Key Points
This article was created in collaboration with Alibaba Cloud. Thank you for supporting the partners who made SitePoint possible.
Cloud computing allows you to use virtual machines over the Internet to use computer services such as servers, databases, analysis, and more.
This concept has been around since the birth of the Internet, but it really started to rise after Amazon launched its elastic computing cloud (later known as Amazon Web Services, or AWS) in 2006. Since then, as cloud computing has developed into a huge growth industry, many other competitors have also entered the market.
Cloud computing providers allow you to host websites and applications, store data and assets, run software-as-a-service applications, provide on-demand services such as streaming videos, photo backups and storage, and even use artificial intelligence services.
One of the main advantages of cloud computing is that you only have to pay for the use, just like paying for gas or electricity. You can think of it as a "rental" server located in the "cloud". This makes it possible to access multiple high-end servers at very low prices and run the latest software without the cost and hassle of running the actual server.
Another advantage of cloud computing is elastic scaling, that is, using a load balancer to increase or decrease the computing power used by the service as needed. This allows you to start the service without making a lot of pre-investment and helps reduce some of the risks of starting a new service while still allowing future expansion. For example, Alibaba Cloud's load balancer can use shared resources, but can also switch to an instance that guarantees performance when needed.
Cloud computing providers can also easily set up and deploy ready-made and custom built virtual machines using a variety of operating systems. You can start a new instance and run it in minutes. Virtual servers do not require any management and are able to take advantage of the vast infrastructure located around the world, which means people can access your site from all over the world without worrying about latency. Their distributed nature means there is no single point of failure, which makes them extremely reliable with almost 100% uptime. Backup and recovery are also built into the service, so you don't need to worry about data loss. No IT administrator is needed here!
In this article, we will look at the three major providers - AWS, Alibaba Cloud and DigitalOcean - and compare them using the following criteria:
All three services offer very similar products, but in slightly different ways. Hope this article helps you decide which one is best for you.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a giant in cloud computing. Launched in 2006, it currently offers an impressive range of services and is a clear leader in the field. When you first log in to AWS, you feel the familiar feeling of Amazon’s website – it’s almost like you’re just buying something else from their store. Initially, a large number of options can be overwhelming.
Alibaba is often called "China's Amazon". They launched Alibaba Cloud in 2009, as a direct competitor to AWS, focusing on the Asian market. Since then, it has achieved significant growth and is now the largest cloud provider in China. In 2017, they were named the official cloud service provider for the Olympics, and this year they won the MySQL Enterprise Contributor Award for their contribution to open source. Alibaba Cloud is vigorously boosting its products in 2018 and has recently promised to invest $15 billion in its already impressive cloud computing services over the next three years. When you log in to Alibaba Cloud, you will notice that it has a modern and professional feel. They also offer incredible tons of options that can feel a little scary at first.
DigitalOcean was founded in 2012 with the goal of making it easy for developers to build applications in the cloud. My first impression of their website is that it looks simple and user-friendly. They also used the concept of "Droplets", namely virtual machines at various price points. This fits the company's theme, reimagining the cloud as a digital ocean, where each virtual machine is a droplet in the digital ocean. This approach certainly makes getting started easier without having to browse through a lot of options.
