Cloudways DigitalOcean Vs Vultr Vs Linode 2023: Which is Fastest?
This post compares the performance of Cloudways DigitalOcean Vs Vultr vs Vultr HF Vs Linode by deploying a test site on each cloud provider.
I signed up with Cloudways and tested their DigitalOcean plan. But later few people requested to test other Cloudways hosting providers. So, I bought a hosting account with other services like Linode, Vultr, and Vultr HF and deployed a WordPress site with our custom setup.
I use the following setup on all five sites.
- Default WordPress theme
- PHP 7.4
- Contact form 7
- Rank Math SEO
- Breeze caching plugin by default.
Now, the test sites are put into five different types of testing, and they are
- Server Response Time (TTFB): Through this test, the site is monitored every 60 seconds once from 20 USA locations through Pingdom synthetic monitoring tool to calculate the average server response time (TTFB).
- Uptime: We use the above same Pingdom data to measure the uptime.
- Load Testing: Three different load tests are done.
- Core Web Vitals: Using WebPageTest, the metrics are calculated.
- Global TTFB: The global TTFB is calculated from 10 different locations.
At Hostingstep.com, we do recurring tests. So, as time goes by, we collect more data from tools and provide our users with the most accurate data.
Quick Summary
- In terms of TTFB, there is not much difference. Each of the five sites loaded faster and recorded a similar TTFB.
- We did three different load tests. The Vultr HF site came first in all tests (clear winner!). The Digitalocean site came 2nd, Linode 3rd, and Vultr Standard 4th.
- Vultr HF recorded the highest uptime compared to others.
- The Core Web Vitals and Global TTFB of all the sites are similar, and everyone is the winner.
Based on the data, I recommend Vultr HF for new Cloudways users. Whichever plan you're choosing, don't forget to use our Cloudways Promo Code for $25 free hosting credits.
Contents
Cloudways DigitalOcean Vs Vultr Vs Linode
Test 1 – Server Response Time (TTFB)
The server response time (TTFB) is the first and foremost thing one needs to test before choosing a hosting. For this test, the demo sites are monitored 60 seconds once from 20 USA locations. The scores are averaged from all locations, and the average response time is calculated.
Based on 5 months of performance data (August 31, 2022 – January 31, 2023), the average response time of Cloudways based on the different cloud providers are
| Cloudways Plans | Response Time (TTFB) |
|---|---|
| DigitalOcean Standard | 306ms |
| DigitalOcean Premium | 318ms |
| Linode | 299ms |
| Vultr | 311ms |
| Vultr HF | 311ms |
TTFB reports with screenshots:
Recommendation: From our above data, there is not much difference between the TTFB of different Cloud providers. You can choose any server of your wish.
Winner: All.
Test 2 – Uptime
The demo sites are checked every 60 seconds from all locations to measure the uptime. Based on 5 months data, the average uptime of our test sites are
| Cloudways Plans | Uptime |
|---|---|
| Digital Ocean Standard ✅ | 100% |
| Digital Ocean Premium | 99.99% |
| Linode | 99.99% |
| Vultr | 99.99% |
| Vultr HF | 99.99% |
Please refer to the above Pingdom data for uptime results.
Recommendation: Again, every cloud provider is a winner, with Cloudways standard scoring excellently in the test time period with 100% uptime.
Winner: Vultr HF and Linode.
Test 3 – Load Testing
Through this testing, we will test the server's load handling capabilities. There are three types of tests done, and they are
- Load Test 1 – Clients Per Test (1000 clients in 1 minute)
- Load Test 2 – Maintain Client Load (500 clients in 1 minute)
- Load Test 3 – Maintain Client Load (1000 clients in 1 minute)
In “Clients Per Test,” the 1000 client load will be distributed throughout the test duration.
In “Maintain Client Load,” 500 and 1000 simultaneous clients are sent to the site. This advanced test gives you a clear picture of the server's performance.
