What's good about...
Alibaba Cloud
- Strong presence in Asia and over 3,000 points of presence (POPs) around the world
- Extensive range of managed services and server configurations
- Offers a solid range of GPU servers
Microsoft Azure
- Integrations with the rest of Microsoft's products
- Extensive range of managed services, from serverless to databases to queues to AI
- Generous free tier, and compute savings plans available
- 60+ datacenter locations around the world
Price comparison
How do Alibaba Cloud's prices compare against Microsoft Azure?
| Example configuration |
Alibaba Cloud
|
Microsoft Azure
|
|---|---|---|
| VM Small | $15.21 / mo 1 vCPU, 1 GiB RAM (ecs.xn4.small) | $7.49 / mo 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM (B1s) |
| VM Medium | $89.79 / mo 4 vCPU, 8 GiB RAM (ecs.c7.xlarge) | $137.52 / mo 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM (A4v2) |
| VM Large | $170.49 / mo 8 vCPU, 16 GiB RAM (ecs.c7.2xlarge) | $288.00 / mo 8 vCPU, 16 GB RAM (A8v2) |
| Block Storage | $11.20 / mo 100 GB (Enhanced SSD PL0) | $9.60 / mo 128 GiB |
| Object Storage | $43.84 / mo 1 TB, 250 GB reads, 100 GB writes | $21.50 / mo 1 TB |
| Load Balancer | $16.56 / mo Small I (slb.s1.small) | $23.25 / mo Standard |
| Managed PostgreSQL | $114.92 / mo 2 vCPU, 8 GB RAM (general-purpose) | $131.89 / mo 2 vCPU, 4 GiB RAM, 50 GB storage (Gen 5) |
| Managed Redis®* | $43.09 / mo 1 GB Performance-enhanced (HA) | $39.60 / mo 1 vCPU, 1 GiB RAM (Basic C1) |
| Serverless 25M Executions | -- | $29.80 / mo 25M invocations, 512 MB RAM, 150 ms duration |
| Free egress allowance | 10 GB / mo | 100 GB / mo |
| 1 TB of egress beyond allowance | $74.00 $0.074 / GB | $87.00 $0.087 / GB (Premium network North America) |
Azure offers GPUs in the following configurations:
| Name | GPUs | VRAM | vCPUs | RAM | Price/h | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NC4as T4 v3 | 1x T4 | 16GB | 4 | 28GB | $0.53 | |
| NC8as T4 v3 | 1x T4 | 16GB | 8 | 56GB | $0.75 | |
| NC6 | 1x K80 | 12GB | 6 | 56GB | $0.90 | |
| NV6 | 1x M60 | 8GB | 6 | 56GB | $1.14 | |
| NV12s v3 | 1x M60 | 8GB | 12 | 112GB | $1.14 | |
| NC16as T4 v3 | 1x T4 | 16GB | 16 | 110GB | $1.20 | |
| NC12 | 2x K80 | 24GB | 12 | 112GB | $1.80 | |
| NC6s v2 | 1x P100 | 16GB | 6 | 112GB | $2.07 | |
| ND6s | 1x P40 | 24GB | 6 | 112GB | $2.07 | |
| NV12 | 2x M60 | 16GB | 12 | 112GB | $2.28 | |
| NV24s v3 | 2x M60 | 16GB | 24 | 224GB | $2.28 | |
| NC6s v3 | 1x V100 | 16GB | 6 | 112GB | $3.06 | |
| NC24 | 4x K80 | 48GB | 24 | 224GB | $3.60 | |
| NC24r | 4x K80 | 48GB | 24 | 224GB | $3.96 | |
| NC12s v2 | 2x P100 | 32GB | 12 | 224GB | $4.14 | |
| ND12s | 2x P40 | 48GB | 12 | 224GB | $4.14 | |
| NC64as T4 v3 | 4x T4 | 64GB | 64 | 440GB | $4.35 | |
| NV48s v3 | 4x M60 | 32GB | 48 | 448GB | $4.56 | |
| NV24 | 4x M60 | 32GB | 24 | 224GB | $4.56 | |
| NC24ads A100 v4 | 1x A100 | 80GB | 24 | 220GB | $4.78 | Launch |
| NC12s v3 | 2x V100 | 32GB | 12 | 224GB | $6.12 | |
| ND24s | 4x P40 | 96GB | 24 | 448GB | $8.28 | |
| NC24s v2 | 4x P100 | 64GB | 24 | 448GB | $8.28 | |
| ND24rs | 4x P40 | 96GB | 24 | 448GB | $9.11 | |
| NC24rs v2 | 4x P100 | 64GB | 24 | 448GB | $9.11 | |
| NC24s v3 | 4x V100 | 64GB | 24 | 448GB | $12.24 | |
| NC24rs v3 | 4x V100 | 64GB | 24 | 448GB | $13.46 | |
| ND40rs v2 | 8x V100 | 256GB | 40 | 672GB | $22.03 | |
| ND96asr A100 v4 | 8x A100 | 320GB | 96 | 900GB | $27.20 | |
Note: Our pricing examples are based on several assumptions. Your actual costs may differ. Always check the cloud provider's website for the most up-to-date pricing.
Which services do they offer?
Here are some of the managed services that Alibaba Cloud and Microsoft Azure offer:
| Service |
Alibaba Cloud
|
Microsoft Azure
|
|---|---|---|
| Block Storage | ||
| Content Delivery Network (CDN) | ||
| Container Registry | ||
| GPU-powered Servers | ||
| Load Balancer | ||
| Managed Containers | ||
| Managed Kubernetes | ||
| Managed MySQL | ||
| Managed PostgreSQL | ||
| Managed Redis®* | ||
| Object Storage | ||
| Serverless Cron Jobs | ||
| Serverless Functions | ||
| Static Sites | ||
| Virtual Private Server (VPS) | -- |
Company details
|
Alibaba Cloud
|
Microsoft Azure
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Website | www.alibabacloud.com | azure.microsoft.com |
| Headquarters | Singapore 🇸🇬 | United States of America 🇺🇸 |
| Founded | 2009 | 2008 |
| Data Center Locations | 30 | 66 |
| Example Customers | Taobao, Henkel, Hang Seng Bank, Tiger Brokers | General Motors, NHS, Fujitsu, NBA |
|
Alibaba Cloud
|
|
|---|---|
| Website | www.alibabacloud.com |
| Headquarters | Singapore 🇸🇬 |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Data Center Locations | 30 |
| Example Customers | Taobao, Henkel, Hang Seng Bank, Tiger Brokers |
|
Microsoft Azure
|
|
|---|---|
| Website | azure.microsoft.com |
| Headquarters | United States of America 🇺🇸 |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Data Center Locations | 66 |
| Example Customers | General Motors, NHS, Fujitsu, NBA |
Alternatives to consider
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Our data for Alibaba Cloud was last updated on July 24, 2024, and for Microsoft Azure on Sept. 28, 2024.