Services provided
All 3 cloud computing providers in our review offer similar products in terms of basic supply. This includes: All services are easy to set up and have a good UI, but AWS and Alibaba Cloud can sometimes look a little complicated, with buttons, sliders and knobs everywhere! It's just because they have more options. DigitalOcean keeps it simple, which makes for a more enjoyable user experience when setting things up. All 3 services rely on your ability to issue commands comfortably through the console. They all have a lot of documentation and tutorials that will guide you through various processes. The following table highlights some of the differences provided by each service: Function AWS Alibaba Cloud DigitalOcean Region America, Europe and Asia, as well as one region in South America, two regions in the United States, one region in Europe, and many regions in Asia, including a large number of regions in China and some unique regions in Alibaba Cloud Regions in the United States and Europe, 1 region in Asia Operating System Windows Server Multiple Linux Distributions Windows Server Multiple Linux Distributions Multiple Linux Distributions Integrated Storage using Amazon S3, Elastic Block Store or Elastic File System The integrated solution for integrated object storage services, elastic block storage and network attached storage is called Spaces Database Amazon Dynamo DB, Amazon Redshift an umbrella product that provides hosting Redis, MongoDB, MySQL, SQL Server and PostreSQL. AsparaDB, HybridDB, PolarDB (coming soon) does not have integrated cloud options, but you can install any database, such as MySQL, PostGresSQL MongoDB, and other additional features. Elastic Beanstalk allows you to quickly build web applications. There are plenty of integrations with all other Amazon web services. MaxCompute, a large number of documented award-winning Peta Scale data platform, offers managed database products for every possible data type, and provides a free Plesk Admin console. Free DDoS for all public endpoints protects a large and friendly community of developers. Install popular services like WordPress, Ruby on Rails, and Ghost in one click. DigitalOcean Monitoring allows you to easily track various metrics. As can be seen from the table, AWS is the only provider with data centers on all continents. Alibaba Cloud attaches great importance to the Asian market and has data centers in Dubai, Malaysia and Indonesia. They are also adding products in the West, with data centers in North America and Europe. DigitalOcean focuses mainly on Western countries. AWS and Alibaba Cloud provide Windows Server, while DigitalOcean only uses Linux servers. However, it should be noted that running a virtual Windows Server is more expensive. All 3 services offer their own integrated storage solutions, and AWS and Alibaba Cloud provide cloud-based databases. You can also install any database software directly onto the virtual machines of all services. They all offer an impressive list of extra features that help manage your virtual server and ensure it runs smoothly. Ali Cloud also has impressive advanced security services, successfully defending against a large number of attacks over the years through resilient network application firewalls. Comparing the pricing of these services is actually very difficult! The fine-grained customization levels provided by AWS and Alibaba Cloud mean it is difficult to make accurate comparisons. More complicated is that if you don't need to always provide services, you can get cheaper deals from AWS. Amazon pricing is all "on demand", so you only have to pay for the actual use. If you don't need the service to be always available, they also offer reservations and preemption instances for a lower price. DigitalOcean uses the concept of Droplets, which are paid on a monthly subscription. They try again to simplify the process and avoid using complex calculators to predict your monthly costs. The lowest-priced Droplet starts at $5 per month for basic starter packages. You can upgrade to a different Droplet at any time, or you can pay extra memory or storage fees as needed. Ali Cloud offers on-demand options between AWS and DigitalOcean's Droplets. They offer billing per second for pay-per-view instances, but offer discounts for ongoing monthly and annual use. They also offer package plans that make it easier for you to start using the most common configurations you have built for you and generally offer better value than the same pay-per-view option. Although it's hard to compare prices, here are some different settings and prices to give you an idea of what you might have to pay: Note that AWS charges by hour, so it has been multiplied by 730.5 as an estimated number of hours per month. You must pay an additional storage fee using the S3. Prices are taken from this page and are correct on the date of publication. AWS – $10.08/month Ali Cloud – US$4.50/month DigitalOcean – $5/month AWS – $40.32 Ali Cloud – $39/month DigitalOcean – $20/month AWS – $683.75/month Ali Cloud – US$570/month DigitalOcean – $640/month All 3 services offer additional storage options, and the prices are very similar (between $0.01 and $0.03 per GB). Note that you need to consider the additional bandwidth costs that may be associated with uploading and downloading any resources stored using these services. The good news is that Alibaba Cloud currently offers $300 free points for you to get started, so you can try out the basic server and some other features without taking any risk. So, what happens when you have difficulties? If you encounter difficulties, all 3 services offer a ticket system and will reply to you