5 Best Alibaba Cloud Alternatives in 2025

In the Asia-Pacific region, Alibaba Cloud is often considered the face of cloud hosting, despite the strong presence of AWS and GCP in the same market.

The giant provides a wide range of cloud computing services, including elastic compute, data storage, relational databases, big data processing, DDoS protection, and CDN solutions—not only to online businesses but also to support Alibaba’s own e-commerce ecosystem.

However, many users find Alibaba Cloud unsuitable due to its limited coverage outside the Asia-Pacific region. That’s why we’re reviewing the 5 best alternatives you can consider in 2025.

Why Look for Alternatives to Alibaba Cloud?

1. Pricing & Billing Complexity – Alibaba Cloud was primarily built to serve large enterprises. For startups and small to mid-sized businesses, its pricing model can be confusing and, in many cases, more expensive for smaller workloads. Many users have also reported difficulties in canceling services.

2. Data Center Locations – If your target market is outside the Asia-Pacific region, you’ll find fewer options in areas like North America and Europe. This can lead to higher latency, slower performance, and an overall poor user experience.

3. Support Quality – Many large providers focus on infrastructure and innovation but neglect quality customer support. Users often report unhelpful responses, poor service, and dismissive behavior.

4. Learning Curve – Since Alibaba Cloud was built with enterprises in mind, the dashboard is packed with advanced features that can be overwhelming for beginners. Setting up services requires time, effort, and technical knowledge.

5. Compliance & Policy Restrictions – Businesses operating globally require multiple compliance certifications. Alibaba Cloud is not as strong in this area, which may create regulatory challenges for companies targeting regions outside Asia.

Key Factors to Compare in an Alternative

Performance & Uptime SLAs – 99.95% uptime is the industry standard, but reliability and consistent performance are essential for growth.

Data Center Coverage – Check if your provider has data centers near your target audience. For global reach, ensure CDN availability and servers that can handle traffic spikes efficiently.

Pricing & Billing Flexibility – Many providers offer pay-as-you-go or hourly billing, which is much simpler and more cost-effective for small businesses.

Ease of Use – A clean dashboard, quick app deployment, instant scalability, and intuitive navigation are must-haves for beginners.

Customer Support Quality – 24/7 support via email, live chat, or phone is essential. The more support channels available, the better.

5 Best Alibaba Cloud Alternatives

1. Kamatera

Kamatera is one of the fastest-growing cloud platforms. Their servers are built of enterprise-grade infrastructure. We can see their top-notch performance in our test.

Their one core 2.7 GHz Intel Xeon Platinum chip & 1 GB DDR5 RAM powered server responded in 22 ms (TTFB) and managed 100% uptime while sending 10k concurrent users in real time. There was no error.

You know, the plan costs $4 per month only. You can get a free ride for 30 days with a $100 credit. A credit card is required.

They charge $1-2 to filter out genuine users to make the system clean and instantly refund it.
Moreover, the platform offers bunches of 1-click apps, so a beginner can deploy any application instantly.

Developers can find block storage, load balancers, Docker, n8n, Kubernetes, MongoDB, Node.js, and Odoo to deploy any business system.

2. Vultr

Vultr is a strong contender for those who are looking for reliable large deployment for AI, machine learning, graphic processing, clusters, Kubernetes, and storage.

Their server infra is top-notch in delivering promising performance, as the beginner plan took only 54 ms to respond and maintained near-possible 100% uptime in an independent test.

Even, you can add a 3 GHz+ high-frequency CPU to your server and try it on for 30 days freely.

Over the top, they seem quite serious about security. They offer a free cloud firewall, DDoS protection, and daily backup to secure your internet property.

3. VPSServer

VPSServer is a business-grade, KVM-based cloud server provider powered by 2.7 GHz Intel Xeon Skylake processors, delivering up to 30% faster performance than standard chips.

Whether you’re a business professional or a beginner, VPSServer offers four types of servers to meet your needs: Type A (Availability), Type B (General Purpose), Type T (Burstable), and Type D (Dedicated).

You can deploy any of these servers with access to 40+ one-click apps, including Docker, and enjoy a 30-day trial with a $100 credit. Additionally, you can test five different Windows server types under the free trial.

To ensure security and reliability, VPSServer includes DDoS protection, a cloud firewall, and automatic backups for all resources. Plus, their 24/7 expert support is always available to assist you with any queries.

4. DigitalOcean

Digital Ocean is quite popular for its optimum user experience. Therefore, the majority of its users are beginners.

However, they provide Docker hosting, cloud servers, and cloud VMs with a 30-day trial.
The host loves flexibility, as they offer Intel, 3.2 GHz AMD chips, NVMe, and SSDs. You can choose as per your needs.

For cloud servers, you will get tons of 1-click apps, and for cloud VMs, there are various Linux OSes.
Their server performance is tempting, as their entry-level server responded in 22 ms and managed 99.95% uptime in our test.

You can taste their product with a soothing UX with a $100 credit.

5. Linode (Akamai)

Linode (now renamed Akamai) is the most trusted cloud platform at G2 in 2023. They have a variety of products for bloggers, SMBs, SaaS and gamers.

As AMD EPYC 7002 processor and the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 GPU power their servers. The chips have 45% more memory transfer capabilities and can perform 87% more than Intel scalable Gen 2 chips in the same class.

Like Digital Ocean, a newbie can launch a site on their favorite CMS with over 100 one-click apps and find better security. As it provides free DDoS protection.

It is very flexible to offer a free trial. Link one payment method from Google Pay, Paypal, and credit card at no cost, and they will credit $100 for 30 days in your account.

Conclusion

While Alibaba Cloud dominates the Asia-Pacific region, its global coverage limitations and pricing complexity make these alternatives worth considering for 2025.

Kamatera offers the best overall value with enterprise-grade performance at $4/month. Vultr excels for AI workloads, VPSServer provides professional managed services, DigitalOcean is perfect for beginners, and Linode delivers robust AMD-powered infrastructure.

All providers offer 30-day free trials with $100 credits. Test them based on your specific needs—global reach, performance, budget, or ease of use—and choose the platform that best fits your requirements.

FAQ

1. Why should I consider alternatives to Alibaba Cloud?

Alibaba Cloud has several limitations that make alternatives attractive: complex pricing for small businesses, limited data center coverage outside Asia-Pacific, inconsistent customer support quality, and a steep learning curve for beginners. If you’re targeting global markets or need simpler billing, these alternatives offer better solutions.

2. Which provider offers the best value for money?

Kamatera provides exceptional value with enterprise-grade infrastructure starting at just $4/month. Their servers deliver 22 ms response times with 100% uptime, plus you get a 30-day free trial with $100 credit. For the performance and features offered, it’s hard to beat their pricing.

3. Can I try these services before committing?

Yes, all five providers offer generous free trials. Kamatera, VPSServer, DigitalOcean, and Linode provide 30-day trials with $100 credits. Vultr also offers a 30-day free trial. This allows you to test performance, features, and support quality before making any payment commitments.

4. Which alternative is best for beginners?

DigitalOcean is specifically designed for beginners with its clean, intuitive dashboard and extensive documentation. However, Kamatera also offers excellent beginner support with 100+ one-click apps, free control panels (cPanel, Plesk), and 24/7 live chat support to help you get started quickly.

5. Do these alternatives offer global data center coverage?

Yes, most alternatives provide better global coverage than Alibaba Cloud. Vultr leads with 32 global data centers, followed by Kamatera with 24 locations. VPSServer offers 24 data centers, while DigitalOcean has 14 and Linode provides 15 locations worldwide, ensuring better performance for international audiences.