particularly in CPU and memory benchmarks where it demonstrates significantly higher RPS rates and better overall throughput. Vultr's instance excels in handling more concurrent requests and provides superior performance in CPU operations, memory read/write operations, and file I/O operations. The UpCloud instance, however, presents better Redis benchmark results with slightly higher RPS and lower latencies for most commands, showcasing its efficiency in handling Redis operations. For CPU-intensive, I/O-heavy workloads, and tasks requiring substantial memory, the Vultr instance is the better choice due to its higher core count, memory, and overall performance metrics. Conversely, if the priority is Redis performance or if the workload is more memory-sensitive than CPU-intensive, the UpCloud instance might be preferable.
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 UpCloud and Vultr.
You can also support me directly by buying me a coffee.