within a reasonable time. DigitalOcean feels a little more friendly because the other two feel more like businesses. AWS and Alibaba Cloud also provide paid technical support (if needed). All 3 services also have a large online support database with a large number of tutorials and guides to guide you through how to set up all common configurations. We are in the golden age of cloud computing and we do have many choices. All three companies presented in this article offer many options and are worth the money. Amazon remains a market leader and you can be sure they will provide you with good service with many options. DigitalOcean makes the task of setting up virtual machines seem less daunting, and they build a great community of developers. Alibaba Cloud has a nice starter offer and the cheapest quick setup fee of $4.50 per month, so if you've been thinking about trying cloud computing, this will be a great option. The offer will allow you to run a basic server for up to 2 months, and you can also try out some other services with free points. Ali Cloud, AWS and DigitalOcean all provide powerful performance for cloud computing. However, Alibaba Cloud has made significant progress in recent years, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. It offers a similar range of services to AWS and DigitalOcean, but focuses more on artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities. However, AWS remains at the forefront of global market share and service breadth, while DigitalOcean is known for its simplicity and cost-effectiveness. The pricing differences between these three platforms are very different. AWS uses a pay-as-you-go model, which can be cost-effective, but can also be difficult to predict. DigitalOcean offers direct fixed-rate pricing, making it a popular choice for small businesses and individual developers. Alibaba Cloud's pricing is competitive, especially for companies operating in the Asia-Pacific region. AWS has a comprehensive but complex user interface that can overwhelm beginners. DigitalOcean, on the other hand, is known for its user-friendly interface, making it a popular choice for newbies in cloud computing. Alibaba Cloud's interface is also user-friendly, but it offers a wider range of services and features, which may require a steeper learning curve. All three platforms prioritize security. AWS offers a wide range of security features and compliance certifications. Alibaba Cloud also provides powerful security features, especially for companies operating in China and Asia-Pacific. DigitalOcean provides standard security features, but it may not provide the same level of compliance certification as AWS and Alibaba Cloud. AWS is known for its extensive customer support, including large online communities and 24/7 phone support. DigitalOcean also provides strong support, including a developer community and a comprehensive knowledge base. Alibaba Cloud’s customer support is improving, but it may not be as wide as AWS or DigitalOcean, especially among English-speaking users. Ali Cloud offers unique features such as Apsara Stack (a hybrid cloud solution) and MaxCompute (a big data platform). AWS has a wide variety of services, including unique services such as Amazon S3 for storage and AWS Lambda for serverless computing. DigitalOcean stands out for its simplicity and developer-friendly features, including a preconfigured application stack and SSD-based virtual machines. All three platforms take data privacy seriously. Both AWS and Alibaba Cloud provide strong data encryption and comply with international data privacy standards. DigitalOcean also provides data encryption and complies with privacy standards, but it may not provide the same level of data location control as AWS and Alibaba Cloud. AWS is known for its scalability, allowing businesses to easily scale up or down according to their needs. Alibaba Cloud also provides strong scalability, especially for enterprises operating in the Asia-Pacific region. DigitalOcean provides scalability, but it may not provide the same flexibility as AWS or Alibaba Cloud. AWS provides a variety of developer tools, including AWS CodeStar and AWS Cloud9. Alibaba Cloud also provides a variety of developer tools, including Alibaba Cloud function computing and Alibaba Cloud container services. DigitalOcean provides a simpler set of developer tools focused on ease of use and simplicity. AWS has the largest global coverage and has data centers in multiple regions around the world. Alibaba Cloud has a strong influence in the Asia-Pacific region, but it is expanding globally. DigitalOcean has a smaller global coverage, but it is known for its high-performance SSD servers in multiple locations around the world.
Price
Beginner Package
Frequently used packages
High-end package
Help and Support
Conclusion
FAQs about Alibaba Cloud, AWS and DigitalOcean
How does Alibaba Cloud's performance compare to AWS and DigitalOcean?
What are the pricing differences between Alibaba Cloud, AWS and DigitalOcean?
How does Alibaba Cloud's user interface compare to AWS and DigitalOcean?
What are the security features of Alibaba Cloud, AWS and DigitalOcean?
How does Alibaba Cloud's customer support compare to AWS and DigitalOcean?
What are the unique features of Alibaba Cloud, AWS and DigitalOcean?
How does Alibaba Cloud, AWS and DigitalOcean handle data privacy?
How does Alibaba Cloud, AWS and DigitalOcean compare in terms of scalability?
What are the differences in the developer tools provided by Alibaba Cloud, AWS and DigitalOcean?
How does Alibaba Cloud, AWS and DigitalOcean compare in terms of global coverage?
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