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Amazon EC2 vs Alibaba Cloud
Plans
| Plan Name | Monthly Price | CPU cores | Memory (GB) | Disk Space (GB) | Data Transfer (GB) | Latest trial | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
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1GB 1 core | $4.50 | 1 | 1.0 | 40 | 1000 | Feb 10 2019 |
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t2-micro | $7.49 | 1 | 1.0 | 10 | 100 | May 06 2018 |
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t3.micro | $7.49 | 2 | 1.0 | 20 | 0 | Jun 03 2019 |
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ecs.t5-lc1m1.small | $10.08 | 1 | 1.0 | 40 | 10000 | Nov 16 2018 |
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t3.small | $14.98 | 2 | 2.0 | 8 | 1000 | Jan 29 2019 |
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t2-small | $16.56 | 1 | 2.0 | 8 | 250 | Mar 24 2018 |
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a1.medium | $18.36 | 1 | 2.0 | 20 | 100 | Nov 28 2018 |
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ecs-t5-c1m1-large | $25.00 | 2 | 2.0 | 20 | 10000 | Sep 09 2018 |
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t3-medium | $29.95 | 2 | 4.0 | 8 | 200 | Aug 22 2018 |
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t2-medium | $33.41 | 2 | 4.0 | 8 | 250 | Jul 22 2018 |
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m5a.large | $62.00 | 2 | 8.0 | 20 | 100 | Mar 31 2019 |
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ecs.c5.large | $63.00 | 2 | 4.0 | 20 | 1000 | Apr 08 2019 |
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m5.large | $69.12 | 2 | 8.0 | 20 | 200 | Nov 14 2018 |
Performance Grades
To summarize the performance of each VPS plan, we generated grades based on the various tests that were run: web, sysbench, endurance and remote timing tests. Each grade focuses on one aspect of the VPS speed (cpu, disk IO, network IO...) and can be made of one or more of the metrics generated during the tests.
Grade A is best, grade F is worst.
Follow the letter links to find the test results backing the grade.
| Plan Name | Web Performance | Raw CPU Power | Performance Stability | Disk IO Performance | Network Performance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
1GB 1 core | C | E | B | E | E |
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ecs-t5-c1m1-large | A | C | C | D | E |
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ecs.c5.large | B | C | B | E | E |
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ecs.t5-lc1m1.small | D | F | E | E | E |
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m5.large | B | C | C | C | B |
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m5a.large | C | D | D | D | C |
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t2-medium | B | C | D | D | D |
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t2-micro | B | F | E | E | C |
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t2-small | B | F | D | C | C |
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t3-medium | B | D | D | D | B |
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t3.micro | D | D | E | E | B |
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t3.small | C | C | D | D | C |
In Depth...
The grades above are based on the following test results.
Web Response Times
We ran a database intensive web application with ~100,000 hits per day for several days on VPSs from Amazon EC2 and Alibaba Cloud. This is the average response time measured locally on the VPS for each plan we tested.
Local Response Time per Plan
Lower is better
| Provider | Plan | Average response time |
|---|---|---|
| EC2 | t2-micro | 63.0ms |
| EC2 | t3.micro | 72.0ms |
| EC2 | t3.small | 62.0ms |
| EC2 | t2-small | 53.0ms |
| EC2 | t3-medium | 55.0ms |
| EC2 | t2-medium | 52.0ms |
| EC2 | m5a.large | 66.0ms |
| EC2 | m5.large | 50.0ms |
| Alibaba | 1GB 1 core | 84.0ms |
| Alibaba | ecs.t5-lc1m1.small | 68.0ms |
| Alibaba | ecs-t5-c1m1-large | 55.0ms |
| Alibaba | ecs.c5.large | 65.0ms |
During the Web Test, we collect response time metrics, CPU metrics and database performance metrics. All of those are measured locally on the VPS running the web server. All metrics can be compared on the Web Performance Comparison page.
Sysbench CPU Performances
We ran the full suite of Sysbench tests on VPS plans of Amazon EC2 and Alibaba Cloud. These are the Sysbench CPU test results:
Rate of operations
Higher is better
Sysbench test results are also available for random disk IO tests, sequential disk IO tests and memory tests.
