Pros & Cons
What We Like
- Businesses targeting Asia-Pacific market
- E-commerce in China
- Organizations already in Alibaba ecosystem
- Cost-effective cloud in APAC region
- Companies needing China presence
What Could Be Better
- Primary audience in Americas/Europe
- Need HIPAA compliance
- Prefer English-first support
- Concerned about China data regulations
- Poor Trustpilot rating (2.0) due to support issues and security concerns
- Documentation quality issues
Rating Breakdown
Value for Money
4.0Performance
4.0Support Quality
2.5Security
3.5Features
4.5Ease of Use
3.0Transparency
2.5Overall Rating
Weighted average of all categories
3.5/5
Technical Specifications
Complete feature breakdown across all 152 data points
Storage & Resources
- Storage
- Not specified
- Storage Type
- SSD/ESSD/Ultra Disk
- Bandwidth
- Not specified
- Websites
- Not specified
- Databases
- Not specified
Performance
- Uptime Guarantee
- 99.99%
- Uptime SLA Credit
- CDN Included
- CDN Provider
- Alibaba Cloud CDN (additional cost)
- HTTP/2
- Brotli Compression
Server Locations
- Location Count
- 29 locations
- Choose Location
- Locations
- Hangzhou (China), Shanghai (China), Beijing (China)
Security
- Free SSL
- Wildcard SSL
- Dedicated IP
- DDoS Protection
- DDoS Level
- Anti-DDoS Basic (free); Anti-DDoS Pro from $85/mo
- 2FA
Backups & Malware
- Malware Scanning
- Malware Removal
- Firewall
- Backup Frequency
- Manual/Snapshot-based
- On-Demand Backup
- Restore Fee
- Free
Developer Tools
- SSH Access
- Git Deployment
- Cron Jobs
- Redis
- WP-CLI
Language Support
- Node.js
- Python
- Ruby
WordPress
- WP Optimized
- Auto Install
- Auto Updates
- WP Staging
- WooCommerce
- LiteSpeed Cache
- Object Caching
- Multisite
Support
- Live Chat
- Chat Hours
- 24/7
- Phone Support
- Phone Hours
- 24/7 with paid support
- Ticket Support
- Priority Support
- KB Quality
- 3/5
- Channels
- Ticket, Phone, Chat, Knowledge Base
- Languages
- English, Chinese, Japanese
- Email Included
- Account Limit
- 0
- Webmail
- Spam Filter
- Forwarding
Pricing Details
- Monthly Price
- $4.46/mo
- Renewal Price
- $4.46/mo
- 1st Year Cost
- $53.52
- 2nd Year Cost
- $53.52
- Setup Fee
- None
- Monthly Billing
Free Inclusions
- Free SSL
- Free Domain
- Free Migration
- Free CDN
Migration
- Free Migration
Control Panel
- cPanel
- Panel Name
- Alibaba Cloud Console
- Softaculous
- Site Builder
Compliance
- GDPR
- PCI
- HIPAA
- Certifications
- SOC 1, SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, PCI DSS, CSA STAR, GxP, TISAX
CMS Platforms
- Drupal
- Joomla
- Magento
- Laravel
- Django
- Next.js
- Rails
- Static Sites
Content Policies
- Adult Content
- Gambling
- Crypto Sites
- Bandwidth Overage
- Pay per GB; rates vary by region
- Storage Overage
- Pay for storage used
Business Features
- API Access
- Reseller Hosting
- White Label
- Green Hosting
Best For (Score)
- Beginners
- 1/5
- Bloggers
- 2/5
- Developers
- 4/5
- eCommerce
- 4/5
- Agencies
- 3/5
- Enterprise
- 4/5
Company Info
- Founded
- 2009
- Headquarters
- China
- Parent Company
- Alibaba Group
- Trustpilot
- 2/5 (81 reviews)
Our Ratings
- Overall
- 3.5/5
- Value
- 4/5
- Performance
- 4/5
- Support
- 2.5/5
- Security
- 3.5/5
- Features
- 4.5/5
- Ease of Use
- 3/5
- Transparency
- 2.5/5
Managed WordPress
- Available
Regional Info
- Best Countries
- China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India
- Currencies
- USD, CNY, SGD, JPY, AUD
- Support Languages
- English, Chinese, Japanese
- Data Sovereignty
- GDPR, PCI-DSS, ISO 27001, CSA STAR
External Ratings
- Trustpilot
- 2/5
- Reviews Count
- 81
- G2 Rating
- 4/5
- BBB Rating
- NR
Advanced Technical
- DB Type
- ApsaraDB (MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, MongoDB, Redis)
- Elasticsearch
Access & Limits
- SSH Tier
- All ECS instances
- Instant Activation
Additional Pricing
- Exclusions
- Pay-as-you-go; Free trial credits available
- Payment Methods
- Credit Card, Debit Card, PayPal, Wire Transfer
- Auto Renewal
- SSL Provider
- Alibaba Cloud SSL Certificates
Support Details
- Phone Countries
- Global
- Priority Cost
- $Enterprise support plans available
- Community Forum
- Outsourced
Affiliate Program
- Affiliate Available
- Commission Type
- Per sale
- Commission Amount
- Varies by product
Additional Policies
- File Hosting
- Proxy/VPN
- Suspension Policy
- Violation of ToS; non-payment; abuse
- Downloadable Backups
Additional Platforms
- PrestaShop
- Ghost
- Shopify Migration
- Wix Migration
- Squarespace Migration
- Webflow Export
Editorial Notes
- Best For
- Businesses targeting Asia-Pacific market; E-commerce in China; Organizations already in Alibaba ecosystem; Cost-effective cloud in APAC region; Companies needing China presence
- Avoid If
- Primary audience in Americas/Europe; Need HIPAA compliance; Prefer English-first support; Concerned about China data regulations
- Known Issues
- Poor Trustpilot rating (2.0) due to support issues and security concerns; Documentation quality issues; Language barrier in support; Complex for Western users; Security/abuse report handling criticized; Performance issues during peak hours reported
- USP
- Dominant cloud provider in Asia-Pacific with 37% regional market share and deep Alibaba ecosystem integration
- Ideal Customer
- Business targeting Asia-Pacific markets, especially China, needing cost-effective cloud with Alibaba ecosystem integration
Competition
- Competitors
- Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Huawei Cloud
- Best Alternative To
- AWS in Asia-Pacific
We strive for accuracy, but pricing and features change frequently. Some data may be outdated. Report an error and we'll update it promptly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Alibaba Cloud
Alibaba Cloud dominates Asia-Pacific with 37% market share. G2 4.0 reflects decent satisfaction, but Trustpilot 2.0 shows support and documentation issues for Western users.
Alibaba Cloud is owned by Alibaba Group, founded in 2009. Headquartered in Hangzhou, China. Fourth largest global cloud provider.
Competitive pricing especially in APAC. ECS instances start around $4.46/month. Free trial credits available for new users.
No. Complex platform with documentation quality issues. Best for experienced cloud users, especially those familiar with Chinese tech ecosystem.
No, Alibaba Cloud does not include email hosting as a core service.
Yes, via ECS instances, but unmanaged. You handle updates and security.
99.99% SLA for most services with credits for downtime.
Yes, pay-as-you-go with no long-term contracts. Delete resources to stop billing.
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