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MaxCompute

by Alibaba Cloud · Since 2009
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ActiveAvailable globallyCloud
Quick facts
VendorAlibaba Cloud
Year launched2009
StatusActive
LocationHangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Countries servedGlobal
Languages11
Integrations1+
Free tierN/A
Free trialYES
Contact salesYES

About MaxCompute

MaxCompute is a data warehouse software from Alibaba Cloud that provides quick and fully-managed petabyte-scale data solutions. It includes AI Search, Account Center, and Billing Messages so users can efficiently analyze and process large volumes of data. This platform supports various analytical workloads and allows businesses to gain insights from their data efficiently. With MaxCompute, organizations can quickly scale their data infrastructure according to their needs and manage their resources effectively. Key capabilities: includes AI Search provides Account Center supports Billing Messages enables processing of petabyte-scale data offers managed data solutions Best for: organizations that need reliable data analytics and processing capabilities.

MaxCompute by Alibaba Cloud is a powerful, fully managed cloud data warehouse platform purpose-built for handling exabyte-scale datasets with efficiency and security. As the backbone of Alibaba’s own massive data infrastructure, it brings enterprise-grade capabilities to organizations needing to store, process, and analyze large volumes of structured data. Designed for scalability, MaxCompute supports multiple computational models—including SQL, MapReduce, Graph computing, and MPI algorithms—offering flexibility for various advanced big data workloads. One of its most attractive features is its cost-effective architecture, which uses a compute-storage decoupled model and pay-as-you-go pricing. This allows enterprises to reduce infrastructure procurement and operational costs by up to 30%, while still accommodating fluctuating data demands. Despite being engineered for complexity, MaxCompute maintains a relatively accessible interface through the Alibaba Cloud Console. While users with SQL knowledge can interact directly through the console, advanced users and developers benefit from deeper integration with Alibaba’s DataWorks, which streamlines data pipeline orchestration, task scheduling, and data governance in a visual environment.

Pros & Cons

Pros
  • Massive Scalability: Supports exabyte-level data storage and distributed computing — ideal for large enterprises.
  • Multi-Model Processing: Offers SQL, MapReduce, Graph, and MPI algorithms for flexible compute workloads.
  • Security-Focused: Provides sandboxing, monitoring, and over seven years of stable offline analytics.
  • Fast Cloud Migration: Demonstrated ability to onboard full services in under three months.
  • Industry Versatility: Supports use cases from marketing analytics to energy data management.
  • Reliable Support: Upgraded support offerings with faster SLA responses and expanded ticket limits.
Cons
  • Sparse Feature Details: Core capabilities like data channels, storage schema, and modeling options aren't fully explained.
  • Limited UI Transparency: No mention of user interface experience, which could matter for usability.
  • Documentation Navigation: Might require developer-level knowledge to access full capabilities from APIs and SDKs.
  • Potential China-Centric Orientation: Features and support may be regionally optimized or language-dependent in some areas.

Features

Key features

EB-Level Computing & Storage

Supports exabyte-level data storage and processing, suitable for massive big data needs.

Multiple Computational Models

Offers flexibility with support for SQL, MapReduce, Graph, and MPI iterative algorithms.

Reliable Multi-Level Security

Provides robust data protection through multi-level sandbox, monitoring, and comprehensive encryption.

Cost-Effective Pay-as-You-Go

Reduces total cost of ownership by 20-30% compared to private clouds, billed by actual consumption.

Proprietary Data Channel (Tunnel)

Enables high-concurrency, efficient data uploads and downloads to and from the platform.

Integration with DataWorks

Seamlessly connects with DataWorks for end-to-end data development, operations, and management.

Additional features

General Purpose Platform

A versatile platform for various data processing needs.

Fully Managed Service

Alibaba Cloud handles all infrastructure management, updates, and maintenance.

Multi-Tenancy Platform

Securely isolates data and resources for multiple users or departments.

Large-Scale Computing and Storage

Supports storage and computing of data up to exabyte (EB) level.

Multiple Computational Models

Supports SQL, MapReduce, Graph, and Message Passing Interface (MPI) iterative algorithms.

Reliable Data Security Measures

Provides stable offline analysis services, multi-level sandbox protection, and monitoring.

Cost-Effective

Offers more efficient computing and storage services, reducing purchase costs by 20% to 30%.

Data Channel (MaxCompute Tunnel)

A proprietary function for efficient and high-concurrency data upload and download.

Data Storage in Two-Dimensional Tables

Stores data in structured two-dimensional tables, compatible with Hive.

Supports Partitioning and Column-Oriented Storage

Optimizes data organization and query performance.

Supports Complex Data Types

Enriches support for ARRAY, MAP, and STRUCT types, which can be nested.

Secure

Implies comprehensive security measures for data integrity and confidentiality.

Transparent Encryption

Integrates with KMS and BYOK for automatic data encryption and decryption at the storage layer (e.g., AES256).

Data Content Encryption

Supports column-level content encryption for sensitive data using algorithms like AES-GCM-256.

Dynamic Data Masking

Protects sensitive data during development, testing, sharing, and O&M with policies like masking, hashing, and character replacement.

Encrypted Transmission

Uses HTTPS TLS v1.2 for secure data transmission.

Data Lifecycle Management

Allows specifying data retention periods and automatically cleans up expired data.

Tiered Storage

Supports Infrequent Access (IA) and long-term storage tiers for cost optimization.

Customer Scenarios

Applicable for various use cases including data warehouses, big data analysis for logs, redefined management, and precision marketing.

Cost-effective Investment and Maintenance

Reduces manpower, materials, R&D investment.

Secure and Reliable

Comprehensive services and stable performance ensure data security.

Integration with DataWorks

Allows end-to-end data synchronization, workflow design, data development, data management, and O&M.

Integration with Platform for AI (PAI)

Allows training models based on MaxCompute data using PAI's algorithm components.

Integration with Hologres

Supports accelerating queries on MaxCompute data using external tables and exporting data for interactive analytics.

Integration with Quick BI

Enables creating reports and visualizing data from MaxCompute.

Supports User-Defined Functions (UDFs)

Allows developing custom functions in Java.

MaxCompute SQL Engine

Provides an SQL engine for direct execution of MaxCompute SQL tasks.

Cupid Computing Platform

Allows running tasks from third-party engines like Spark and Mars.

Restful API

Provides an API for programmatic interaction.

SDK for Java and PyODPS

Development kits for various programming languages.

Connectors for Streaming Services

Integrates with streaming services like Flink, Spark, and Kafka for real-time data ingestion.

MaxCompute Studio Interface

A graphical interface (e.g., for designing MapReduce examples).

One-on-One Presale Consultation

Provides consulting by experienced cloud experts.

24/7 Technical Support

Extended service time for round-the-clock technical assistance.

6 Free Tickets per Quarter

Doubled number of complimentary support tickets (from 3 to 6).

Faster Response

Shortened after-sale response time from 36 hours to 18 hours.

Pricing

Free trial
Free version
Request a quote
Promo Offer

Countries & Languages

Global
Countries served
11
Interface languages
5
Billing currencies

Interface languages

EnglishGermanFrenchSpanishItalianPortugueseDutchJapaneseChineseRussianKorean.

Billing currencies

🇺🇸USD🇪🇺EUR🇬🇧GBP🇯🇵JPY🇨🇳CNY

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