Vultr Cloud Compute (1 GB) vs. DigitalOcean Regular (1 GB)
Welcome to another round of the VPS Showdown. Today I've spun up brand new instance from DigitalOcean and Vultr and did some benchmarking. All instances were running Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 and all resided in or around the New York / New Jersey area. Let's get into the numbers.
Overview
| Vultr – Cloud Compute (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Last Benchmarked | Tue, 26 Aug 2025 17:00:52 GMT | Tue, 26 Aug 2025 14:00:52 GMT |
| Linux Distro | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64 |
| Kernel Version | 6.8.0-60-generic | 6.8.0-71-generic |
| MySQL Version | 8.0.43-0ubuntu0.24.04.1 | 8.0.43-0ubuntu0.24.04.1 |
| Redis Version | 7.0.15 | 7.0.15 |
| Location | Newark, NJ | New York, NY |
| Monthly Price | $5.00 | $6.00 |
| RAM (GB) | 1 | 1 |
| CPU Cores | 1 | 1 |
| Storage (TB) | 25 | 25 |
| Storage Type | SSD | SSD |
| Transfer (TB) | 1 | 1 |
CPU
| Vultr – Cloud Compute (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | GenuineIntel | GenuineIntel |
| Model Name | Intel Core Processor (Broadwell, no TSX, IBRS) | DO-Regular |
| Clock Speed (MHz) | 2,394.45 | 2,494.14 |
| CPU Cache Size (KB) | 16,384.00 | 4,096.00 |
| BogoMips | 4,788.90 | 4,988.28 |
| Events per Second | 861.36 | 954.20 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.14 | 0.91 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.16 | 1.05 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 2.77 | 2.11 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.21 | 1.27 |
Memory
Memory Read
| Vultr – Cloud Compute (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 4,189,369.10 | 4,209,859.81 |
| Mebibytes per second | 4,091.18 | 4,111.19 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 1.75 | 1.49 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
Memory Write
| Vultr – Cloud Compute (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operations per second | 4,222,451.44 | 4,189,329.99 |
| Mebibytes per second | 4,123.49 | 4,091.14 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 0.72 | 1.03 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
File I/O
| Vultr – Cloud Compute (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Reads per Second | 2,500.89 | 2,467.11 |
| Writes per Second | 1,667.19 | 1,644.74 |
| Fsyncs per Second | 5,346.52 | 5,269.57 |
| Read Mebibytes per Second | 39.08 | 38.55 |
| Written Mebibytes per Second | 26.05 | 25.70 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.1 | 0.11 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 3.4 | 14.6 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.3 | 0.3 |
Mutex
| Vultr – Cloud Compute (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 2,081.46 | 2,239.74 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 2,089.86 | 2,269.10 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 2,098.02 | 2,285.87 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2,082.91 | 2,279.14 |
MySQL
MySQL Read-only
| Vultr – Cloud Compute (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,526.00 | 6,274.00 |
| Queries per second | 55,260.00 | 62,740.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.7 | 1.15 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.81 | 1.59 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 11.86 | 5.02 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.93 | 2.26 |
MySQL Write-only
| Vultr – Cloud Compute (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,084.00 | 4,050.00 |
| Queries per second | 50,840.00 | 40,500.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 1.45 | 1.18 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.96 | 2.46 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 10.63 | 45.75 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.61 | 3.96 |
MySQL Read/Write
| Vultr – Cloud Compute (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 2,327.00 | 1,942.00 |
| Queries per second | 23,270.00 | 19,420.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 3.56 | 3.07 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 4.3 | 5.14 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 11.69 | 40.59 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 5.09 | 7.04 |
MySQL INSERT
| Vultr – Cloud Compute (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 9,678.00 | 6,791.00 |
| Queries per second | 96,780.00 | 67,910.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.71 | 0.58 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.03 | 1.47 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 5.87 | 21.15 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.27 | 2.48 |
MySQL Bulk INSERT
| Vultr – Cloud Compute (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 964,103.00 | 1,026,342.00 |
| Queries per second | 9,641,030.00 | 10,263,420.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.01 | 0.01 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 555.35 | 577.57 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0 | 0 |
MySQL SELECT
| Vultr – Cloud Compute (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 123,440.00 | 156,704.00 |
