Head-to-head, indicative as of Oct 2026. Prices change — always confirm on the vendor page.
Quick read: pick Google Cloud Run if your workload is any container without rewrite; gpu jobs available and its pricing model fits your traffic shape; pick Alibaba Cloud if you need reaching apac users at apac prices. For anything latency-sensitive at the edge, cold start row is the tiebreaker.
| Google Cloud Run | Alibaba Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Container-as-a-Service (serverless) | Full cloud (ECS) |
| Free tier | 2M requests/month | Trial credits |
| Paid pricing (indicative) | ~$0.40 per vCPU-hr + memory, scale to zero | ECS from ~$2.50/mo promo |
| Egress | ~$0.12/GB (billed) | Metered by region |
| Cold start | ~1-5s cold, ~0 warm | N/A |
| Regions | 40+ regions | Strong APAC + global |
| Best for | Any container without rewrite; GPU jobs available | Reaching APAC users at APAC prices |
Try Google Cloud Run Try Alibaba Cloud
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