Alibaba Cloud DNS vs Akamai Edge DNS

Alibaba Cloud DNS9.2Visit Akamai Edge DNS9.0Visit

Higher score Alibaba Cloud DNS #2 in Managed DNS Services 9.2/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Alibaba Cloud

vs

Akamai Edge DNS #4 in Managed DNS Services 9.0/10 Pricing on request ✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Akamai

• Alibaba Cloud DNS fits best

  Teams seeking feature-rich DNS at a low entry price

• Akamai Edge DNS fits best

  Large enterprises needing global DNS infrastructure

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Side by side

Feature	Alibaba Cloud DNS 9.2/10 Visit ↗	Akamai Edge DNS 9.0/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.2	9.0
Ranking	#2 in Managed DNS Services	#4 in Managed DNS Services
Best for	Teams seeking feature-rich DNS at a low entry price	Large enterprises needing global DNS infrastructure
Pricing model	Free plan + paid	Paid
Starting price	$7/site/yr	Pricing on request
Free plan	✓ (best)	—
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud	Cloud
Platforms	Web	Web
Integrations	3 integrations	4 integrations
Features Alibaba Cloud DNS 4/4 · Akamai Edge DNS 4/4
DNSSEC support	✓	✓
DNS health checks	✓	✓
API access	✓	✓
Secondary DNS	✓	✓
Specs
Included zones	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Traffic steering	Advanced	Advanced
Our review
Pros	Free public DNS and Personal Edition from $7 per domain per year Routing by geography, region, ISP, custom IP ranges, weight, and latency API and SDK access, DNSSEC, secondary DNS, and traffic analysis	Supports primary, secondary and alias zones with AXFR and IXFR transfers Combines Anycast, DNSSEC, health-based failover and traffic routing Offers API and Terraform automation with DNS traffic and security analytics
Cons	Free Edition has a daily query limit and no SLA guarantee Global Traffic Manager health checks and routing are separately billed Enterprise-verified users cannot buy new Personal Edition instances	Pricing is handled through sales rather than a public price list No free plan is offered Its enterprise DNS scope may exceed the needs of smaller deployments
Our verdict	Alibaba Cloud DNS provides managed authoritative DNS for individuals, developers, and enterprises. It covers public and private zones, DNS record management, traffic analysis, monitoring, and programmatic management through APIs and SDKs.… Read the review →	Akamai Edge DNS provides authoritative DNS for organizations managing internet-facing applications and APIs. Its global IP Anycast infrastructure and support for primary, secondary and alias zones make it a fit for large enterprises that… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Alibaba Cloud DNS — where it wins

  • Free public DNS and Personal Edition from $7 per domain per year
  • Routing by geography, region, ISP, custom IP ranges, weight, and latency
  • API and SDK access, DNSSEC, secondary DNS, and traffic analysis

  Where it doesn't

  • Free Edition has a daily query limit and no SLA guarantee
  • Global Traffic Manager health checks and routing are separately billed
  • Enterprise-verified users cannot buy new Personal Edition instances

• Akamai Edge DNS — where it wins

  • Supports primary, secondary and alias zones with AXFR and IXFR transfers
  • Combines Anycast, DNSSEC, health-based failover and traffic routing
  • Offers API and Terraform automation with DNS traffic and security analytics

  Where it doesn't

  • Pricing is handled through sales rather than a public price list
  • No free plan is offered
  • Its enterprise DNS scope may exceed the needs of smaller deployments

• Alibaba Cloud DNS9.2/10 · Free plan

  Free DNS and paid plans from $7 per domain yearly, with advanced routing options.

  Visit Alibaba CloudFull verdict →
• Akamai Edge DNS9.0/10 · Pricing on request

  Enterprise DNS with traffic steering, failover and automation; pricing is sales-led.

  Visit AkamaiFull verdict →