Akamai Cloud
vs
Alibaba Cloud
What's good about each
- Wide range of VPS configurations including including GPU instances
- Managed PostgreSQL, MySQL, Kubernetes, and Object Storage
- Competitive pricing with generous per-instance egress allowances
- 30+ data center locations across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and South America
- 30+ regions, most in mainland China and Asia-Pacific
- 3,200+ CDN nodes in 70+ countries
- Qwen models served through Model Studio
- PolarDB, its own MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible database
Price comparison
Closest matching configuration on each side, monthly list price in USD.
| Service | Akamai Cloud | Alibaba Cloud | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small VM | $5.00 /mo 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM (Shared) | $5.62 /mo 2 vCPU, 1 GiB RAM (ecs.e-c2m1.large) | 11% cheaper on Akamai Cloud |
| Medium VM | $48.00 /mo 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM (Shared) | $60.34 /mo 4 vCPU, 8 GiB RAM (ecs.e-c1m2.xlarge) | 20% cheaper on Akamai Cloud |
| Large VM | $144.00 /mo 8 vCPU, 16 GB RAM (Dedicated 16GB) | $188.64 /mo 8 vCPU, 16 GiB RAM (ecs.c8a.2xlarge) | 24% cheaper on Akamai Cloud |
| Block storage | $10.00 /mo 100 GB | $7.60 /mo 100 GB (ESSD PL0) | 24% cheaper on Alibaba Cloud |
| Object storage | $20.00 /mo 1 TB | $27.70 /mo 1 TB | 28% cheaper on Akamai Cloud |
| PostgreSQL | $63.00 /mo 2 CPU, 4 GB RAM, 58 GB storage (Shared, 1 node) | -- Not listed | |
| Load balancer | $10.00 /mo | $19.40 /mo Network Load Balancer | 48% cheaper on Akamai Cloud |
| Serverless | -- Not listed | $20.63 /mo 25M invocations, 512 MB RAM, 150 ms duration (0.15 vCPU) | |
| Egress allowance | 1-20 TB / mo per instance | 200 GB / mo | |
| Egress | $5.00 /TB $0.005 / GB | $74.00 /TB $0.074 / GB | 93% cheaper on Akamai Cloud |
Heads up: Figures take each provider's closest plan to a common setup, and vary by region and usage. Hover a service for the reference configuration. Verify before provisioning. More on how we price.
GPUs
Akamai Cloud offers 3 GPU models, while Alibaba Cloud offers 4. Cheapest listed price per GPU per hour; GPUs both providers sell come first.
| GPU | Akamai Cloud | Alibaba Cloud | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
RTX PRO 6000
4 configs
|
$3.00 /GPU/hr On-demand | -- | Akamai Cloud only |
|
RTX 4000 Ada
9 configs
|
$0.52 /GPU/hr On-demand | -- | Akamai Cloud only |
|
Quadro RTX 6000
4 configs
|
$1.50 /GPU/hr On-demand | -- | Akamai Cloud only |
|
V100
14 configs
|
-- | $1.51 /GPU/hr Reserved (12 mo) | Alibaba Cloud only |
|
T4
12 configs
|
-- | $0.62 /GPU/hr Reserved (12 mo) | Alibaba Cloud only |
|
A10
26 configs
|
-- | $0.71 /GPU/hr Reserved (12 mo) | Alibaba Cloud only |
|
P100
12 configs
|
-- | $0.87 /GPU/hr Reserved (12 mo) | Alibaba Cloud only |
Akamai Cloud bills on-demand; Alibaba Cloud bills on-demand and reserved (12 months). The line under each price names the billing type shown.
Services
Managed services each provider offers.
Compliance
Frameworks each provider states on its own site, each linked to its source.
| Framework | Akamai Cloud | Alibaba Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| SOC 2 | Yes | Type II |
| ISO 27001 | Yes | Yes |
| HIPAA | Yes | Yes |
| GDPR | Yes | Yes |
| PCI DSS | Yes | Level 1 |
| FedRAMP | Yes | -- |
Heads up: Each entry links to the provider's own statement. An attestation can cover one tier, one region or the platform alone rather than every service. Verify the scope before you rely on it. A dash means we found nothing to link to, not that the provider lacks it.
Company details
| Fact | Akamai Cloud | Alibaba Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2003 | 2009 |
| Headquarters | USA | China |
| Locations | 31 | 31 |
| Example customers | Panasonic, Best Buy, Wayfair and Giphy | Taobao, Henkel, Hang Seng Bank, Tiger Brokers |
| Website | www.akamai.com | www.alibabacloud.com |
Alternatives to consider
Compare Akamai Cloud and Alibaba Cloud against other cloud providers.
Our data for Akamai Cloud was last updated on Oct. 1, 2026, and for Alibaba Cloud on Oct. 1, 2026.