| Queries per second | 1,234,400.00 | 1,567,040.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.07 | 0.04 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.08 | 0.06 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 6.36 | 2.29 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.1 | 0.1 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Points)
| Vultr – Cloud Compute (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,660.00 | 4,865.00 |
| Queries per second | 56,600.00 | 48,650.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.7 | 0.62 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.77 | 2.05 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 5.62 | 12.45 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.3 | 3.19 |
MySQL SELECT (Random Ranges)
| Vultr – Cloud Compute (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 5,897.00 | 5,861.00 |
| Queries per second | 58,970.00 | 58,610.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.59 | 0.65 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.69 | 1.7 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 5.37 | 5.66 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 2.22 | 2.76 |
MySQL UPDATE (Indexed)
| Vultr – Cloud Compute (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 8,813.00 | 5,999.00 |
| Queries per second | 88,130.00 | 59,990.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.72 | 0.61 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.13 | 1.66 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 6.19 | 43.09 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.61 | 2.91 |
MySQL UPDATE (Non-Indexed)
| Vultr – Cloud Compute (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 9,183.00 | 7,513.00 |
| Queries per second | 91,830.00 | 75,130.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.7 | 0.54 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 1.09 | 1.33 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 7.93 | 43.22 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 1.37 | 2 |
MySQL DELETE
| Vultr – Cloud Compute (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 60,278.00 | 60,867.00 |
| Queries per second | 602,780.00 | 608,670.00 |
| Minimum Latency (ms) | 0.07 | 0.04 |
| Average Latency (ms) | 0.16 | 0.16 |
| Maximum Latency (ms) | 12.23 | 16.04 |
| 95th Percentile Latency (ms) | 0.95 | 0.99 |
Redis
| Vultr – Cloud Compute (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE per Second | 37,678.97 | 49,529.47 |
| PING_MBULK per Second | 37,467.22 | 49,067.71 |
| SET per Second | 36,469.73 | 48,007.68 |
| GET per Second | 38,022.81 | 48,520.13 |
| INCR per Second | 37,907.50 | 50,025.02 |
| LPUSH per Second | 30,238.89 | 46,446.82 |
| RPUSH per Second | 35,561.88 | 49,431.54 |
| LPOP per Second | 37,523.45 | 49,164.21 |
| RPOP per Second | 37,750.09 | 48,590.86 |
| SADD per Second | 37,678.97 | 44,642.86 |
| HSET per Second | 37,313.43 | 30,562.35 |
| SPOP per Second | 37,850.11 | 35,739.81 |
| ZADD per Second | 37,369.21 | 42,643.92 |
| ZPOPMIN per Second | 38,986.36 | 44,782.80 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) per Second | 24,125.45 | 22,212.35 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) per Second | 12,500.00 | 9,703.09 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) per Second | 8,862.11 | 8,345.85 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) per Second | 7,744.73 | 7,045.73 |
| MSET (10 keys) per Second | 34,554.25 | 38,299.50 |
Redis Average Latency (ms)
| Vultr – Cloud Compute (1 GB) | DigitalOcean – Regular (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| PING_INLINE | 0.88 | 0.67 |
| PING_MBULK | 0.88 | 0.67 |
| SET | 0.91 | 0.70 |
| GET | 0.88 | 0.69 |
| INCR | 0.88 | 0.67 |
| LPUSH | 1.08 | 0.73 |
| RPUSH | 0.94 | 0.68 |
| LPOP | 0.90 | 0.69 |
| RPOP | 0.89 | 0.70 |
| SADD | 0.88 | 0.75 |
| HSET | 0.90 | 1.09 |
| SPOP | 0.88 | 0.93 |
| ZADD | 0.90 | 0.80 |
| ZPOPMIN | 0.87 | 0.75 |
| LRANGE_100 (first 100 elements) | 1.41 | 1.61 |
| LRANGE_300 (first 300 elements) | 2.74 | 3.73 |
| LRANGE_500 (first 500 elements) | 3.90 | 4.31 |
| LRANGE_600 (first 600 elements) | 4.41 | 5.03 |
| MSET (10 keys) | 1.02 | 0.93 |
Conclusion
From the friendly robots:
After analyzing the benchmark results for the DigitalOcean and Vultr instances, it's clear that both providers offer solid performance for a 1 GB RAM configuration, but they excel in different areas. The DigitalOcean instance shows slightly better performance in Redis operations, MySQL OLTP tasks, and file I/O operations, indicating it might be more suitable for CPU-intensive workloads and applications that require fast read/write speeds. Conversely, the Vultr instance demonstrates superior performance in Redis SET, GET, and INCR operations, suggesting it could be better for applications that rely heavily on Redis for caching and quick data retrieval. Both instances provide comparable latency and throughput for file I/O and memory operations, but the slight edge in certain Redis operations for Vultr and slightly lower monthly cost make it a compelling choice for budget-conscious users prioritizing Redis performance.
From the friendly human:
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