Cloud & Infrastructure · head to head
Alibaba Cloud vs Lambda (AWS Serverless)
Alibaba Cloud
Cloud & Infrastructure
Asia's leading cloud computing provider
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Lambda (AWS Serverless)
Cloud & Infrastructure
Run code without thinking about servers
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Alibaba Cloud technical support is a separate subscription, from $19.99 a month for Developer up to $8,000 a month for Enterprise, with only Basic included; Lambda (AWS Serverless) billed on two axes at once, $0.20 per million requests plus $0.0000166667 per GB-second of duration, so memory settings change the bill as much as traffic does
- They diverge on capability: Alibaba Cloud covers Elastic Compute Service, Lambda (AWS Serverless) covers Function-as-a-Service.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Alibaba Cloud and Lambda (AWS Serverless) actually diverge.
| Attribute | Alibaba Cloud | Lambda (AWS Serverless) |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Linux, Windows, Api, Cli | Web, Api |
| Founded | 2009 | 2014 |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (usage-based), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cloud & Infrastructure).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Alibaba Cloud
- Elastic Compute Service
- Object Storage Service
- RDS Database
- MaxCompute
- Function Compute
- CDN
- Load Balancer
- Terraform
Only in Lambda (AWS Serverless)
- Function-as-a-Service
- Event-driven execution
- Auto-scaling
- Pay-per-use
- Multiple languages
- Concurrency limits
- Dead Letter Queues
- Environment variables
Both cover
- API Gateway
- Cloud deployment
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Alibaba Cloud
- Cloud compute and storage with a strong footprint in China and Asia Pacificnot Lambda (AWS Serverless)
- Pay-as-you-go infrastructure without upfront commitmentnot Lambda (AWS Serverless)
- Committed-use discounts through savings plans for steady workloadsnot Lambda (AWS Serverless)
- CDN and data transfer packages for content deliverynot Lambda (AWS Serverless)
Lambda (AWS Serverless)
- Event-driven functions without managing serversnot Alibaba Cloud
- API backends behind API Gatewaynot Alibaba Cloud
- Processing S3, DynamoDB, SQS and Kinesis eventsnot Alibaba Cloud
- Scheduled jobs without a always-on instancenot Alibaba Cloud
- Edge compute through Lambda@Edgenot Alibaba Cloud
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Alibaba Cloud
- Technical support is a separate subscription, from $19.99 a month for Developer up to $8,000 a month for Enterprise, with only Basic included
- Service prices are not shown as a rate card and route through a calculator or sales
- Committed discounts require savings plans, reserved instances or capacity packages rather than being automatic
Lambda (AWS Serverless)
- Billed on two axes at once, $0.20 per million requests plus $0.0000166667 per GB-second of duration, so memory settings change the bill as much as traffic does
- Provisioned concurrency, used to avoid cold starts, is charged separately at $0.0000041667 per GB-second whether or not the function runs
- Ephemeral storage beyond the included 512 MB is metered
- Lambda@Edge costs $0.60 per million requests, three times the standard request rate
- VPC use and cross-region data transfer carry EC2 charges on top
Pricing, plan by plan
Alibaba Cloud
Free- Free TrialFree
- Free tier credits
- ECS instances
- Cloud storage
- Pay-as-You-GoFree
- Flexible billing
- No commitments
- Global reach
Lambda (AWS Serverless)
Free- Free TierFree
- 1M free requests/month
- 400,000 GB-seconds/month
- Always free
Which should you pick?
Choose Alibaba Cloud if
- You need elastic compute service.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, Windows, Api, Cli.
- You also want object storage service.
Choose Lambda (AWS Serverless) if
- You need function-as-a-service.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want event-driven execution.
Questions people ask
- Is Alibaba Cloud or Lambda (AWS Serverless) better?
- Neither clearly leads. Alibaba Cloud starts at Free and Lambda (AWS Serverless) at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Alibaba Cloud or Lambda (AWS Serverless)?
- Alibaba Cloud starts at Free and Lambda (AWS Serverless) at Free.
- Does Alibaba Cloud or Lambda (AWS Serverless) run on more platforms?
- Alibaba Cloud runs on Linux, Windows, Api, Cli. Lambda (AWS Serverless) runs on Web, Api.
- Can I use Alibaba Cloud for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Alibaba Cloud best used for?
- Alibaba Cloud is most often used for cloud compute and storage with a strong footprint in china and asia pacific, pay-as-you-go infrastructure without upfront commitment, committed-use discounts through savings plans for steady workloads, cdn and data transfer packages for content delivery. Of those, cloud compute and storage with a strong footprint in china and asia pacific and pay-as-you-go infrastructure without upfront commitment are not what Lambda (AWS Serverless) is typically brought in for.
- What can Alibaba Cloud do that Lambda (AWS Serverless) cannot?
- Alibaba Cloud covers Elastic Compute Service, Object Storage Service, RDS Database, MaxCompute. Lambda (AWS Serverless) covers Function-as-a-Service, Event-driven execution, Auto-scaling, Pay-per-use. Both handle API Gateway, Cloud deployment.