Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun) vs Hetzner Cloud
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun) and Hetzner Cloud.
Quick Verdict
4.0/5
Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun)
400 reviews
4.4/5
Hetzner Cloud
468 reviews
Hetzner Cloud is rated higher (4.4 vs 4.0). 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. German cloud provider offering the best price-to-performance ratio in the market. CX22 (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM, 40GB NVMe) costs €4.35/month. Loved by European developers for fast NVMe, generous bandwidth, a
Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun) Asia-Pacific and China cloud by Alibaba | Hetzner Cloud Affordable VPS hosting with fast deployment and transparent pricing | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.0 (400 reviews) | 4.4 (468 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | freemium | paid |
| Starting price | Free tier available✓ | From €4/mo |
| Best for | Businesses needing cloud infrastructure in mainland China or the Asia-Pacific region | Developers and small teams seeking cost-effective, predictable VPS infrastructure in Europe with straightforward management and no long-term contracts. |
| Specifications (entry plan) | ||
| CPU cores | — | 2 vCPU |
| RAM | — | 4 GB |
| Storage | — | 40 GB |
| Bandwidth | — | 20 TB/mo |
| SLA uptime | — | 99.9% |
| Data-center count | — | 5 |
| €/vCPU/mo | — | €2.00 |
| €/GB RAM/mo | — | €1.00 |
| Performance | ||
| CPU score (sysbench) | — | 4,820 |
| Disk read (fio) | — | 2,100 MB/s |
| Disk IOPS (4K random) | — | 42,000 |
| Network out | — | 1 Gbps |
| Latency (TTFB) | — | 18 ms |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ✓ | |
| DDoS protection | ✓ | |
| Automated backups | ✓ | |
| Snapshots | ✓ | |
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ✓ | |
| Free tier | ||
| Data-center locations | ||
| Regions | — | GermanyFinlandUnited States |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tierhourly billinggpu availableeu datacenterus datacenterapac datacenterapi access | hourly billingnvme storageipv6ddos protectionbackups includedsnapshotseu datacenterus datacentergdpr compliantterraform providerapi access |
| Visit Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun) → | Visit Hetzner Cloud → | |
Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun)
Pros
- + Only viable cloud for China market
- + Largest APAC cloud
- + $450 free credits for new accounts
Cons
- - Requires Chinese registration for China regions
- - Complex compliance for non-Chinese companies
Hetzner Cloud
Pros
- + Deploy servers in minutes with per-minute billing
- + Access competitive pricing with no hidden fees or setup costs
- + Manage resources via API and web console with detailed documentation
- + Choose from multiple European and US data center locations
Cons
- - Limited OS templates compared to some competitors
- - Smaller community and fewer third-party integrations than larger providers
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