Review and compare all Sysbench numbers on the Sysbench Comparison page for Amazon EC2 and Alibaba Cloud.
Remote Timings
During the whole duration of the web performance test, we collected web response times from 5 different locations in the world. The chart below reports the average connection + TLS handshake latency from all 5 locations.
Note: Remote timings may not be available for all plans.
Remote Latency per Plan
Lower is better
| Provider | Plan | Average remote request duration |
|---|---|---|
| EC2 | t2-micro | 343.6ms |
| EC2 | t3.micro | 357.2ms |
| EC2 | t3.small | 359.8ms |
| EC2 | t2-small | 338.6ms |
| EC2 | t3-medium | 339.8ms |
| EC2 | t2-medium | 344.8ms |
| EC2 | m5a.large | 353.2ms |
| EC2 | m5.large | 338.8ms |
| Alibaba | 1GB 1 core | 504.4ms |
| Alibaba | ecs.t5-lc1m1.small | 335.0ms |
| Alibaba | ecs-t5-c1m1-large | 450.8ms |
| Alibaba | ecs.c5.large | 508.0ms |
Detailed remote timings measurements including connection time, TLS handshake time, and response time can be compared for Amazon EC2 and Alibaba Cloud on the Remote Timings Comparison page.
Network Transfers
We have performed large file transfers from the Amazon EC2 and Alibaba Cloud VPS and we measured the speed of downloads and uploads.
The transfers involve multiple files, 10 threads and last for at least 10 seconds at maximum speed. The transfers are repeated 3 times from different servers and only the fastest transfer is reported here.
Download Speed per Plan
Higher is better
| Provider | Plan | Network Download Speed |
|---|---|---|
| EC2 | t3.micro | 1673.2Mbps |
| EC2 | t3.small | 418.7Mbps |
| EC2 | a1.medium | 181.8Mbps |
| EC2 | t3-medium | 1850.2Mbps |
| EC2 | t2-medium | 506.8Mbps |
| EC2 | m5a.large | 573.8Mbps |
| EC2 | m5.large | 629.0Mbps |
| Alibaba | 1GB 1 core | 317.7Mbps |
| Alibaba | ecs.t5-lc1m1.small | 80.9Mbps |
| Alibaba | ecs-t5-c1m1-large | 114.8Mbps |
| Alibaba | ecs.c5.large | 109.9Mbps |
Network Transfers measurements including download and upload speeds can be compared for Amazon EC2 and Alibaba Cloud on the Network Transfers Comparison page.
Sustained CPU Endurance Tests
We pushed the CPU of those VPS plans very hard for 24 hours straight.
This kind of tests shows how fast the VPS can go for long periods of time, how stable the performance is and it also gives clues on how overallocated the VPSs are.
Note: Endurance metrics may not be available for all plans.
Average number of operations per hour
Higher is better
| Provider | Plan | Average ops/hour |
|---|---|---|
| EC2 | t2-micro | 458.1 |
| EC2 | t3.micro | 2150.7 |
| EC2 | t3.small | 4280.3 |
| EC2 | t2-small | 1017.4 |
| EC2 | t3-medium | 1732.2 |
| EC2 | t2-medium | 2184.5 |
| EC2 | m5a.large | 1901.8 |
| EC2 | m5.large | 4587.6 |
| Alibaba | 1GB 1 core | 1435.6 |
| Alibaba | ecs.t5-lc1m1.small | 957.9 |
| Alibaba | ecs-t5-c1m1-large | 3185.5 |
| Alibaba | ecs.c5.large | 4873.6 |
Review and compare endurance test results for Amazon EC2 and Alibaba Cloud on the Sustained CPU Endurance Comparison page.
Features and Usability
Features not included in the VPS price in plans tested at vpsbenchmarks.com will be marked as missing.
| Amazon EC2 Review | Alibaba Cloud Review | |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly Billing | Yes | Yes |
| DDOS Protection | No | Yes |
| Backups | No | Yes |
| Control Panel | Builtin | Custom |
| SSH Keys Setup | Yes | Yes |
| Total Number of Datacenters | 10 | 19 |
| Number of Datacenter Continents | 4 | 4 |
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Latest trials
All tests that were recently conducted at VpsBenchmarks:
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| Jun 14 2019 | DigitalOcean |
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