DigitalOcean vs SoftLayer benchmark

Background

DigitalOcean is a new and upcoming cloud hosting provider, similar to Rackspace Cloud, SoftLayer, and Linode. DigitalOcean came out of the TechStars cloud incubator, mentored by Jason Seats a SliceHost cofounder.

DigitalOcean offers traditional virtual machines with full root access. What makes them stand out from the competition is all their storage is SSD backed, their community of guides and projects is arguably one of the best, and their prices are super affordable. Full discloser, Commando.io is sponsored by DigitalOcean. Anyway, let’s get right to the server setup.

The Setup

SoftLayer

  • 2 CPU’s
  • 1024 MB RAM
  • 100 GB Disk
  • 1 TB Bandwidth
  • CentOS 5.3 x64
  • $106.00/Mo

DigitalOcean

  • 1 CPU
  • 1024 MB RAM
  • 30 GB SSD Disk
  • 2 TB Bandwidth
  • CentOS 5.3 x64
  • $10.00/Mo
Unix Bench Results

We used a standard benchmarking utility called Unix Bench, which runs through a gauntlet of tests. Since it would not be equivalent to benchmark using multiple CPU’s (DigitalOcean only has a single core) we ran the benchmark using a single thread so the results are accurate.

SoftLayer Results
Benchmark Run: Sat Apr 27 2013 20:29:18 - 20:57:14  
2 CPUs in system; running 1 parallel copy of tests  
Dhrystone 2 using register variables 21999954.2 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)  
Double-Precision Whetstone 1305.8 MWIPS (10.0 s, 7 samples)  
Execl Throughput 1085.4 lps (30.0 s, 2 samples)  
File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 187759.0 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)  
File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 48810.2 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)  
File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 646582.2 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)  
Pipe Throughput 285608.4 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)  
Pipe-based Context Switching 50018.0 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)  
Process Creation 1918.5 lps (30.0 s, 2 samples)  
Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 2423.7 lpm (60.0 s, 2 samples)  
Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 474.4 lpm (60.1 s, 2 samples)  
System Call Overhead 274261.3 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)  
System Benchmarks Index Values BASELINE RESULT INDEX  
Dhrystone 2 using register variables 116700.0 21999954.2 1885.2  
Double-Precision Whetstone 55.0 1305.8 237.4  
Execl Throughput 43.0 1085.4 252.4  
File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 3960.0 187759.0 474.1  
File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 1655.0 48810.2 294.9  
File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 5800.0 646582.2 1114.8  
Pipe Throughput 12440.0 285608.4 229.6  
Pipe-based Context Switching 4000.0 50018.0 125.0  
Process Creation 126.0 1918.5 152.3  
Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 42.4 2423.7 571.6  
Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 6.0 474.4 790.7  
System Call Overhead 15000.0 274261.3 182.8  
 ========
System Benchmarks Index Score 368.9  
DigitalOcean Results
Benchmark Run: Sat Apr 27 2013 20:29:21 - 20:57:11  
1 CPU in system; running 1 parallel copy of tests  
Dhrystone 2 using register variables 29099182.2 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)  
Double-Precision Whetstone 1757.2 MWIPS (9.9 s, 7 samples)  
Execl Throughput 3909.3 lps (29.6 s, 2 samples)  
File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 852920.4 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)  
File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 233132.0 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)  
File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 1819443.3 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)  
Pipe Throughput 1732034.8 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)  
Pipe-based Context Switching 274650.3 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)  
Process Creation 10241.3 lps (30.0 s, 2 samples)  
Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 4684.4 lpm (60.0 s, 2 samples)  
Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 642.6 lpm (60.0 s, 2 samples)  
System Call Overhead 2090869.7 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)  
System Benchmarks Index Values BASELINE RESULT INDEX  
Dhrystone 2 using register variables 116700.0 29099182.2 2493.5  
Double-Precision Whetstone 55.0 1757.2 319.5  
Execl Throughput 43.0 3909.3 909.1  
File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 3960.0 852920.4 2153.8  
File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 1655.0 233132.0 1408.7  
File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 5800.0 1819443.3 3137.0  
Pipe Throughput 12440.0 1732034.8 1392.3  
Pipe-based Context Switching 4000.0 274650.3 686.6  
Process Creation 126.0 10241.3 812.8  
Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 42.4 4684.4 1104.8  
Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 6.0 642.6 1071.0  
System Call Overhead 15000.0 2090869.7 1393.9  
 ========
System Benchmarks Index Score 1199.1  
Takeaway & Conclusion

Not only is DigitalOcean 91% less expensive than SoftLayer, it is 3.25X faster according to Unix Bench. One difference is the SoftLayer virtual machine has 2 CPU’s for better parallelization and 100GB of storage instead of DigitalOcean’s 30 GB of SSD. However, for just $80/Mo or $70 more per month you can get a server with 4 CPU’s, 8 GB of RAM, and 80 GB of SSD storage from DigitalOcean which will absolutely crush the performance of SoftLayer and is still $26/Mo cheaper.

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