We're focused on the African continent and how the cloud can drive digitization. What we're doing is using the cloud platform and onboarding businesses that need to scale up in as many of their markets as possible. That's our focus, really. We've got one of the largest Greek companies in Africa onboarded on the Alibaba platform and we're hoping that many of the verticals will be onboarded as well. Our focus is not really on the traditional model. Our focus is on how Africans can leverage tech to grow their business.
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What is Alibaba Cloud?
Alibaba Cloud offers a comprehensive suite of cloud computing services to support growing enterprises worldwide, including data storage, relational databases, big-data processing, and content delivery networks.
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CEO at Comercio Limited
Good storage, great for smaller companies, and has impressive support
Pros and Cons
- "It is easy to set up."
- "It is not robust."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
The reason that we reached out to Alibaba is that we believe that they're focused on small and medium enterprises, and Africa, at this point in time, needs that kind of intervention.
What is most valuable?
We're all aware that the pandemic accelerated digital transformation, and we believe that Alibaba, due to its pedigree, has what it takes to take small businesses to the cloud. It's a game-changer, for sure.
The storage is very useful.
It is easy to set up.
Technical support is good.
It is quite stable.
What needs improvement?
It is not robust.
My experience with Alibaba is still growing, so I can't say specifically which area I would like to improve on.
The scalability could increase in the future. It is better for small and medium-sized organizations.
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Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)
April 2023

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For how long have I used the solution?
We're just beginning the partnership with the solution. I've used it for about three years now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is good. I'd rate it nine out of ten overall.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is good. I'd rate it eight out of ten. It's not 100% as there's never 100% in technology, however, its ability to scale is quite high.
We have about five users on the solution right now.
We'll likely increase usage in the future.
How are customer service and support?
The support from the tech team at Alibaba is quite impressive.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have had some experience with Microsoft and IBM. We've had experience with our own local cloud computing model that we try to push in the market.
We have some experience pushing other international brands for the cloud. That said, in the beginning, our interest in Alibaba Cloud was mostly due to the fact that we believe the pedigree for Alibaba is different from Microsoft and IBM as they better understand small and medium businesses.
How was the initial setup?
It's very straightforward to set up. They've made it very user-friendly, so it's very adaptable.
The deployment process depends on how quickly the end user is clear about their ask. On a scale of one to 10, I'll give them nine over 10 for that.
We start with understanding the customer's needs and then understanding the needs of the customer in terms of the specifications for the ask. Once that is clear, we have a robust tech team here, and they're able to work with the Alibaba team to create the necessary instances.
What was our ROI?
It's a new project for us. We've yet to witness ROI.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I'm not aware of the licensing aspect of the solution.
What other advice do I have?
We aren't updated to the latest version of the solution just yet.
The cloud computing model is the same all over the world, and there should be no biases.
The bias is that Alibaba is not robust for the customers and that the tech support is not there. They're all biases, they're not all true. From my own experience, they're a very resilient platform. I commend them and recommend them to anyone who's interested in using a cloud computing model.
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Jan 22, 2023
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Associate Technical Manager at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
It offers good database and virtual machine services, but its technical support needs improvement, and it's still lacking in stability, SDK-wise, and API-wise
Pros and Cons
- "What's good about Alibaba Cloud is its database service. It's also good in the virtual machine area."
- "A big area for improvement in Alibaba Cloud is its support. Another area for improvement in Alibaba Cloud is SDK-based service because sometimes, the SDKs don't work correctly. Support for API-based services also needs improvement in Alibaba Cloud because, at the moment, it's not that stable."
What is our primary use case?
The use cases for Alibaba Cloud include services for virtual machines, desk storage devices, etc., and my job is to provide the services from one integrated system, so users will not go to Alibaba but will come to my company's platform. From the platform, users can ask for many services, whether Alibaba Cloud services, AWS, or Azure.
What is most valuable?
What's good about Alibaba Cloud is its database service. It's also good in the virtual machine area. Alibaba Cloud may not be as good as AWS, but it's relatively good.
What needs improvement?
A big area for improvement in Alibaba Cloud is its support.
Another area for improvement in Alibaba Cloud is SDK-based service because sometimes, the SDKs don't work correctly. My company uses SDK to avail and provide Alibaba Cloud services, and Alibaba needs to improve on that.
Support for API-based services also needs improvement in Alibaba Cloud because, at the moment, it's not that stable.
What I'd like added to Alibaba Cloud is pricing information. For example, the data isn't available if I need pricing for some SDK-based services. You can find pricing information for a particular VM configuration, but for some database services, pricing information isn't available.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working with Alibaba Cloud for two and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of Alibaba Cloud is still a work in progress, specifically when adding new features to it. Sometimes adding new features causes some stability issues, though only a little.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Alibaba Cloud is a scalable service.
How are customer service and support?
I'd rate technical support for Alibaba Cloud as seven out of ten because it's not that good and needs improvement.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
Setting up Alibaba Cloud isn't difficult. My company avails the Alibaba Cloud service for customers, and time-wise, the service is immediately available.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Pricing for Alibaba Cloud is a little bit cheaper. It has reasonable pricing.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I've evaluated AWS apart from Alibaba Cloud, and compared to AWS, Alibaba Cloud has poor technical support, and the SDKs and APIs aren't very stable.
What other advice do I have?
On the cloud side, I'm using AWS and Alibaba Cloud, which is part of IBM Cloud.
I'm an integrator of Alibaba Cloud.
Alibaba Cloud doesn't require any specific maintenance.
