Software · head to head
Alibaba Cloud vs Vagrant
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; Vagrant vagrant 2.4.3 and later is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1 with IBM Corporation as licensor, not an OSI open source licence
- They diverge on capability: Alibaba Cloud covers Elastic Compute Service, Vagrant covers Box management.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Alibaba Cloud and Vagrant actually diverge.
| Attribute | Alibaba Cloud | Vagrant |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | usage-based | open-source |
| Platforms | Linux, Windows, Api, Cli | Linux, Windows, Mac |
| Founded | 2009 | 2010 |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), 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
- CDN
- Load Balancer
- API Gateway
Only in Vagrant
- Box management
- Provider support
- Multi-machine setups
- Provisioners
- Networking
- Synced folders
- Snapshots
- Plugins
Both cover
- Ansible
- Docker
- Cloud deployment
- 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 Vagrant
- Pay-as-you-go infrastructure without upfront commitmentnot Vagrant
- Committed-use discounts through savings plans for steady workloadsnot Vagrant
- CDN and data transfer packages for content deliverynot Vagrant
Vagrant
- Reproducible local development environments defined in a Vagrantfilenot Alibaba Cloud
- Provisioning identical VMs across VirtualBox, VMware and Hyper-V for a teamnot Alibaba Cloud
- Sandboxing multi-machine setups on a developer laptopnot 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
Vagrant
- Vagrant 2.4.3 and later is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1 with IBM Corporation as licensor, not an OSI open source licence
- The Additional Use Grant forbids offering Vagrant to third parties on a hosted or embedded basis in a paid product that competes with IBM's paid versions of Vagrant
- Each version converts to the MPL 2.0 Change License only four years after that version is first published
- Uses that fall outside the Additional Use Grant require a separately negotiated licence from the licensor
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
Vagrant
Free- Open SourceFree
- Development environment provisioning
- Multiple providers
- Provisioner 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 Vagrant if
- You need box management.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, Windows, Mac.
- You also want provider support.
Questions people ask
- Is Alibaba Cloud or Vagrant better?
- Neither clearly leads. Alibaba Cloud starts at Free and Vagrant at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Alibaba Cloud or Vagrant?
- Alibaba Cloud starts at Free and Vagrant at Free.
- Does Alibaba Cloud or Vagrant run on more platforms?
- Alibaba Cloud runs on Linux, Windows, Api, Cli. Vagrant runs on Linux, Windows, Mac.
- 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 Vagrant is typically brought in for.
- What can Alibaba Cloud do that Vagrant cannot?
- Alibaba Cloud covers Elastic Compute Service, Object Storage Service, RDS Database, MaxCompute. Vagrant covers Box management, Provider support, Multi-machine setups, Provisioners. Both handle Ansible, Docker, Cloud deployment, Linux support.