Alibaba Cloud, also called Aliyun, is the cloud computing division of the Alibaba Group. It offers servers, storage, databases and artificial intelligence services over the internet.
How it works
Like other clouds, Alibaba Cloud maintains data centers in several regions. Instead of buying machines, the customer rents what they needs and uses it over the internet, paying according to the company's published terms.
Services range from virtual machines and file storage to platforms for training and publishing AI models. The product and region list changes over time, so the right place to check is the official website.
Practical example
A company that sells to Asia needs its website to respond quickly for customers in that region. It evaluates hosting part of the system in an Alibaba Cloud region closer to that audience.
Another scenario: a team wants to test the Qwen models, from Alibaba itself, via API. Alibaba Cloud offers a platform to access these models, and the official documentation explains how to obtain the key and make calls.
export DASHSCOPE_API_KEY="sua-chave-aqui"Check the exact variable name and API address in the current documentation, as they may change.
What it's for
Alibaba Cloud is for hosting applications, storing data, running databases and using AI services without maintaining own hardware.
For teams building products with AI, it is one of several provider options. Comparing clouds and models helps avoid dependence on a single vendor.
Points to watch
Before choosing, it's worth checking where data is located, which regions are available and how the company handles privacy. For businesses that handle personal data in Brazil, LGPD must be considered.
It's also worth comparing support, documentation language and cost with other options before migrating any system.
Difference between Alibaba Cloud and AWS
Both offer similar cloud services. The difference is in the company, the regions of operation, the product catalog and the AI models tied to each one. Choosing between them depends on the audience, the budget and the project requirements.