Head-to-head, indicative as of Oct 2026. Prices change — always confirm on the vendor page.
Quick read: pick Hetzner Cloud if your workload is maximum hardware per dollar, self-managed and its included egress 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.
| Hetzner Cloud | Alibaba Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | VPS / cloud | Full cloud (ECS) |
| Free tier | None | Trial credits |
| Paid pricing (indicative) | From ~€4/mo (best price-perf in EU/US) | ECS from ~$2.50/mo promo |
| Egress | 20TB included on most plans | Metered by region |
| Cold start | N/A (always-on) | N/A |
| Regions | EU + US + Singapore | Strong APAC + global |
| Best for | Maximum hardware per dollar, self-managed | Reaching APAC users at APAC prices |
Try Hetzner Cloud Try Alibaba Cloud
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Last reviewed 2026-10-02 · NinjaOps SEO grid · DevOps blog