How Much Traffic Can My $4 Server Handle?

How much traffic can a $4 server handle before it starts struggling? In this video, I used k6 to load-test my Django application running on a $4 DigitalOcean VPS with just 1 vCPU and 512MB RAM. I started with 5 requests per second, increased the target to 40 RPS, and monitored CPU usage, response times, and overall server performance. Technologies: Django, PostgreSQL, Gunicorn, Nginx, DigitalOcean, and k6. ⏱️ Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 01:42 The Server We’re Testing 02:49 The Load Testing Experiment 04:28 Monitoring the Server 05:40 What the Test Will Actually Hit 06:40 Setting Up the k6 Load Test 07:49 Baseline Test — 5 Requests/Second 09:50 Baseline Results 11:40 Preparing the Stress Test 13:08 Stress Test — 40 Requests/Second 14:28 The Server Starts Struggling 15:07 Stress Test Results 16:30 Watching the Server Recover 18:40 Final Thoughts In the next video, I'll upgrade the server and repeat the experiment to see how much performance improves.