Scaleway vs Alibaba Cloud: GPU Compute Price Comparison
Side-by-side comparison of GPU compute pricing, regions, billing models, and strengths for Scaleway and Alibaba Cloud. Updated July 2026.
Provider Overview
Strengths & Best For
Scaleway is a French GPU cloud offering H100 and A100 instances with strong GDPR compliance and EU data sovereignty, backed by managed Kubernetes and a full developer-friendly cloud platform. On-demand and reserved billing options are available across EU data centers, making it one of the most complete European GPU cloud options for teams that need both AI compute and broader cloud services. A natural fit for EU-based AI teams that want competitive European GPU pricing without vendor lock-in.
- EU sovereignty
- GDPR compliant
- Competitive EU pricing
- Managed Kubernetes
Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun) is Asia's largest cloud provider, offering ECS GPU instances with A100, H100, and V100 across China and Southeast Asia with competitive APAC pricing and on-demand, reserved, and spot billing options. Deep integration with Alibaba's ecosystem and strong China presence make it the default GPU cloud for enterprises operating in the Chinese market or running AI workloads across Southeast Asia. A top choice for APAC-focused organizations that need broad regional coverage and competitive GPU pricing in Asia.
- APAC coverage
- China presence
- Competitive pricing
- Deep ecosystem
Live GPU Pricing
Region Coverage
Popular Comparisons
Scaleway — specialist provider
Scaleway is a French GPU cloud offering H100 and A100 instances with strong GDPR compliance and EU data sovereignty, backed by managed Kubernetes and a full developer-friendly cloud platform. On-demand and reserved billing options are available across EU data centers, making it one of the most complete European GPU cloud options for teams that need both AI compute and broader cloud services. A natural fit for EU-based AI teams that want competitive European GPU pricing without vendor lock-in.
Alibaba Cloud — hyperscaler provider
Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun) is Asia's largest cloud provider, offering ECS GPU instances with A100, H100, and V100 across China and Southeast Asia with competitive APAC pricing and on-demand, reserved, and spot billing options. Deep integration with Alibaba's ecosystem and strong China presence make it the default GPU cloud for enterprises operating in the Chinese market or running AI workloads across Southeast Asia. A top choice for APAC-focused organizations that need broad regional coverage and competitive GPU pricing in Asia.
Billing model comparison
Scaleway uses a On-demand, Reserved billing model with a minimum commitment of None. Alibaba Cloud uses On-demand, Reserved, Spot billing with a None (on-demand) minimum. Alibaba Cloud's no-commitment on-demand model is more flexible for short-term or experimental workloads, while Scaleway's commitment requirement suits teams with predictable long-running jobs.
Which workloads each provider suits best
Scaleway is best suited for: EU-based AI teams, GDPR-sensitive workloads, Full-stack cloud users. Its key strengths are eu sovereignty, gdpr compliant, competitive eu pricing. Alibaba Cloud is best suited for: China/APAC workloads, Enterprises in Asia, Teams using Alibaba services. Its key strengths are apac coverage, china presence, competitive pricing. As a specialist provider, Scaleway typically offers lower per-GPU rates for teams that don't need the full hyperscaler ecosystem. Alibaba Cloud as a hyperscaler offers broader ecosystem integration and compliance certifications at a premium.
Support tiers and region coverage
Scaleway offers Basic → Enterprise support across 2 regions (EU-West, EU-Central). Alibaba Cloud offers Basic → Enterprise support across 4 regions (CN, APAC, EU and 1 more). Alibaba Cloud's broader region footprint gives it an advantage for latency-sensitive workloads or teams with data residency requirements in specific geographies.
Provider background: Scaleway vs Alibaba Cloud
Scaleway was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Paris, France. Alibaba Cloud was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Hangzhou, China. Alibaba Cloud has 6 years more operational history than Scaleway, which may matter for teams evaluating provider stability and long-term contract risk. Use the live pricing table above to compare current on-demand and spot rates for specific GPU models, and the region map to verify coverage in your target geography.