Updated: June 2025 | Testing Location: Los Angeles, CA

Background: Why I'm Testing These Two Again

Honestly, I've been putting off this comparison for months now. Both Vultr and Kamatera keep showing up in my DMs with people asking "which one's actually better?" - so here we are, diving deep into the numbers that matter.

Been running VPS tests for over a decade now, and lemme tell you... the marketing vs reality gap keeps getting wider. That's why I'm sticking to raw benchmarks today - Geekbench 5, iperf3, and sysbench don't lie.

<h2>Quick Provider Rundown</h2>

Vultr: The "Developer's Choice"

Vultr has been riding high since 2014, positioning itself as the affordable alternative to DigitalOcean. Their selling points? Global presence (25+ locations), hourly billing, and that slick control panel everyone raves about.

Test Instance: Regular Performance VPS

• Location: Los Angeles (LAX)
• Specs: 2 vCPU, 4GB RAM, 80GB NVMe
• IP: 149.28.147.83 (AS20473 - Choopa LLC)
• Monthly Cost: $12/month

Kamatera: The "Enterprise Wannabe"

Kamatera markets itself as enterprise-grade cloud, which... well, we'll see about that. They've got decent global coverage and flexible configs, but their pricing structure is kinda confusing tbh.

Test Instance: General Purpose Cloud Server

• Location: Los Angeles West Coast
• Specs: 2 vCPU, 4GB RAM, 80GB SSD
• IP: 198.20.69.74 (AS8100 - Kamatera Inc)
• Monthly Cost: $14/month

<h1>Geekbench 5 Results: CPU Performance Reality Check</h1>

Vultr Numbers 📊

Geekbench 5.4.4 : https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/19847521

System Information
  Operating System              Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS
  Kernel                        Linux 5.15.0-72-generic x86_64
  Model                         QEMU Virtual CPU version 2.5+
  Motherboard                   N/A
  BIOS                          SeaBIOS 1.15.0-1

CPU Information
  Name                          QEMU Virtual CPU version 2.5+
  Topology                      1 Processor, 2 Cores
  Identifier                    GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 6 Stepping 3
  Base Frequency                2.40 GHz

Single-Core Results
  Single-Core Score             847
  
Multi-Core Results  
  Multi-Core Score              1542

Kamatera Numbers 📊

Geekbench 5.4.4 : https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/19847689

System Information
  Operating System              Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS  
  Kernel                        Linux 5.15.0-78-generic x86_64
  Model                         Intel Xeon CPU E5-2680 v4
  Motherboard                   N/A
  BIOS                          American Megatrends Inc. 080015

CPU Information
  Name                          Intel Xeon CPU E5-2680 v4 @ 2.40GHz
  Topology                      1 Processor, 2 Cores  
  Identifier                    GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 79 Stepping 1
  Base Frequency                2.40 GHz

Single-Core Results
  Single-Core Score             923
  
Multi-Core Results
  Multi-Core Score              1687

Winner: Kamatera takes this round, but not by much. That Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4 is showing its age though - decent for most workloads but nothing spectacular.

Network Performance: iperf3 Speed Tests 🌐

Download Speeds (iperf3 -c [server] -t 30)

Upload Speeds

My Take: Local performance is solid for both - you're getting near-gigabit speeds to the same datacenter. Cross-coast is where things get interesting... Kamatera seems to have slightly better peering to East Coast, but Vultr wins on international routes.

Pro tip: If you're doing serious international traffic, check out our global VPS latency comparison for more detailed routing analysis.

<h2>Storage Performance: sysbench MySQL Madness</h2>

Random Read/Write (4K blocks, 16 threads)

Vultr NVMe Results:

sysbench fileio --file-total-size=4G --file-test-mode=rndrw --time=60 --max-requests=0 --threads=16 run

File operations:
    reads/s:                      8924.67
    writes/s:                     5949.78
    fsyncs/s:                     19076.34

Throughput:
    read, MiB/s:                  139.45
    written, MiB/s:               92.97

General statistics:
    total time:                          60.0036s
    total number of events:              2037734

Kamatera SSD Results:

sysbench fileio --file-total-size=4G --file-test-mode=rndrw --time=60 --max-requests=0 --threads=16 run

File operations:
    reads/s:                      6847.23
    writes/s:                     4564.82
    fsyncs/s:                     14609.67

Throughput:
    read, MiB/s:                  106.99
    written, MiB/s:               71.32

General statistics:
    total time:                          60.0041s
    total number of events:              1562834

~~This is where Vultr absolutely destroys Kamatera~~ - okay that's too harsh, but seriously... 139 MiB/s vs 106 MiB/s read speeds? That NVMe is doing work!

For database workloads, e-commerce sites, or anything I/O intensive, Vultr's gonna feel noticeably snappier.

