Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun) vs Hetzner ARM (Ampere)
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun) and Hetzner ARM (Ampere).
Quick Verdict
3.7/5
Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun)
0 reviews
4.3/5
Hetzner ARM (Ampere)
0 reviews
Hetzner ARM (Ampere) is rated higher (4.3 vs 3.7). Alibaba Cloud is the dominant cloud in China and largest cloud in Asia-Pacific. Essential for any application targeting Chinese users. Compliant with Chinese regulations. CAX plans start at 2 vCPU / 4GB RAM / 40GB NVMe; launch pricing was €3.79/month incl. IPv4 (April 2023), currently listed from €6.49/month incl. IPv4
Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun) Asia-Pacific and China cloud by Alibaba | Hetzner ARM (Ampere) Arm64 cloud servers on Ampere Altra cores in Hetzner Cloud's cost-optimized line | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.7 (0 reviews) | 4.3 (0 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | freemium | paid |
| Starting price | Free tier available✓ | From $6.49/mo |
| Best for | Businesses targeting users in mainland China or Asia-Pacific who need a full hyperscaler stack in-region, and technically mature teams comfortable with Chinese regulatory requirements. | Containerised, open-source, scale-out workloads in Europe — web farms, CI runners, build machines, dev environments — where price per core beats single-thread speed |
| Specifications (entry plan) | ||
| CPU cores | — | 2 vCPU |
| RAM | — | 4 GB |
| Storage | — | 40 GB |
| Bandwidth | — | 20 TB/mo |
| SLA uptime | — | 99.9% |
| Data-center count | — | 3 |
| €/vCPU/mo | — | €3.25 |
| €/GB RAM/mo | — | €1.62 |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ✓ | |
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ||
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ✓ | |
| Data-center locations | ||
| Regions | — | NurembergFalkensteinHelsinki |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tierhourly billinggpu availableeu datacenterus datacenterapac datacenterapi access | hourly billingnvme storageipv6ddos protectionbackups includedsnapshotseu datacentergdpr compliantapi accessarm processors |
| Visit Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun) → | Visit Hetzner ARM (Ampere) → | |
Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun)
Pros
- + The only complete cloud platform inside mainland China
- + Largest Asia-Pacific footprint — 29 regions and 87 availability zones
- + Generous trial: up to $450-$1,300 in credits, 12-month ECS free trial
- + Competitive instance pricing with hourly billing and GPU families
- + Strong China-network connectivity and Hong Kong/Singapore bridges
Cons
- - Mainland regions need real-name verification and ICP filing
- - Dual international/mainland accounts and complex billing
- - Geopolitical and GDPR due-diligence burden for Western buyers
- - Thinner third-party ecosystem and mixed-language docs
Hetzner ARM (Ampere)
Pros
- + Cheapest way to buy Hetzner compute per core
- + Real server silicon — Ampere Altra (Neoverse-N1), ECC RAM, NVMe
- + Hourly billing with monthly cap, 20TB included traffic, free IPv6
- + Free automated DDoS protection and the full Hetzner Cloud API/platform
- + Mature arm64 software ecosystem covers most open-source stacks
Cons
- - x86 and Arm are separate worlds — no rescale, backup or snapshot crossover
- - Cost-Optimized placement means limited stock and EU-only locations for CAX
- - Launch-era pricing is gone; entry cost has risen
- - Shared vCPUs and modest single-core speed
- - Backups and snapshots cost extra; unmanaged servers
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