Alibaba vs. Linode
Is Alibaba or Linode right for you?
Founded in 2009 to serve users primarily in China, Alibaba now rivals the big three providers (Google, AWS and Microsoft Azure) globally after entering the U.S. market in 2015. According to Gartner, Alibaba now ranks third among cloud service providers in worldwide market share.
Though Alibaba says that it complies with international regulations, including HIPAA in the United States and the European Union's General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), questions remain given China’s historically lax approach to protecting consumer data. China just recently introduced a law protecting data privacy and is still navigating enforcement.
Many functionalities are still in beta: Alibaba is growing and innovating quickly, which means a big chunk of its emerging tools and capabilities are still in beta testing.
| FEATURES | Alibaba | Linode |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud GPUs | ||
| Free Cloud Firewall | ||
| Free DDoS Protection | ||
| Bare Metal Cloud Servers | ||
| Managed Kubernetes | ||
| Local SSD | ||
| High Memory VMs | ||
| App Marketplace | ||
| 100% Free Human Support | ||
| 1,000+ Documentation Library | ||
| Simple API, CLI, and User-friendly Cloud Interface | ||
| Flat Predictible Pricing | ||
| Free Bundled Transfer | ||
| Same Price Across Every Data Center |
| COMPANY PROFILE | Alibaba | Linode |
|---|---|---|
| Year Founded | 1999 | 2003 |
| Public Cloud Offering Launched | 2009 | 2003 |
| Data Center Regions | 21 | 11 |
| Sells Groceries | Yes | No |
| # of Cloud Products | ~500 | ~20 |
- Why Choose Alibaba?
- Why Choose Linode?
- Why Alibaba?
- Why Linode?
- Want to save money, Linode customers can save 100%-300% over Alibaba with predictable flat pricing and generous bundled transfer.
- Want the best customer support without restrictions. Free 100% human, no-handoff support (including phone support) regardless of spend.
- Appreciate simplicity. Linode dramatically simplifies running applications in the cloud - launch a server in seconds and enjoy our straightforward API, CLI and Cloud Manager interface.
- No lock-in. Linode has always been a leading advocate for open source and open cloud, which means saying no to vendor lock-in and proprietary frameworks and services.
- Non-competitive. As Alibaba continues to disrupt a broader range of industries, competitive conflicts arise, which fosters serious infrastructure questions for many developer teams and businesses. The question is: Do you trust a technology partner to store your data, handle your transactions, support the most intimate details of your business, if that tech partner is also a competitor?
- Want to save money, Linode customers can save 100%-300% over Alibaba with predictable flat pricing and generous bundled transfer.
- Want the best customer support without restrictions. Free 100% human, no-handoff support (including phone support) regardless of spend.
- Appreciate simplicity. Linode dramatically simplifies running applications in the cloud - launch a server in seconds and enjoy our straightforward API, CLI and Cloud Manager interface.
- No lock-in. Linode has always been a leading advocate for open source and open cloud, which means saying no to vendor lock-in and proprietary frameworks and services.
- Non-competitive. As Alibaba continues to disrupt a broader range of industries, competitive conflicts arise, which fosters serious infrastructure questions for many developer teams and businesses. The question is: Do you trust a technology partner to store your data, handle your transactions, support the most intimate details of your business, if that tech partner is also a competitor?
- You have a need for speed: Alibaba famously put its speed to the test in and delivered record-breaking results. The company saw $38 billion in sales on Singles Day, a massive shopping event similar to Amazon’s Prime Day, smashing not only sales records but also ecommerce transaction speed records. The company has also beaten competitors by setting records in data sorting, mitigating DDoS attacks, and storage capacity, according to InfoWorld.
- You’re conducting business in China: Though Alibaba now has a global footprint, its operational sweet spot is still in China. Not only is it the largest public cloud vendor in China, it also offers ecommerce tools that make it easier for companies to conduct business in China. With seven data centers in mainland China and one in Hong Kong, Alibaba’s reach in China is unmatched.
- You’re seeking advanced services—lots of them: AWS offers its users 175 services, but Alibaba blows this number out of the water with 597 products and over 300 solutions. There are a lot of options to choose from for businesses of any size, including tools for e-commerce, IoT, AI, multimedia and many other needs.
- You have a need for speed: Alibaba famously put its speed to the test in and delivered record-breaking results. The company saw $38 billion in sales on Singles Day, a massive shopping event similar to Amazon’s Prime Day, smashing not only sales records but also ecommerce transaction speed records. The company has also beaten competitors by setting records in data sorting, mitigating DDoS attacks, and storage capacity, according to InfoWorld.
- You’re conducting business in China: Though Alibaba now has a global footprint, its operational sweet spot is still in China. Not only is it the largest public cloud vendor in China, it also offers ecommerce tools that make it easier for companies to conduct business in China. With seven data centers in mainland China and one in Hong Kong, Alibaba’s reach in China is unmatched.
- You’re seeking advanced services—lots of them: AWS offers its users 175 services, but Alibaba blows this number out of the water with 597 products and over 300 solutions. There are a lot of options to choose from for businesses of any size, including tools for e-commerce, IoT, AI, multimedia and many other needs.
Alibaba vs Linode Price Comparison
Dedicated virtual machines For CPU-intensive applications
|
$20.00 / mo
|
|---|---|
|
$64.65 / mo
|
Linode Shared 2 vCPU 4 GB RAM, 80 GB SSD vs Alibaba Cloud Enhanced Compute ecs.c6e.large, 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB SSD
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