8 ms·

IMO, Linode is the best for this use. I pay around $22/month for 512MB/16GB/32-bit Linux instance and the instance is always on.

dustingetz 16y ago
how is that any different from a micro-tier EC2 instance? seems to be roughly $12/month for about the same specs.
- nivertech 16y ago
  4 Xeon cores on Linode vs. some leftover burst cycles on EC2 micro.
- redline6561 16y ago
  Well, don't forget that the lowest tier Linode comes with 200GB bandwidth/month whereas EC2 is pay as you go.
  - dedward 16y ago
    Plus it's easier to scale up EC2, with all their other cloud features available nearline....
- sofuture 16y ago
  Micro instances are super constrained on CPU in my experience. Unusably so.
  - wtallis 16y ago
    Phoronix recently tried to benchmark a micro instance. It didn't do very well: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=amazon_ec2_micro&num=1 http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=amazo... Turns out that on average a micro's performance is somewhere between a netbook and an ARM tablet for most tasks, but the performance varies wildly.
- daveungerer 16y ago
  Just try to compile Ruby from source on an EC2 Micro instance vs. a $20/month Linode. In my experience (repeated builds at various times of day) the EC2 instance is an order of magnitude slower. And the Linode includes some bandwith, as someone else already mentioned.
  - Periodic 16y ago
    I actually switched to using an EC2 Micro instance because my 256MB VPS didn't have enough RAM to compile some of the packages I needed. The compile took a while, but they were for libraries I rebuild maybe once a month. As far as development goes I haven't had a problem yet with speed. I tend to do small incremental compiles, and when I need to a full compile I go get a cup of coffee.
    - daveungerer 16y ago
      Just to clarify, the $20/month Linode I'm referring to has 512MB ram. I'm just using compiling as an illustration of CPU performance. You'll have the same problem when running unit tests, for example. You can only spend so much time on forced coffee breaks before it gets old. Or you can have a very tiny test suite.

dustingetz 16y ago

how is that any different from a micro-tier EC2 instance? seems to be roughly $12/month for about the same specs.

nivertech 16y ago
4 Xeon cores on Linode vs. some leftover burst cycles on EC2 micro.
redline6561 16y ago
Well, don't forget that the lowest tier Linode comes with 200GB bandwidth/month whereas EC2 is pay as you go.
- dedward 16y ago
  Plus it's easier to scale up EC2, with all their other cloud features available nearline....
sofuture 16y ago
Micro instances are super constrained on CPU in my experience. Unusably so.
- wtallis 16y ago
  Phoronix recently tried to benchmark a micro instance. It didn't do very well: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=amazon_ec2_micro&num=1 http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=amazo... Turns out that on average a micro's performance is somewhere between a netbook and an ARM tablet for most tasks, but the performance varies wildly.
daveungerer 16y ago
Just try to compile Ruby from source on an EC2 Micro instance vs. a $20/month Linode. In my experience (repeated builds at various times of day) the EC2 instance is an order of magnitude slower. And the Linode includes some bandwith, as someone else already mentioned.
- Periodic 16y ago
  I actually switched to using an EC2 Micro instance because my 256MB VPS didn't have enough RAM to compile some of the packages I needed. The compile took a while, but they were for libraries I rebuild maybe once a month. As far as development goes I haven't had a problem yet with speed. I tend to do small incremental compiles, and when I need to a full compile I go get a cup of coffee.
  - daveungerer 16y ago
    Just to clarify, the $20/month Linode I'm referring to has 512MB ram. I'm just using compiling as an illustration of CPU performance. You'll have the same problem when running unit tests, for example. You can only spend so much time on forced coffee breaks before it gets old. Or you can have a very tiny test suite.