Alibaba Cloud Recognized as a Leader in The Forrester Wave: Serverless Development Platforms
August 9, 2025 • By news • 0 Comments
Market Leadership and Innovation
The Forrester Wave report, published in Q2 2025, has recognized Alibaba Cloud as a Leader in The Forrester Wave: Serverless Development Platforms. This assessment is based on a six-month evaluation of 11 vendors across multiple criteria, including developer experience, partner ecosystem, API and event-driven integration, AI application development, and overall vision.
Criteria Evaluation
The report assessed serverless development platforms on 21 criteria, including:
- Developer experience
- Partner ecosystem
- API and event-driven integration
- AI application development
- Overall vision
- Initialisation and deployment
- Workload flexibility
- Observability
- AI application development
- Innovation
Alibaba Cloud’s Serverless Platform
Alibaba Cloud’s serverless platform incorporates its Function Compute and Serverless App Engine products. These platforms deliver scalable, event-driven computing and offer integration throughout the Alibaba ecosystem.
Key Features
* Scalable, event-driven computing
* Integration throughout the Alibaba ecosystem
* Support for diverse workloads
* Flexibility
* Focus on enabling businesses in various sectors, including eCommerce, manufacturing, education, media and entertainment, gaming, and the internet
Recognition and Market Positioning
The report highlighted Alibaba Cloud’s position as a market front-runner across China and the broader Asia-Pacific region. The company’s serverless offerings have supported more than 10,000 enterprises worldwide.
Quotes from Alibaba Cloud
Jiangwei Jiang, Vice President, General Manager of Infrastructure Products at Alibaba Cloud, said: “For us, this recognition from Forrester reflects Alibaba Cloud’s continued focus on advancing serverless development. The development of AI applications remains a priority in our serverless solutions, as we strive to combine innovative cloud technologies with reliable customer support – helping businesses of all sizes adopt the latest advancements for their growth.”
Serverless Development Focus
Alibaba Cloud’s approach to serverless development has been marked by support for diverse workloads, flexibility, and a focus on enabling businesses in a range of sectors. The company has confirmed that its serverless offerings have supported more than 10,000 enterprises worldwide.
Product Development
Alibaba Cloud launched Function Compute in 2017 as a managed, event-driven compute service designed to allow users to focus on developing business logic without the need to manage underlying infrastructure. The service operates on a pay-as-you-go basis, with the stated intention of enabling rapid development and iteration.
Key Features of Function Compute
* Managed, event-driven compute service
* Designed to allow users to focus on developing business logic
* Operates on a pay-as-you-go basis
* Enables rapid development and iteration
Integration with Model Studio and ModelScope
Function Compute underpins Alibaba Cloud’s generative AI platform, Model Studio, and the open-source ModelScope Community. Offering inference and training support along with elastic invocation capabilities for Agent and MCP services.
Serverless App Engine
Alibaba Cloud launched Serverless App Engine in 2019 as the industry’s first application-oriented serverless platform-as-a-service. Built on Kubernetes architecture, it is intended to enable deployment of cloud-native applications quickly, whether from source code, packaged code, or Docker images.
Key Features of Serverless App Engine
* Industry’s first application-oriented serverless platform-as-a-service
* Built on Kubernetes architecture
* Enables deployment of cloud-native applications quickly
* Supports deployment from source code, packaged code, or Docker images
Enterprise Adoption and Market Positioning
Alibaba Cloud stated that its serverless offerings have been adopted by organisations in varied industries. These solutions are used by enterprises ranging from eCommerce and media to education and manufacturing, in efforts to manage, scale, and develop digital operations in a cost-effective and efficient manner.
Quotes from Alibaba Cloud
Jiangwei Jiang, Vice President, General Manager of Infrastructure Products at Alibaba Cloud, said: “For us, this recognition from Forrester reflects Alibaba Cloud’s continued focus on advancing serverless development. The development of AI applications remains a priority in our serverless solutions, as we strive to combine innovative cloud technologies with reliable customer support – helping businesses of all sizes adopt the latest advancements for their growth.”
Conclusion
The Forrester Wave report has recognized Alibaba Cloud as a Leader in The Forrester Wave: Serverless Development Platforms. The report highlights Alibaba Cloud’s innovative approach to serverless development, its focus on enabling businesses in various sectors, and its comprehensive serverless platform.
Market Implications
The recognition by Forrester has significant market implications for Alibaba Cloud. The report’s assessment of Alibaba Cloud’s serverless platform as one of the most comprehensive on the market underscores the company’s leadership in the serverless development market.
Future Directions
As the serverless development market continues to evolve, Alibaba Cloud is well-positioned to lead the way. The company’s innovative approach to serverless development, its focus on enabling businesses in various sectors, and its comprehensive serverless platform make it an ideal choice for businesses looking to adopt the latest advancements in serverless technology.
Definitions
A serverless development platform is a type of cloud-based platform that allows users to develop and deploy applications without the need to manage underlying infrastructure.
Event-driven integration refers to the process of integrating applications using events, such as messages, requests, or notifications.
AI application development refers to the process of developing applications that utilize artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, such as machine learning and deep learning.
Function Compute is a managed, event-driven compute service offered by Alibaba Cloud. It allows users to focus on developing business logic without the need to manage underlying infrastructure.
Serverless App Engine is the industry’s first application-oriented serverless platform-as-a-service offered by Alibaba Cloud. It enables deployment of cloud-native applications quickly, whether from source code, packaged code, or Docker images.
Model Studio is a generative AI platform offered by Alibaba Cloud. It allows users to develop, train, and deploy AI models.
ModelScope is an open-source community offered by Alibaba Cloud. It provides inference and training support for AI models, along with elastic invocation capabilities for Agent and MCP services.