Why does Linode have such poor CPU performance for $5?

Sacrificing ~10% CPU speed is a small price to pay for support that actually… supports. I don't know how much ACTUAL experience you have with other providers, but when something goes wrong, support is worth something. On the very few occasions that I have had issues with Linode, they've been responsive and the quality of support has been flawless. The same cannot be said of Vultr, DO, or UpCloud, having had experience with all three of those as well.

Also, why are you whining about GeekBench scores? There are many metrics that determine real-world performance, and single-core benchmarks are pretty low on the list of valuable data points.

ALSO also, why are you including a t3.small in the list? That's double the CPU count and RAM allocation, costs over three times as much (where you got under $5 from is a mystery, the on-demand cost for a t3.small is $0.0208/hr, which comes out to about $17 a month), and doesn't include storage or transfer.

ALSO ALSO also, if your app is throttling/breaking because the CPU is pegged, then your 1. your app is poorly coded and/or 2. you're underprovisioning resources anyway, and it wouldn't work any better on any other platform.

support that actually… supports

I didn't know this was a key feature of Linode

Also, why are you whining about GeekBench scores?

I'm not whining, this is an observation I made

ALSO also, why are you including a t3.small in the list? That's double the CPU count and RAM allocation, costs over three times as much (where you got under $5 from is a mystery

You're right I was mistaken about the price on this one, but t3.nano is comparable in price (didn't bench that one yet)

ALSO ALSO also, if your app is throttling/breaking because the CPU is pegged, then your 1. your app is poorly coded and/or 2. you're underprovisioning resources anyway, and it wouldn't work any better on any other platform.

I'm not running any apps, just benchmarks

There are many metrics that determine real-world performance, and single-core benchmarks are pretty low on the list of valuable data points.

Geekbench runs real-world-like tests, and yes single-core benchmarks are very important in things like game servers

I didn't know this was a key feature of Linode

Support is a key feature of literally anything you aren't hosting yourself on your own hardware.

I'm not whining, this is an observation I made

Observations and whining can overlap. This does.

You're right I was mistaken about the price on this one, but t3.nano is comparable in price (didn't bench that one yet)

A t3.nano has half the RAM. Still not comparable.

I'm not running any apps, just benchmarks
Geekbench runs real-world-like tests…

Benchmarks are not apps. Apps are not benchmarks. Benchmarks don't do anything but go brrrrrr. Apps actually do things.

single-core benchmarks are very important in things like game servers

No, they really aren't. Even Minecraft servers, which are notoriously single-threaded, aren't going to realize any noticeable performance difference between the services you've listed.

Support is a key feature of literally anything you aren't hosting yourself on your own hardware.

Only if shit hits the fan unexpectedly (which, in theory, nothing hardware related should ever require a customer having to open a ticket)

Only if shit hits the fan unexpectedly (which, in theory, nothing hardware related should ever require a customer having to open a ticket)

Support literally exists to handle unexpected events. So, thank you for making my point. And hardware, in this instance, includes power, internet connectivity, etc. There are many things that can go wrong that might require support assistance to resolve.

Your arguments so far indicate that your overriding purpose in this discussion is to be right.

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you're wrong. Learn from this.

I have been a customer of Vultr, Digital Ocean, OVH, and Linode.

I will take Linode over any of those others hands down. (And have, I moved everything over here.)

CPU is not the most important metric when evaluating anything, unless you're doing highly CPU intensive tasks. For 99.9% of applications network, storage, and IO bottlenecks are the key factors.

But even before that I would say uptime and stability are more important.

And right after that yes support.

Linode exceeds in all these areas.

My monthly spend with Linode is about $150/ month with a mix of $5 VPSes, $10 VPSes, and $20 VPSes. And I'm going to be deploying more here soon!

So let's talk competitors for a second.

Vultr had some really cheap plans but they were all loss-leaders and I always had issues with their billing. Oh, and ZERO (absolute ZERO) support.

Digital Ocean worked okay, but I find the Linode manager to be more easier to use and support to be more responsive. It's also easier to set things up in Linode than DO. But DO supports docker containers out of the box whereas Linode supports Kubernetes.

OVH was fine, and their support was decent, but I'm actually saving money at Linode opposed to OVH. But OVH's management interface is way too complex for what I need. Still.

Hands down Linode support is second to none though. And when your app is down and your customers are complaining you'll appreciate that.

Support literally exists to handle unexpected events. So, thank you for making my point. And hardware, in this instance, includes power, internet connectivity, etc. There are many things that can go wrong that might require support assistance to resolve.

Why should a customer have to make a ticket for this? This should be something that Linode actively monitors and acts proactively on. A customer should never have to realize something is wrong with the hardware, and make a ticket about it

So this then begs the question, what is Linode support actually for? Is it like hurr durr I can't install this software please help me?

Why should a customer have to make a ticket for this? This should be something that Linode actively monitors and acts proactively on. A customer should never have to realize something is wrong with the hardware, and make a ticket about it So this then begs the question, what is Linode support actually for? Is it like hurr durr I can't install this software please help me?

WHAT DO YOU THINK SUPPORT IS? You're being purposefully obtuse, here.

At this point, it's fairly obvious that all you want to do is go "waaaaaaah benchmarks im so l33t," which is a waste of everyone's time. Carry your ass back to Moronix forums where people care.

@cyveris, you're right, but your attitude could benefit from an adjustment. I would be willing to bet that there are significantly more people who aren't as skilled or experienced as you than the amount of people who are - including myself in the first group… And similar to you, I'm happy with Linode, so perhaps we can kindly correct anyone's incorrect expectations, assure them that Linode is the right choice, and encourage them to hang in there.

@ahabub, a product should just work, but a lot of the time it doesn't, and this becomes more and more likely the cheaper the product is…

When that happens, you will be lucky to find a company that happily steps in to correct the problem.

I'm coming from DigitalOcean, where their customer service is awful.

1. They only provide "customer service" via web and email.
2. They avoid answering questions about clear underperformance.
3. They take around 3 emails just to get a straight answer.
4. They take about 1 day to respond to each email.
5. They suggest irrelevant solutions that you mentioned in your email.
6. They send the same irrelevant solution later in the email thread.
7. They conclude the email without solving the actual problem.

This happened almost every time I had to contact them because one of their products wasn't working properly.

The last time, it took 7 emails over 7 days to go nowhere. That was it.

At Linode, they provide customer service via web, email, or phone.

I had a similar problem as before, and the customer service agent asked questions to make sure he knew what the problem was, followed up with relevant information about the problem, and provided specific instructions to perform that resolved the problem.

It was a very refreshing experience after experiencing DigitalOcean…

Eventually, you might find yourself agreeing with @cyveris about how valuable customer service can be when things go wrong - whether they should or shouldn't have theoretically gone wrong to begin. =]