For over a decade, I’ve been hosting personal and family websites as well as side project apps on AWS EC2 instances. While AWS has always been reliable, it was starting to feel increasingly expensive, especially for hosting relatively simple websites and small-scale applications. Recently, I decided to explore alternative cloud providers and, after some research, I made the switch from AWS to Alibaba Cloud. This move has resulted in savings of over $600 annually, and in this post, I’ll walk you through my journey, the comparisons I made, and how I executed the migration.
AWS and Alibaba Cloud: Major Players in Cloud Computing
AWS (Amazon Web Services) is often regarded as the dominant leader in the cloud computing industry, with a wide range of services and global infrastructure. Meanwhile, Alibaba Cloud, although newer to the international scene, has quickly become a strong competitor, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. Both offer similar services, including computing, storage, and networking, and they operate data centers across the globe.
- AWS has over 30 regions worldwide, with availability zones spanning North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and more.
- Alibaba Cloud is particularly strong in China and Asia, but also offers a growing presence in Europe, North America, and the Middle East.
Comparing Costs: AWS EC2 t3a.small vs. Alibaba ECS ecs.e-c1m1.large
When I evaluated cloud providers, I compared the specs and pricing of instances that could comfortably host my websites and applications. Here’s a quick breakdown:
- AWS EC2 t3a.small
- vCPUs : 2
- Memory : 2 GB
- Pricing : Approximately $0.0208 per hour (on-demand), translating to around $182 per year (excluding EBS storage and network costs e.g. EIP, IGW, etc.).
- Alibaba ECS ecs.e-c1m1.large
- vCPUs : 2
- Memory : 2 GB
- Block Storage (ESSD) : 100GB
- Pricing : $29 per year for a yearly subscription (during a promotion).
While the instance specs are quite similar, the cost difference is significant. The Alibaba ECS instance provided similar performance to the AWS EC2 instance I was using, but at a fraction of the cost.
Migration Effort: Moving Wordpress, Hugo, and Node.js Apps
Once I settled on Alibaba Cloud as the better option for my needs, the next step was to migrate my sites and apps. I needed to move:
- A Wordpress site
- A Hugo static site
- A Node.js/ExpressJS web application
Here’s the process I followed:
- Backup Data : I started by creating backups of the database and files for both Wordpress and Hugo. I also zipped the Node.js app code and dependencies.
- Set Up Alibaba ECS : After purchasing the instance, I set up a basic Ubuntu environment and installed the necessary software (Apache, MySQL, Node.js, Nginx, etc.).
- Transfer Files : Using secure copy protocol (SCP), I transferred the files and databases from the AWS instance to Alibaba’s ECS instance.
- Configure DNS and SSL : I updated the DNS settings to point to the new Alibaba Cloud server IP and reissued SSL certificates using Let’s Encrypt.
- Test and Optimize : Finally, I thoroughly tested each site and application to ensure everything was working smoothly on the new server.
The total time for the migration, including testing, took around 4-5 hours. Most of this time was spent waiting for file transfers and DNS propagation.
Conclusion: Significant Savings with Potential for More
The switch from AWS to Alibaba Cloud saved me over $600 annually, without any noticeable impact on performance for my use case. Beyond the initial cost savings, Alibaba Cloud offers further discounts through special promotions and by opting for yearly subscriptions. In my case, I secured a deal where the yearly cost for the ecs.e-c1m1.large instance was only $29—remarkable when compared to the $182 I was paying with AWS only for the EC2 instance.
If you’re running small-scale applications or websites, I highly recommend exploring Alibaba Cloud for its affordability and performance. With more companies now offering competitive pricing, you can save a significant amount while still benefiting from reliable cloud services.