Alibaba Cloud has been positioned as a Leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud-Native Application Platforms, recognized for its Serverless Application Engine (SAE) and Function Compute (FC). It is the only technology company from Asia Pacific to be included in the Leaders quadrant.
Gartner defines a cloud-native application platform as “a platform that provides a managed runtime environment for applications and integrates application management with component lifecycle capabilities.” Such platforms typically support distributed application deployment and deliver native cloud capabilities—including elasticity, multi-tenancy, and self-service—without requiring infrastructure provisioning or container management.
Alibaba Cloud demonstrated top-tier capabilities in container support, backend frameworks, scalability, and high availability. Its strong focus on platform performance optimization and cost efficiency—particularly through innovations like Serverless GPU, idle-resource billing, and deep integration across Alibaba Cloud’s ecosystem—has given it a clear edge in both containerized and serverless computing. These strengths earned Alibaba Cloud its placement as a Leader in this year’s report.
Serverless Application Engine (SAE)
As the earliest and most comprehensive provider of cloud-native serverless computing services in China, Alibaba Cloud launched SAE in 2018—the industry’s first application-centric, container-based Serverless PaaS. SAE enables zero-O&M deployment of code packages or Docker images, with automatic scaling, pay-as-you-go pricing, and built-in capabilities such as microservices governance and observability.
In the AI era, SAE unifies operations for both traditional containerized applications and next-generation AI workloads. The SAE Application Center integrates popular tools like Dify and Jmanus, enabling one-click development, deployment, and management of AI applications—boosting efficiency and reducing costs. SAE also now offers 100% compatibility with core Kubernetes APIs, allowing users to retain existing development and operational workflows seamlessly.
Function Compute (FC)
Function Compute (FC) is China’s first FaaS offering with millisecond-level auto-scaling, providing a fully managed, event-driven compute service. Developers simply write and upload code; FC automatically provisions resources, executes functions reliably at scale, and delivers end-to-end observability—dramatically simplifying the development and operations lifecycle.
To accelerate AI innovation, Alibaba Cloud has launched Function AI, a dedicated platform built on FC that features:
● Pre-built templates for common AI scenarios
● Native support for customization and integration with Alibaba Cloud services
● Enhanced developer productivity for AI application development
Function Compute powers model inference and training for Alibaba Cloud Model Studio and ModelStudio Community, while also delivering elastic compute for AIGC image generation, AI Agents, and MCP services. Additionally, Serverless GPU directly addresses the key challenges of high AI compute costs and low resource utilization.
With its technical leadership, deep ecosystem integration, and proven enterprise adoption, Alibaba Cloud continues to shape the future of cloud-native and serverless computing—especially as AI reshapes application architecture worldwide.
Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Cloud-Native Application Platforms, Tigran Egiazarov, Mukul Saha, Prasanna Lakshmi Narasimha, 4 August 2025
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s Research & Advisory organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, Magic Quadrant is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Alibaba.
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Function Compute
Alibaba Cloud Function Compute is a fully-managed event-driven compute service. It allows you to focus on writing and uploading code without the need to manage infrastructure such as servers.
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Serverless Workflow
Visualization, O&M-free orchestration, and Coordination of Stateful Application Scenarios
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Cloud-Native Applications Management Solution
Accelerate and secure the development, deployment, and management of containerized applications cost-effectively.
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Serverless Application Engine
Serverless Application Engine (SAE) is the world's first application-oriented serverless PaaS, providing a cost-effective and highly efficient one-stop application hosting solution.
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