Alibaba Cloud
vs
Lambda Labs
What's good about each
- 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
- Offers high-performance GPUs such as the Nvidia H100, H200, and GH200
- Easy to use dashboard and competitive prices
- Private cloud available (isolated, physical access)
Price comparison
Closest matching configuration on each side, monthly list price in USD.
| Service | Alibaba Cloud | Lambda Labs | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small VM | $5.62 /mo 2 vCPU, 1 GiB RAM (ecs.e-c2m1.large) | -- Not listed | |
| Medium VM | $60.34 /mo 4 vCPU, 8 GiB RAM (ecs.e-c1m2.xlarge) | -- Not listed | |
| Large VM | $188.64 /mo 8 vCPU, 16 GiB RAM (ecs.c8a.2xlarge) | -- Not listed | |
| Block storage | $7.60 /mo 100 GB (ESSD PL0) | $20.00 /mo 100 GB @ $0.20/GB/mo | 62% cheaper on Alibaba Cloud |
| Object storage | $27.70 /mo 1 TB | -- Not listed | |
| Load balancer | $19.40 /mo Network Load Balancer | -- Not listed | |
| Serverless | $20.63 /mo 25M invocations, 512 MB RAM, 150 ms duration (0.15 vCPU) | -- Not listed | |
| Egress allowance | 200 GB / mo | -- Not listed | |
| Egress | $74.00 /TB $0.074 / GB | Free and unlimited |
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
Alibaba Cloud offers 4 GPU models, while Lambda Labs offers 8. Cheapest listed price per GPU per hour; GPUs both providers sell come first.
| GPU | Alibaba Cloud | Lambda Labs | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
V100
14 configs · 2 configs
|
$2.70 /GPU/hr On-demand | $0.79 /GPU/hr On-demand · sold out | 71% cheaper on Lambda Labs |
|
A10
26 configs · 1 config
|
$1.27 /GPU/hr On-demand | $1.29 /GPU/hr On-demand | Within 5% |
|
T4
12 configs
|
$0.62 /GPU/hr Reserved (12 mo) | -- | Alibaba Cloud only |
|
P100
12 configs
|
$0.87 /GPU/hr Reserved (12 mo) | -- | Alibaba Cloud only |
|
H100
5 configs
|
-- | $3.29 /GPU/hr On-demand · sold out | Lambda Labs only |
|
B200
3 configs
|
-- | $6.69 /GPU/hr On-demand · sold out | Lambda Labs only |
|
A100
6 configs
|
-- | $1.99 /GPU/hr On-demand | Lambda Labs only |
|
RTX A6000
3 configs
|
-- | $1.09 /GPU/hr On-demand · sold out | Lambda Labs only |
|
GH200
1 config
|
-- | $2.29 /GPU/hr On-demand · sold out | Lambda Labs only |
|
Quadro RTX 6000
1 config
|
-- | $0.69 /GPU/hr On-demand · sold out | Lambda Labs only |
Alibaba Cloud bills on-demand and reserved (12 months); Lambda Labs bills on-demand. 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 | Alibaba Cloud | Lambda Labs |
|---|---|---|
| SOC 2 | Type II | Type II |
| ISO 27001 | Yes | Yes |
| HIPAA | Yes | -- |
| GDPR | Yes | -- |
| PCI DSS | Level 1 | -- |
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 | Alibaba Cloud | Lambda Labs |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2009 | 2012 |
| Headquarters | China | USA |
| Locations | 31 | 15 |
| Example customers | Taobao, Henkel, Hang Seng Bank, Tiger Brokers | Intuitive, Writer, Sony, Samsung, Pika |
| Website | www.alibabacloud.com | lambda.ai |
Alternatives to consider
Compare Alibaba Cloud and Lambda Labs against other cloud providers.
Our data for Alibaba Cloud was last updated on Oct. 1, 2026, and for Lambda Labs on Oct. 2, 2026.