Software · head to head
Alibaba Cloud vs Fastly
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; Fastly bandwidth is priced per region, and delivery to India, Africa and South Korea is $0.28 per GB against $0.12 in North America and Europe
- They diverge on capability: Alibaba Cloud covers Elastic Compute Service, Fastly covers Edge Compute.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Alibaba Cloud and Fastly actually diverge.
| Attribute | Alibaba Cloud | Fastly |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Linux, Windows, Api, Cli | Web, Api |
| Founded | 2009 | 2011 |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (usage-based), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).
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
- Load Balancer
- API Gateway
- Ansible
Only in Fastly
- Edge Compute
- DDoS Protection
- Real-time Analytics
- Image Optimization
- Video Streaming
- API
- Instant Purge
- GitHub
Both cover
- CDN
- Terraform
- Cloud deployment
- Api support
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 Fastly
- Pay-as-you-go infrastructure without upfront commitmentnot Fastly
- Committed-use discounts through savings plans for steady workloadsnot Fastly
- CDN and data transfer packages for content deliverynot Fastly
Fastly
- Serving static and dynamic content through a global CDNnot Alibaba Cloud
- Running edge logic and caching in front of an origin applicationnot 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
Fastly
- Bandwidth is priced per region, and delivery to India, Africa and South Korea is $0.28 per GB against $0.12 in North America and Europe
- The same traffic therefore costs more than twice as much depending on where the audience is, which is invisible until the bill arrives
- The free allowance is 100 GB of bandwidth and 1M requests a month
- Requests are billed separately from bandwidth, at $0.01 per 10,000 above the first million
- High volume rates past 50 TB are not published and require contacting sales
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
Fastly
Free- Free TrialFree
- CDN
- DDoS protection
- Real-time analytics
- Pay-As-You-GoFree
- Usage-based pricing
- Advanced features
- Priority support
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 Fastly if
- You need edge compute.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want ddos protection.
Questions people ask
- Is Alibaba Cloud or Fastly better?
- Neither clearly leads. Alibaba Cloud starts at Free and Fastly at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Alibaba Cloud or Fastly?
- Alibaba Cloud starts at Free and Fastly at Free.
- Does Alibaba Cloud or Fastly run on more platforms?
- Alibaba Cloud runs on Linux, Windows, Api, Cli. Fastly 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 Fastly is typically brought in for.
- What can Alibaba Cloud do that Fastly cannot?
- Alibaba Cloud covers Elastic Compute Service, Object Storage Service, RDS Database, MaxCompute. Fastly covers Edge Compute, DDoS Protection, Real-time Analytics, Image Optimization. Both handle CDN, Terraform, Cloud deployment, Api support.
Related pages
More on Alibaba Cloud
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