Use Case Analysis: Where These Actually Shine ✨

Vultr Sweet Spots:

• Web hosting with decent traffic (that storage performance!)
• Development environments (hourly billing = cost effective testing)
• Gaming servers (good global latency, stable performance)
• Docker containers (NVMe helps with image pulls/builds)

Kamatera Better For:

• Enterprise apps that need "enterprise support"
• CPU-intensive tasks (slightly better single-core)
• East Coast focused traffic (better NY peering)
• Compliance stuff (they have more certifications)

Real Usage Experience: The Stuff Benchmarks Don't Show 🎯

Been running production workloads on both for 3 months now. Here's what actually matters day-to-day:

Uptime & Reliability

• Vultr: 99.97% uptime, one planned maintenance window
• Kamatera: 99.94% uptime, two unplanned outages (brief)

Support Response Times

• Vultr: Ticket responses in 2-4 hours typically
• Kamatera: 4-8 hours, but more detailed responses

Control Panel Experience

• Vultr: Clean, intuitive, mobile-friendly 👍
• Kamatera: Functional but feels... dated? Works though.

Pricing Breakdown: What You Actually Pay 💰

Hidden costs to watch:

• Vultr charges for stopped instances (annoying!)
• Kamatera's bandwidth overages are $$$

FAQ: Questions I Keep Getting Asked 🤔

Q: Which one's better for WordPress hosting?

A: Vultr, hands down. That NVMe storage makes WordPress admin feel responsive, and the bandwidth allowance is more generous.

Q: Can I run Docker containers efficiently on either?

A: Both work fine, but Vultr's faster storage helps with container startup times. I've run 15+ containers on the 4GB instances without issues.

Q: What about IPv6 support?

A: Both provide IPv6, but Vultr's implementation feels more polished. Kamatera sometimes has routing quirks.

Q: Which has better DDoS protection?

A: Vultr includes basic protection, Kamatera charges extra. For serious protection, you'll want Cloudflare anyway.

Q: Can I upgrade specs easily?

A: Vultr requires rebuilding instances. Kamatera allows hot upgrades (CPU/RAM), which is actually pretty nice.

Q: What about Windows Server licensing?

A: Both offer Windows, Kamatera's licensing costs are slightly lower.

Q: Which one's API is better for automation?

A: Vultr's API documentation is clearer, more examples. Kamatera works but feels enterprise-y (verbose).

Cancellation & Refunds (Sort Of) 😅

Vultr:

• No setup fees, hourly billing
• Can delete instances anytime
• No refunds on credit top-ups
• Account credits never expire

Kamatera:

• 30-day free trial (with credit card)
• Monthly billing cycles
• 7-day refund policy for new accounts
• Pro-rated cancellations

Reality check: Both are pretty fair, just read the fine print.

Performance Summary: The Numbers Don't Lie 📈

Overall Scores (Out of 10):

Final Verdict: Which One Should You Actually Choose? 🏆

Look, I'm gonna be straight with you... Vultr wins this matchup for most use cases. That storage performance difference is real, the pricing is cleaner, and the overall experience just feels more polished.

Go with Vultr if:

• You want better bang for your buck 💰
• Storage performance matters (databases, file serving)
• You prefer simple, transparent pricing
• You're building modern web applications

Choose Kamatera if:

• You need slightly better CPU performance
• Enterprise support matters to your business
• You want hot-upgrade capabilities
• East Coast networking is priority

Honestly though? For 90% of projects, Vultr is the smarter choice. That extra $2/month at Kamatera doesn't justify what you're getting.

Let's Keep This Conversation Going! 💬

What's your experience with these providers? Drop a comment below - I read every single one and often update these reviews based on real user feedback.

Want me to test specific configurations? I'm always running new benchmarks. Hit me up on Twitter with requests.

Thinking about other providers? Check out our comprehensive reviews of BandwagonHost, AccuWeb, and VPSServer to see how they stack up.

This review comes from: VPSJudge offers real-world VPS hosting reviews, benchmark tests, and expert comparisons to help you choose the right provider.

About The Author

Senior VPS Reviewer | Linux Architect | Network Infrastructure Consultant

Expertise

🔍 Global VPS Reviews: 10+ yrs, 500+ providers, performance/network/I/O/cost analysis
🐧 Linux Optimization: High-concurrency architectures, kernel tuning, KVM & containers (Docker/K8s)
🌐 Network Solutions: CDN acceleration, TCP/IP stack, DDoS mitigation, edge nodes

Certifications

LPIC-3 · CCNP · AWS SAP · CKA

Key Projects

📊 Global VPS Performance Map: Auto-monitoring 30+ country nodes, quarterly industry reports
⚡ Million-concurrency Hybrid CDN: Reduced latency 47%, saved $220K+/yr bandwidth
✍️ Tech Columnist: 60+ in-depth articles on Phoronix/LowEndTalk