My advice to anyone looking into using Alibaba Cloud is that it's cheaper, so you can try it. However, if you want more accuracy, stability, and 24/7 customer support, primarily relying on the SDKs and APIs, you should think twice. Otherwise, the cost of Alibaba Cloud is reasonable, and service-wise, it's also good because it has many available services worth trying. If you're providing 24/7 solutions to customers, you're also dependent on the Alibaba support team, so at the moment, it's not that reliable, and you should consider other solutions.
Alibaba Cloud deserves a rating of seven out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
Last updated: Nov 30, 2022
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Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)
April 2023

Find out what your peers are saying about Alibaba, Microsoft, Google and others in Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS). Updated: April 2023.
706,775 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Solution Consultant at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
Flexible and reliable with highly responsive technical support
Pros and Cons
- "Alibaba support is responsive. When we create tickets in the Alibaba portal, they usually respond online or call me in five minutes."
- "Alibaba Cloud's initial setup is somewhat complex."
What is our primary use case?
We moved our internal system from the physical server to an Alibaba Cloud instance. And we use a PPM system or some internal system like Salesforce that we migrated over from the physical server to the cloud instance.
What is most valuable?
I think Alibaba Cloud is user-friendly.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using Alibaba Cloud for more than five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Alibaba Cloud is a reliable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I think Alibaba Cloud is a flexible solution for us. We can easily add more resources or open another instance at any time.
How are customer service and support?
Alibaba support is responsive. When we create tickets in the Alibaba portal, they usually respond online or call me in five minutes.
How was the initial setup?
Alibaba Cloud's initial setup is somewhat complex.
What was our ROI?
We cut our costs significantly by migrating our infrastructure to the cloud. Alibaba Cloud employs a pay-as-you-go model, so that minimizes many costs for us.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Alibaba Cloud nine out of 10. Many Chinese enterprises are migrating their infrastructure to the cloud, so Alibaba is the preferred cloud platform in China, and the second choice is AWS. Chinese users generally prefer Alibaba because we can get support easily, and they always respond faster.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Planning Officer at Special Communications Organization SCO
A good solution to run VMs with easy setup and deployment
Pros and Cons
- "We use the solution to run VMs."
- "Users use websites as a tutorial. However, the Alibaba Cloud website has the content, and the scripts are copied from Amazon Web Services. We had received customer feedback where the customer asked us to get formulate original content instead of copying from Amazon Web Services. It’s very odd and awkward."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution to run VMs.
What needs improvement?
Users use websites as a tutorial. However, the Alibaba Cloud website has the content, and the scripts are copied from Amazon Web Services. We had received customer feedback where the customer asked us to get formulate original content instead of copying from Amazon Web Services. It’s very odd and awkward.
I want the product to integrate a feature from AWS. When we go to AWS and navigate to the sidebar and click on the products, then their definition appears. When we click on ‘learn more’, we get a PDF.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for almost 11 months.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would rate the tool’s scalability a ten out of ten.
How was the initial setup?
The solution’s deployment is not that much difficult. I would rate it eight out of ten. The tool’s deployment took around two to three months to complete. We needed around 10-15 people for deployment.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate the overall tool an eight out of ten. My team is satisfied with the solution. New customers get satisfied with the product after three to four weeks.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: MSP
Last updated: Mar 31, 2023
Flag as inappropriateShould have better integration, but is stable, scalable and has easy installation
Pros and Cons
- "The installation is easy."
- "The solution should have more integration."
What needs improvement?
The solution should have more integration.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Alibaba Cloud for under two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support numbers around 30 people. Contacting technical support is not one of my responsibilities, so I cannot comment on it.
How was the initial setup?
The installation is easy.
As I was not involved in the installation, I do not recall how long it took. One would have to ask the people who were involved in this. Yet, it should take no more than 30 minutes.
What about the implementation team?
At most, one or two managers are responsible for the deployment and maintenance.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
When comparing solutions such as GCP, which is the same as Alibaba Cloud, and others such as Amazon AWS and Azure, Alibaba Cloud is the preferred solution in China.
What other advice do I have?
The solution is cloud-based.
I would not recommend the solution to others.
I give Alibaba Cloud a low rating of four to five out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
CTO at a manufacturing company with 1-10 employees
Reliable and useful for system to system connections
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of Alibaba Cloud is the communication it allows between two servers."
- "The solution name is not favorable in some markets and could cause us some problems gaining customers."
What is our primary use case?
Alibaba Cloud is a dedicated platform where people can make connections. For example, I have a platform to manage our largest customer where we have machine-to-machine connections with OpenText in India for their SAP access.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of Alibaba Cloud is the communication it allows between two servers.
What needs improvement?
The solution name is not favorable in some markets and could cause us some problems gaining customers.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Alibaba Cloud for approximately eight years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have three people using this solution in my company.
How are customer service and support?
I have not used the support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have previously used OVH from France.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of Alibaba Cloud is good. If I was to use Microsoft Azure I would have to pay 30 percent more.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Alibaba Cloud a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Apr 16, 2023
Flag as inappropriateData Engineer at Astra Welab Digital Arta
Easy to use and cheaper and more secure than other solutions
Pros and Cons
- "It's easy to use, cheaper than other solutions, and more secure."
- "The flexibility of the solution could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
The solution can be deployed on a public cloud or a private cloud.
There are about 100 people using this solution in my organization.
What is most valuable?
It's easy to use, cheaper than other solutions, and more secure.
What needs improvement?
The flexibility of the solution could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have worked with Alibaba Cloud for one month.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's stable.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate technical support as four out of five. It could be better.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have also used Google Cloud. I prefer Alibaba Cloud because it's more secure.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost is better than similar solutions.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution as nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Last updated: Nov 20, 2022
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