Results
Load Test 1 – Clients Per Test (1000 clients in 1 minute):
- Cloudways Vultr HF secured the top position with a 9 ms response time. All other sites like Digital Ocean, Linode, and Vultr got a 10 ms response time. Although the difference is slight, the raw power of Vultr HF is visible here.
| Cloudways Plans | Uptime |
|---|---|
| Digital Ocean Standard | 10ms |
| Digital Ocean Premium | 30ms |
| Linode | 10ms |
| Vultr | 10ms |
| Vultr HF ✅ | 9ms |
Load Test 2 – Maintain Client Load (500 clients in 1 minute)
- The fastest hosts (in order) are Cloudways Vultr HF (123 ms), Digital Ocean (168 ms), Linode (223 ms), and Vultr (237 ms). It's good to see Vultr HF is nearly twice as fast as regular Vultr, although the pricing difference is just $2 in Cloudways.
| Cloudways Plans | Uptime |
|---|---|
| Digital Ocean Standard | 168ms |
| Digital Ocean Premium | NA |
| Linode | 223ms |
| Vultr | 237ms |
| Vultr HF ✅ | 126ms |
Load Test 3 – Maintain Client Load (1000 clients in 1 minute)
- Vultr HF is again good here. The fastest hosts (in order) are Cloudways Vultr HF (259 ms), Digital Ocean (268 ms), Linode (472 ms), and Vultr (493 ms).
| Cloudways Plans | Uptime |
|---|---|
| Digital Ocean Standard | 268ms |
| Digital Ocean Premium | 305ms |
| Linode | 472ms |
| Vultr | 493ms |
| Vultr HF ✅ | 259ms |
Recommendation: The Cloudways Vultr HF secured top spots in all three load tests thanks to their High-Frequency VMs. Digital Ocean secured the second spot in all tests. Linode came third, and Vultr secured the last spot.
Test 4 – Core Web Vitals
The sites are tested against the Core Web Vitals metrics like Largest Contentful Paint, Total Blocking Time, and Cumulative layout shift.
The Vultr HF has the fastest Core Web Vitals score, followed by DigitalOcean Premium.
| Cloudways Cloud | LCP | TBT | CLS |
|---|---|---|---|
| DigitalOcean Standard | 412ms | 0ms | 0 |
| DigitalOcean Premium | 389ms | 0ms | 0 |
| Linode | 491ms | 0ms | 0 |
| Vultr | 402ms | 0ms | 0 |
| Vultr HF | 388ms | 0ms | 0 |
Test 5 – Global TTFB
If your site gets traffic from a single country (USA), then the above Test-1 TTFB results are enough. However, if your site receives traffic from multiple countries, then these global TTFB test results are vital.
The global TTFB results are similar, just like the USA TTFB test. The Overall global TTFB of each host is Digital Ocean Standard (369.81 ms), Premium (365.07ms), Vultr (359.45 ms), Vultr HF (364.49 ms), and Linode (368.54 ms). There is just a 10 ms difference between each host.
| Data | DO Standard | DO Premium | Vultr | Vultr HF | Linode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 15.88 | 19.18 | 19.4 | 16.03 | 19.58 |
| Dallas | 132.76 | 138.56 | 124.32 | 139.38 | 145.77 |
| San Francisco | 204.62 | 221.16 | 230.07 | 218.14 | 221.6 |
| London | 219.58 | 242.2 | 227.18 | 243.78 | 237.65 |
| Amsterdam | 252.69 | 255.5 | 255.67 | 251.85 | 249.99 |
| Frankfurt | 284.72 | 280.93 | 272.22 | 263.54 | 272.07 |
| Bangalore | 676.88 | 635.57 | 612.69 | 672.53 | 719.8 |
| Singapore | 743.68 | 683.53 | 681.4 | 645.31 | 656.73 |
| Tokyo | 525.6 | 526.36 | 464.32 | 459.09 | 530.89 |
| Sydney | 641.72 | 647.68 | 707.27 | 735.33 | 631.33 |
| Average (in ms) | 369.81 ms | 365.07ms | 359.45 ms | 364.49 ms | 368.54 ms |
Which Cloud Provider is Good at Cloudways?
Based on all five tests, all the hosts are equivalently good in all tests.
Load testing is the only measurement through which we can rate which host is the best and fastest.
The results are almost identical in load test 1. In tests 2 & 3, Vultr HF offered better performance, thanks to its High-frequency processors that made the difference with other DO & Linode. Along with load test results, the uptime of Vultr HF is also the best among all providers.
Hence, I conclude my review by recommending Vultr HF as the best Cloudways server.
You can support us by getting an account with Cloudways through our links. It helps us to keep running our servers to perform recurring tests.
Don't forget to enter our coupon BIO25 to get $25 free credits applicable on your first billing month.
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