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Cloud & Infrastructure · head to head

Alibaba Cloud vs Prometheus

Alibaba Cloud logo

Alibaba Cloud

Cloud & Infrastructure

Asia's leading cloud computing provider

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Prometheus logo

Prometheus

Network & Connectivity

Open source monitoring and alerting toolkit for cloud native environments

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

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; Prometheus not suitable for per-request billing as collected data lacks 100% accuracy
  • They diverge on capability: Alibaba Cloud covers Elastic Compute Service, Prometheus covers Multi-dimensional Data Model.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Alibaba Cloud and Prometheus actually diverge.

Attributes where Alibaba Cloud and Prometheus differ
AttributeAlibaba CloudPrometheus
Pricing modelusage-basedopen-source
PlatformsLinux, Windows, Api, CliLinux, macOS, Windows
CategoryCloud & InfrastructureNetwork & Connectivity
Founded20092015

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

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
  • API Gateway

Only in Prometheus

  • Multi-dimensional Data Model
  • PromQL Query Language
  • Pull-based Collection
  • Service Discovery
  • Alerting Rules
  • Federation
  • Local Storage
  • Grafana

Both cover

  • Kubernetes
  • Linux support
  • Windows 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 Prometheus
  • Pay-as-you-go infrastructure without upfront commitmentnot Prometheus
  • Committed-use discounts through savings plans for steady workloadsnot Prometheus
  • CDN and data transfer packages for content deliverynot Prometheus

Prometheus

  • Cloud-native monitoring and alertingnot Alibaba Cloud
  • Time-series metrics collectionnot Alibaba Cloud
  • Infrastructure monitoringnot 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

Prometheus

  • Not suitable for per-request billing as collected data lacks 100% accuracy
  • Hard limit on scrape body size; large responses cause scrape failure
  • Per-scrape sample limit enforced; exceeding limit marks targets as failed
  • Not designed for long-term durable storage; optimised for metrics collection

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

Prometheus

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Prometheus review.

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.
Alibaba Cloud review

Choose Prometheus if

  • You need multi-dimensional data model.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want promql query language.
Prometheus review

Questions people ask

Is Alibaba Cloud or Prometheus better?
Neither clearly leads. Alibaba Cloud starts at Free and Prometheus at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Alibaba Cloud or Prometheus?
Alibaba Cloud starts at Free and Prometheus at Free.
Does Alibaba Cloud or Prometheus run on more platforms?
Alibaba Cloud runs on Linux, Windows, Api, Cli. Prometheus runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
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 Prometheus is typically brought in for.
What can Alibaba Cloud do that Prometheus cannot?
Alibaba Cloud covers Elastic Compute Service, Object Storage Service, RDS Database, MaxCompute. Prometheus covers Multi-dimensional Data Model, PromQL Query Language, Pull-based Collection, Service Discovery. Both handle Kubernetes, Linux support, Windows support.
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