Software · head to head
Alibaba Cloud vs Vultr
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; Vultr vultr Cloud Compute pricing as captured 31 December 2022 started at $5/month (1 vCPU, 1GB RAM, 25GB storage, 1TB transfer), scaling to $10/month and $20/month with more vCPU/RAM/storage; bandwidth overage billed at $0.01 to $0.05 per GB depending on plan
- They diverge on capability: Alibaba Cloud covers Elastic Compute Service, Vultr covers Cloud servers.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Alibaba Cloud and Vultr actually diverge.
| Attribute | Alibaba Cloud | Vultr |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Linux, Windows, Api, Cli | Web, Api, Cli |
| Founded | 2009 | 2014 |
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
- CDN
- Load Balancer
- API Gateway
Only in Vultr
- Cloud servers
- Bare metal servers
- Block storage
- Object storage
- Load balancers
- Firewalls
- Private networks
- API
Both cover
- Terraform
- Ansible
- Kubernetes
- Cloud deployment
- Api support
- Cli 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 Vultr
- Pay-as-you-go infrastructure without upfront commitmentnot Vultr
- Committed-use discounts through savings plans for steady workloadsnot Vultr
- CDN and data transfer packages for content deliverynot Vultr
Vultr
- High performance computingnot Alibaba Cloud
- Game serversnot Alibaba Cloud
- Streamingnot Alibaba Cloud
- Database hostingnot Alibaba Cloud
- Application serversnot 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
Vultr
- Vultr Cloud Compute pricing as captured 31 December 2022 started at $5/month (1 vCPU, 1GB RAM, 25GB storage, 1TB transfer), scaling to $10/month and $20/month with more vCPU/RAM/storage; bandwidth overage billed at $0.01 to $0.05 per GB depending on plan
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
Vultr
Free- Cloud Compute$2.5/month
- 512MB RAM
- 10GB SSD
- 500GB bandwidth
- Bare Metal$32/month
- Dedicated hardware
- High performance
- Full root access
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 Vultr if
- You need cloud servers.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api, Cli.
- You also want bare metal servers.
Questions people ask
- Is Alibaba Cloud or Vultr better?
- Neither clearly leads. Alibaba Cloud starts at Free and Vultr at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Alibaba Cloud or Vultr?
- Alibaba Cloud starts at Free and Vultr at Free.
- Does Alibaba Cloud or Vultr run on more platforms?
- Alibaba Cloud runs on Linux, Windows, Api, Cli. Vultr runs on Web, Api, Cli.
- 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 Vultr is typically brought in for.
- What can Alibaba Cloud do that Vultr cannot?
- Alibaba Cloud covers Elastic Compute Service, Object Storage Service, RDS Database, MaxCompute. Vultr covers Cloud servers, Bare metal servers, Block storage, Object storage. Both handle Terraform, Ansible, Kubernetes, Cloud deployment.
Related pages
More on Alibaba Cloud
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