Cloud & Infrastructure · head to head
Vagrant vs Alibaba Cloud
Alibaba Cloud
Cloud & Infrastructure
Asia's leading cloud computing provider
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: 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; 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
- They diverge on capability: Vagrant covers Box management, Alibaba Cloud covers Elastic Compute Service.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Vagrant and Alibaba Cloud actually diverge.
| Attribute | Vagrant | Alibaba Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | open-source | usage-based |
| Platforms | Linux, Windows, Mac | Linux, Windows, Api, Cli |
| Founded | 2010 | 2009 |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), 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 Vagrant
- Box management
- Provider support
- Multi-machine setups
- Provisioners
- Networking
- Synced folders
- Snapshots
- Plugins
Only in Alibaba Cloud
- Elastic Compute Service
- Object Storage Service
- RDS Database
- MaxCompute
- Function Compute
- CDN
- Load Balancer
- API Gateway
Both cover
- Docker
- Ansible
- Cloud deployment
- Linux support
- Windows support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
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
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
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
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
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
Pricing, plan by plan
Vagrant
Free- Open SourceFree
- Development environment provisioning
- Multiple providers
- Provisioner support
Alibaba Cloud
Free- Free TrialFree
- Free tier credits
- ECS instances
- Cloud storage
- Pay-as-You-GoFree
- Flexible billing
- No commitments
- Global reach
Which should you pick?
Choose Vagrant if
- You need box management.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, Windows, Mac.
- You also want provider support.
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.
Questions people ask
- Is Vagrant or Alibaba Cloud better?
- Neither clearly leads. Vagrant starts at Free and Alibaba Cloud at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Vagrant or Alibaba Cloud?
- Vagrant starts at Free and Alibaba Cloud at Free.
- Does Vagrant or Alibaba Cloud run on more platforms?
- Vagrant runs on Linux, Windows, Mac. Alibaba Cloud runs on Linux, Windows, Api, Cli.
- Can I use Vagrant for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Vagrant best used for?
- Vagrant is most often used for reproducible local development environments defined in a vagrantfile, provisioning identical vms across virtualbox, vmware and hyper-v for a team, sandboxing multi-machine setups on a developer laptop. Of those, reproducible local development environments defined in a vagrantfile and provisioning identical vms across virtualbox, vmware and hyper-v for a team are not what Alibaba Cloud is typically brought in for.
- What can Vagrant do that Alibaba Cloud cannot?
- Vagrant covers Box management, Provider support, Multi-machine setups, Provisioners. Alibaba Cloud covers Elastic Compute Service, Object Storage Service, RDS Database, MaxCompute. Both handle Docker, Ansible, Cloud deployment, Linux support.