Question

DigitalOcean vs Linode

Posted March 25, 2013 47.4k views
Tonight I want to compare DigitalOcean offerings versus Linode 512, which is my prefered and used LEMP stack enviroment for production. SSD is nice to have but Linode doesn't provide an instance with it, but for the sake of comparing apples-2-apples these are the configurations: Linode 512 | Price: $19.95 | Cores: 1 CPU | Memory: 512 | Disk: 24GB | Transfer: 2TB DigitalOcean | Price: $5.00 | Cores: 1 CPU | Memory: 512MB | Disk: 20GB | Transfer: 1TB DigitalOcean | Price: $160 | Cores: 8 CPU | Memory: 16Gb | Disk: 160GB | Transfer: 1TB My tests were using CentOS 6.3 with Nginx 1.3, PHP 5.3.21+ installed form CentOS ALT. To generate the load I use http://loader.io/ create by the SendGrid Labs. again using the defaults of 250 maximum users and 60 seconds of duration. Before each run I restart nginx and php-fpm. The first test was using the APC status page apc.php. Linode 512: Success responses: 84344 | Avg response time: 37 | Sent from app: 988.90 MB | Rcvd from loader: 9.35 MB Digital 1C: Success responses: 34528 | Avg response time: 107 | Sent from app: 403.97 MB | Rcvd from loader: 3.88 MB Digital 8C: Success responses: 46549 | Avg response time: 79 | Sent from app: 544.63 MB | Rcvd from loader: 5.22 MB Second test I download and install Symfony 2 framework, use their default Hellow World example. Symfony requirements check pass except PCRE that require version 8.0+. Linode 512: Success responses: 2672 | Avg response time: 1610 | Sent from app: 28.15 MB | Rcvd from loader: 571.29 KB Digital 1C: Success responses: 486 | Avg response time: 4058 | Sent from app: 5.13 MB | Rcvd from loader: 233.40 KB Digital 8C: Success responses: 8293 | Avg response time: 608 | Sent from app: 87.42 MB | Rcvd from loader: 1.59 MB
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ernesto_vargas
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  • vincentc April 21, 2015
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    I have used both of them and I can’t say anything bad about the 2. I use it for a NGINX webserver (7 websites with 100.000 pageviews/month together), a teamspeak server, and some hoby scripts (python,…).
    Digitalocean has a great GUI to manage your Droplet (this is how they call your VPS), linode has a depreciated GUI, but they have an android/iOS app.
    If you are a student you can get 100 dollar for free via the github student bundle.

    edited by MattIPv4

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14 answers
alexandersmith March 25, 2013
Not really fair to compare the $160 plan :P. If you compared both $20 plans would make more sense imo.
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ernesto_vargas March 25, 2013
Is even more unfair to compare Linode 512 ($20) with 8 cores versus DigitalOcean ($20) with 2 cores.

Sure for more intensive application with lots of IO DigitalOcean is a better option.

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keshtiari March 26, 2013
As far as I know L512 is 4 cores not 8 cores.
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oloryn2 March 27, 2013
Linode recently upgraded all Linodes to 8 cores.
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dave122911 March 27, 2013
The only fair way to compare is based on price imo, anything else is useless information.
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vad.viktor March 31, 2013
I have used Linode and the ONLY thing why I am using DigitalOcean now is the price. These "droplets" can serve my low needs right now. BUT! When it would come to a site/app with higher CPU needs, I would renew my Linode account though. Until then D.O. has all it is needed for my services at the best value/price.

Oh yes, now Linode only lacks SSD-s, which they declared in their blog they won't aquire until the SSD technology is so fragile. Their server grade HDDs are superfast too.
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GreenTaco April 4, 2013
Compare the $20 to $20 option.

If your app needs CPU, Linode will win with its 8x CPUs.
If your app needs Memory OR disk, digital ocean will win, with its much more ram, and way faster disk.


(for what I do, digital ocean is a way better value, hence why I am here. I also like that I can spin up droplets super fast, and only get billed for an hour).
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jontenders0777 April 4, 2013
Check this out on Linode vs DigitalOcean Feature & Price Comparison with 8GB plans

http://imgur.com/SvY07cZ
http://i.imgur.com/SvY07cZ.png

By the way Linode is revising the infrastructure, Linode sizes, prices etc continuously to beat the competition with great service - way far from Do.
DigitalOcean is certainly on the winning side with good price, feature and performance! Checkout those image links ... !!!
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Joeydaviscs April 10, 2013
Ultimately it depends on individual application of server software, and your own application. With a php5.4, nginx, on Ubuntu, I'm getting better performance from DigitalOcean, even with the new 1gb ram on linode. Testing with $10 do and $20 linode.

Secondly, deploying a second $10 DO droplet and using load balancing, I'm getting 2.763x faster response on DO. For my specific project, performance, not price, is what matters. For my application DO is leading.
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sites April 15, 2013
I'm a loyal Linode customer since 2010 who just started testing out Digital Ocean's offering. I'm quite pleased with my Linode but looked here to setup a backup server and was attracted to DR low prices. Guess what LN has struck back! As of April 9, 2013 12:48 pm The new Linode plans lineup is now the following:
Plan RAM Disk XFER CPU Price
Linode 1G 1 GB 24 GB 2 TB 8 cores (1x priority) $20 / mo
Linode 2G 2 GB 48 GB 4 TB 8 cores (2x priority) $40 / mo
Linode 4G 4 GB 96 GB 8 TB 8 cores (4x priority) $80 / mo
Linode 8G 8 GB 192 GB 16 TB 8 cores (8x priority) $160 / mo
Linode 16G 16 GB 384 GB 20 TB 8 cores (16x priority) $320 / mo
Linode 24G 24 GB 576 GB 20 TB 8 cores (24x priority) $480 / mo
Linode 32G 32 GB 768 GB 20 TB 8 cores (32x priority) $640 / mo
Linode 40G 40 GB 960 GB 20 TB 8 cores (40x priority) $800 / mo

Both of these companies seem to be great hosts. However I'm giving Linode the edge as a result of their recent upgrades and their commitment to providing an uncompromised enterprise-class service.

I'll check back as you update this compare. :-)
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jincheker April 16, 2013
I made a benchmark among DigitalOcean 1G, DigitalOcean 2G and the newly upgraded Linode 1G. Looks like Linode's 8 cores system isn't that impressive. And SSD disk do stand out.

http://stevenyue.com/2013/04/15/linode-vs-digital-ocean-performance-benchmarks/
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Lee May 6, 2013
I think all these comparisons are fine however the question is not really about who is better but what is better for you. When it comes right down to it do you really need a $20 Linode when a $5 DO does everything you need it to? If so then why spend more. Equally and as already mentioned, if you need the CPU power, extra IP addresses, prefer Xen over a limited KVM VPS then Linode is where you need to be.

Each have their own benefits, choose based on your needs, not on anything else.
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kier.lightning April 29, 2014
also for cheep plans the network is not throttled as far as I know
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rhmkds June 12, 2015

linode network is better (maybe), and also better CPU, now they have singapore datacenter

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