Both NVMe and SATA SSD storage use flash memory, so it's easy to assume they perform the same. In practice, the interface each one uses to talk to the rest of the server makes a significant difference — but only for certain workloads, and it's worth knowing which.
Why NVMe is faster
SATA SSDs were designed around a protocol built for spinning hard drives, which limits how many commands can be queued at once. NVMe was built specifically for flash and communicates directly over the PCIe bus, allowing far more operations to be in flight simultaneously. That means lower latency and higher throughput under concurrent load.
Why your benchmark probably showed nothing
Copying one large file is a sequential test with a queue depth of roughly one — the single workload where SATA and NVMe are closest. If you want a test that reflects reality, run something concurrent: a database benchmark, or many small reads at once. Otherwise you are measuring the case that does not matter.
When it matters most
- Databases handling many simultaneous read/write operations
- Websites with high concurrent traffic, especially CMS platforms with heavy plugins
- Email servers processing large mail queues
- Container image builds and CI runners
Which of our plans use which
An earlier version of this article said all plans are NVMe by default and that there is no slower tier. Both statements were wrong, and the correction matters because it changes what you should buy:
- Classic VPS is HDD — and for a static site, a VPN endpoint or a scratch box, that is a sensible purchase rather than a compromise.
- SSD VPS and Cloud VPS are Enterprise SSD.
- NVMe VPS is Enterprise NVMe, and it starts at a lower price than the Cloud range.
- VDS plans list NVMe or HDD depending on the plan.
So if storage speed is what you are buying, the cheaper range is the faster one. The full comparison is here, and current specs are on the pricing page.
One caveat worth more than the storage choice
If your database's working set no longer fits in RAM, every query goes to disk and you have a memory problem wearing a storage costume. Faster storage softens that; more memory fixes it. Working out which bottleneck you actually have is worth doing before upgrading either.