What is Alibaba Cloud?
Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun) is the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group. Third largest cloud provider globally after AWS and Azure. Particularly strong in Asia and for companies doing business in China.
How does Alibaba Cloud pricing work?
Pay-as-you-go or subscription pricing like other clouds. Often competitive with AWS/Azure. Prices in USD for international, RMB for China. Calculator available on their site.
Why use Alibaba Cloud?
Best option for serving users in China (requires ICP license anyway). Competitive pricing globally. Good for companies with Asian customer base. Strong in AI and big data services.
Alibaba Cloud vs AWS?
AWS is larger with more services and better global presence. Alibaba Cloud is better for China market and often cheaper. AWS for most use cases; Alibaba for China-focused businesses.
What services does Alibaba Cloud offer?
Compute (ECS), storage (OSS), databases, networking, security, AI/ML, big data, and more. Full cloud platform similar to AWS. Especially strong in e-commerce and retail tech.