UpCloud Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) vs. Vultr Cloud Compute (4 GB, 2 Cores)
Same showdown, different day. Today I've spun up brand new instance from UpCloud and Vultr and ran my world famous suite of benchmarking scripts. Each instance was spun up with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 and were created in or around the New York / New Jersey area. Time to see who showed up today.
Overview
| UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Last Benchmarked | Thu, 11 Jun 2026 01:00:52 GMT | Thu, 11 Jun 2026 09:00:52 GMT |
| Linux Distro | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 |
| Kernel Version | 6.8.0-111-generic | 6.8.0-124-generic |
| MySQL Version | 8.0.46-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 | 8.0.46-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 |
| Redis Version | 7.0.15 | 7.0.15 |
| Location | New York, NY | Newark, NJ |
| Monthly Price | €26.00 | $20.00 |
| RAM (GB) | 4 | 4 |
| CPU Cores | 2 | 2 |
| Storage (TB) | 80 | 80 |
| Storage Type | SSD | SSD |
| Transfer (TB) | 4 | 3 |
CPU
| UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | AuthenticAMD | GenuineIntel |
| Model Name | AMD EPYC 9575F 64-Core Processor | Intel Xeon Processor (Skylake, IBRS) |
| Clock Speed (MHz) | 3,295.46 | 2,593.91 |
| CPU Cache Size (KB) | 512.00 | 16,384.00 |
| BogoMips | 6,590.91 | 5,187.81 |
| Events per Second | 5,837.71 | 1,022.39 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.16 | 0.88 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.17 | 0.98 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.46 | 1.77 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.18 | 1.21 |
Memory
Memory Read
| UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 8,058,698.84 | 3,523,809.57 |
| Mebibytes per second | 7,869.82 | 3,441.22 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.1 | 0.22 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
Memory Write
| UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 7,865,244.93 | 3,568,203.77 |
| Mebibytes per second | 7,680.90 | 3,484.57 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.99 | 1.02 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
File I/O
| UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Reads per Second | 3,011.42 | 2,972.63 |
| Writes per Second | 2,007.61 | 1,981.75 |
| Fsyncs per Second | 6,435.87 | 6,347.81 |
| Read Mebibytes per Second | 47.05 | 46.45 |
| Written Mebibytes per Second | 31.37 | 30.96 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.09 | 0.09 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 24.35 | 17.12 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.31 | 0.33 |
Mutex
| UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 499.17 | 899.28 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 560.98 | 935.93 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 593.03 | 969.92 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 590.56 | 977.74 |
MySQL
MySQL Read-only
| UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 21,441.00 | 3,779.00 |
| Queries per second | 214,410.00 | 37,790.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.33 | 1.84 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.47 | 2.64 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 8.5 | 24.55 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.59 | 3.82 |
MySQL Write-only
| UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 4,952.00 | 4,044.00 |
| Queries per second | 49,520.00 | 40,440.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.56 | 1.4 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 2.02 | 2.47 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 46.54 | 13.46 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 3.89 | 3.3 |
MySQL Read/Write
| UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 4,275.00 | 1,798.00 |
| Queries per second | 42,750.00 | 17,980.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.04 | 3.86 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 2.34 | 5.56 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 41.21 | 27.33 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 3.55 | 6.91 |
MySQL INSERT
| UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 6,507.00 | 6,405.00 |
| Queries per second | 65,070.00 | 64,050.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.48 | 0.99 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.53 | 1.56 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 44.03 | 15.15 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 3.02 | 2.03 |
MySQL Bulk INSERT
| UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 3,356,342.00 | 865,805.00 |
| Queries per second | 33,563,420.00 | 8,658,050.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0.01 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 190.79 | 538.25 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
MySQL SELECT
| UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 662,068.00 | 126,618.00 |
