To help our customers better understand Alibaba Cloud products and services, we have just released a product and service comparison article - Alibaba Cloud Product Comparison. If you are planning on building a multi-cloud cloud architecture or considering to migrate to Alibaba Cloud, this article is perfect for you. The compare platform series intend to help IT professionals, such as engineers and architects, who are already familiar with products and services from other cloud providers to evaluate the differences with Alibaba Cloud offerings and navigate through Alibaba Cloud services.
In this first Alibaba Cloud for AWS Professionals of the compare platform series, we will compare Alibaba Cloud with Amazon Web Services (AWS) in terms of product offerings, feature characteristics, and solution architecture. In the current revision, Compute, Storage, Content Delivery Network (CDN), and Security category products from both providers are available. With this comparison, we hope to reveal some of the similarities and differences between the two cloud platforms regarding concepts, terminologies, and implementation.
Alibaba Cloud and AWS Service Map
The following tables provide a one-to-one mapping of the services provided by AWS and Alibaba Cloud (international portal):
Compute
| Description |
AWS |
Alibaba Cloud |
| Virtual Servers |
Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) |
Elastic Compute Service (ECS) |
| GPU Servers |
EC2 Elastic GPUs |
Elastic GPU Service (EGS) |
| Auto Scale |
Auto Scaling |
Auto Scaling |
| Container Management |
Elastic Container Service (ECS) |
Container Service |
Storage & CDN
| Description |
AWS |
Alibaba Cloud |
| Object Storage |
Amazon Simple Storage Services (S3) |
Object Storage Service (OSS) |
| NoSQL Database |
DynamoDB ,SimpleDB |
Table Store |
| Content Delivery |
CloudFront |
Alibaba Cloud CDN |
| Shared File Storage |
Elastic File System (EFS) |
Network Attached Storage (NAS) |
Networking
| Description |
AWS |
Alibaba Cloud |
| Networking |
Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) |
Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) |
| Dedicated Network |
Direct Connect |
Express Connect |
| NAT Gateway |
NAT Gateway |
NAT Gateway |
| Load Balancing |
Elastic Load Balancing (ELB) |
Server Load Balancer (SLB) |
| Elastic IP |
Elastic IP Addresses |
Elastic IP |
| Cross-premises Connectivity |
VPN Gateway |
VPN Gateway |
Databases
| Description |
AWS |
Alibaba Cloud |
| Relational Database |
Relational Database Service (RDS) |
ApsaraDB for RDS |
| Caching |
ElastiCache |
ApsaraDB for Redis |
| Elastic Data Warehouse |
RedShift |
HybridDB for PostgreSQL |
| NoSQL - Document Storage |
N/A |
ApsaraDB for MongoDB |
| Database Migration |
Database Migration Services (DMS) |
Data Transmission Service (DTS) |
Security
| Description |
AWS |
Alibaba Cloud |
| DDoS Mitigation |
AWS Shield - Standard |
Anti-DDoS Basic |
| DDoS Mitigation |
AWS Shield - Advanced |
Anti-DDoS Pro |
| Mobile Security |
N/A |
Mobile Security |
| Web Application Security |
Web Application Firewall (WAF) |
Web Application Firewall |
| Instance Security |
N/A |
Server Guard |
| Certificate Service |
Certificate Manager |
SSL Certificates Service |
Monitoring & Management
| Description |
AWS |
Alibaba Cloud |
| Monitoring |
CloudWatch |
CloudMonitor |
| Authentication and Authorization |
Identity & Access Manager (IAM) |
Resource Access Management |
| Encryption |
Key Management Service |
Key Management Service |
| Resource Orchestration |
CloudFormation |
Resource Orchestration Service |
Domains & Websites
| Description |
AWS |
Alibaba Cloud |
| Web Applications |
Elastic Beanstalk |
Web Hosting |
| Domain Name |
Route 53 |
Domains |
| Domain Name System (DNS) |
Route 53 |
Alibaba Cloud DNS |
Analytics
| Description |
AWS |
Alibaba Cloud |
| Big Data Processing |
Amazon EMR |
MaxCompute ,E-MapReduce |
| Data Visualization |
N/A |
DataV |
| Development Platform |
N/A |
DataWorks |
Application Service
| Description |
AWS |
Alibaba Cloud |
| Notification Service |
Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS) |
Message Service |
| API Service |
API Gateway |
API Gateway |
| Log Service |
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose |
Log Service |
| Email Sending and Receiving |
Amazon Simple Email Service |
DirectMail |
Media Services
| Description |
AWS |
Alibaba Cloud |
| Live Video Streaming |
AWS Elemental MediaLive |
ApsaraVideo Live |
| Media Transcoding Service |
AWS Elastic Transcoder |
ApsaraVideo for Media Processing |
Why Alibaba Cloud
Alibaba Cloud is a subsidiary of Alibaba Group, one of the world's largest e-commerce conglomerates. Established in 2009, Alibaba Cloud was originally developed to serve the internal demands of Alibaba’s ecosystem, such as Taobao, Tmall, and Alipay, particularly during the Alibaba Singles' Day event every November 11.
Alibaba Cloud is the leader of China's cloud market, providing over 100 cloud computing products and servers to customers within Mainland China. With data centers spanning across 17 regions globally, Alibaba Cloud is not just as a specialist niche in the Asia market. According to the Gartner’s report Market Share Analysis: Public Cloud Services, Worldwide, 2016, Alibaba Cloud is the third largest cloud service provider globally.
Need Help with Migration?
Still not sure how or why you should try Alibaba Cloud? Talk to our experts today about the Alibaba Cloud Migration Service! Alibaba Cloud Migration Service provides cloud migration and implementation services for enterprise customers. Our migration services include Application Migration, Data Migration, and Big Data Implementation.
Visit the Alibaba Cloud for AWS Professionals page to get the detailed comparison and to view the full service map. Alternatively, you can download the full article in PDF format by clicking on this link.