| Queries per second | 6,620,680.00 | 1,266,180.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0.05 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0.08 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 1.01 | 2.46 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.02 | 0.11 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Points)
| UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 15,147.00 | 3,674.00 |
| Queries per second | 151,470.00 | 36,740.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.17 | 1.07 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.66 | 2.72 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 4.01 | 6.45 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.03 | 3.55 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Ranges)
| UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 17,452.00 | 2,728.00 |
| Queries per second | 174,520.00 | 27,280.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.17 | 1.3 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.57 | 3.66 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 1.69 | 11.85 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.92 | 5 |
MySQL UPDATE (Indexed)
| UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 7,194.00 | 5,438.00 |
| Queries per second | 71,940.00 | 54,380.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.48 | 0.99 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.39 | 1.84 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 29.75 | 13.86 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.43 | 2.71 |
MySQL UPDATE (Non-Indexed)
| UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 6,711.00 | 6,370.00 |
| Queries per second | 67,110.00 | 63,700.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.47 | 1.01 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.49 | 1.57 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 48.35 | 8.99 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.76 | 2.07 |
MySQL DELETE
| UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 217,862.00 | 51,180.00 |
| Queries per second | 2,178,620.00 | 511,800.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0.05 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.05 | 0.19 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 35.32 | 6.11 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.03 | 1.39 |
Redis
| UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE per Second | 230,414.75 | 49,677.10 |
| PING_MBULK per Second | 286,532.94 | 45,372.05 |
| SET per Second | 246,913.58 | 45,392.64 |
| GET per Second | 274,725.28 | 53,163.21 |
| INCR per Second | 280,898.88 | 48,732.94 |
| LPUSH per Second | 266,666.66 | 50,327.12 |
| RPUSH per Second | 279,329.59 | 48,285.85 |
| LPOP per Second | 268,817.19 | 48,355.90 |
| RPOP per Second | 263,157.91 | 51,413.88 |
| SADD per Second | 296,735.91 | 48,332.53 |
| HSET per Second | 288,184.44 | 49,285.36 |
| SPOP per Second | 295,858.00 | 48,332.53 |
| ZADD per Second | 282,485.88 | 51,229.51 |
| ZPOPMIN per Second | 273,224.03 | 45,085.66 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) per Second | 174,825.17 | 27,122.32 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) per Second | 74,682.60 | 12,442.45 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) per Second | 44,385.27 | 7,930.21 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) per Second | 41,562.76 | 6,902.74 |
| MSET (10 keys) per Second | 263,157.91 | 45,146.73 |
Redis Average Latency (ms)
| UpCloud – Balanced (4 GB, 2 Cores) | Vultr – Cloud Compute (4 GB, 2 Cores) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE | 0.15 | 0.53 |
| PING_MBULK | 0.10 | 0.57 |
| SET | 0.11 | 0.57 |
| GET | 0.10 | 0.49 |
| INCR | 0.09 | 0.53 |
| LPUSH | 0.10 | 0.51 |
| RPUSH | 0.10 | 0.54 |
| LPOP | 0.10 | 0.54 |
| RPOP | 0.10 | 0.52 |
| SADD | 0.09 | 0.55 |
| HSET | 0.09 | 0.54 |
| SPOP | 0.09 | 0.54 |
| ZADD | 0.09 | 0.52 |
| ZPOPMIN | 0.10 | 0.57 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) | 0.17 | 1.02 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) | 0.38 | 2.29 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) | 0.64 | 3.27 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) | 0.72 | 3.91 |
| MSET (10 keys) | 0.14 | 0.78 |
Conclusion
From the friendly robots:
In terms of benchmark performance, the UpCloud Balanced instance shows higher throughput and lower latency across most metrics compared to the Vultr Cloud Compute instance, particularly in Redis operations, CPU performance, and memory operations, suggesting it is better suited for CPU-intensive workloads and tasks requiring lower latency. The Vultr instance, however, offers slightly lower costs and reasonable performance for less demanding tasks, making it a viable option for cost-sensitive applications where the highest performance isn't critical. Thus, the UpCloud instance is recommended for applications that benefit from higher throughput and lower latency, while the Vultr instance may be more appropriate for budget-conscious use cases with moderate performance requirements.
From the friendly human:
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