Alibaba Cloud, the technological backbone of Alibaba Group, has been recognised as a pioneer in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for both Container Management and Cloud-Native Application Platforms.
This recognition highlights Alibaba Cloud's commitment to fostering innovation that assists global enterprises and facilitates digital transformation efforts.
Commitment to solution delivery
According to Jiangwei Jiang, Senior Researcher and General Manager of Infrastructure Products at Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, "We believe being recognised by Gartner as a Leader in both Container Management and Cloud-Native Application Platforms reflects our unwavering focus on delivering solutions that meet the rapidly evolving technology needs of today’s businesses."
Jiang added that with digital competence becoming essential, Alibaba Cloud aims to simplify the adoption of digital tools while advancing technological possibilities.
Gartner notes that leaders in this space stand out by providing services fit for strategic adoption and showcasing an ambitious development roadmap.
Extensive container management portfolio
Alibaba Cloud offers a comprehensive container service portfolio, providing flexibility across public, hybrid, and multi-cloud settings.
The container management sector was valued at over USD 2.5 billion in 2024, and Gartner predicts that by 2028, 95% of new AI deployments will employ Kubernetes, a significant increase from less than 30% currently.
Advanced cloud-native application platforms
In 2024, the cloud-native application platform market surpassed a revenue of $3.5 billion
Alibaba Cloud's strength in Cloud-Native Application Platforms is attributed to a modern development environment that merges developer productivity, AI, and serverless computing.
Its offerings include the Serverless App Engine (SAE), Function Compute, and Container Compute Service (ACS), which facilitate the rapid construction, deployment, and scaling of AI-enabled applications.
In 2024, the cloud-native application platform market surpassed a revenue of $3.5 billion, with spending growing annually at a rate of 16.4%. This market is projected to exceed $7 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 15.1% from 2024 through 2029, according to Gartner.
Alibaba Cloud is poised to leverage these opportunities due to its advanced toolchains, serverless orchestration, and strong market presence, combined with a strategic product approach designed to meet the demand for scalable and secure solutions.
Enhanced auto-scaling capabilities
At the recent Apsara conference, Alibaba Cloud's premier technology event, the company enhanced its ACS with improved auto-scaling capabilities, integrating optimised scheduling and container image cache acceleration.
This upgrade supports elasticity, facilitating the scaling of up to 15,000 pods per minute to manage extensive, concurrent agent requests.
Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, announced that it has been named a pioneer in Gartner 2025 Magic Quadrant for Container Management and the 2025 Magic Quadrant for Cloud-Native Application Platforms.
Alibaba Cloud believes these recognitions underscore Alibaba Cloud’s continued commitment to pioneering innovations that empowers global enterprises and drives digital transformation.
Focus on delivering solutions
“We believe being recognised by Gartner as a Leader in both Container Management and Cloud-Native Application Platforms reflects our unwavering focus on delivering solutions that meet the rapidly evolving technology needs of today’s businesses.”
“With digital competency quickly becoming a non-negotiable, we’re fully committed to making the adoption of digital tools as easy and effective as possible while pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in these technologies,” said Jiangwei Jiang, Senior Researcher and General Manager of Infrastructure Products, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.
According to Gartner, “Leaders distinguish themselves by offering a service suitable for strategic adoption and having an ambitious roadmap.”
Comprehensive container service portfolio
For Container Management, Alibaba Cloud has a comprehensive container service portfolio, which delivers strategic flexibility across public, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. The container management market reached over USD2.5 billion in value in 2024, and by 2028, 95% of new AI deployments will use Kubernetes, up from less than 30% today, according to the Gartner report.
For Cloud-Native Application Platforms, Alibaba Cloud’s dominant position is attributed to its full-featured modern development environment, which integrates developer productivity, AI, and serverless compute. Its Serverless App Engine (SAE), Function Compute, and Container Compute Service (ACS) enable organisations to rapidly build, deploy, and scale AI-enabled applications with ease.
Cloud-native application platform
The cloud-native application platform market exceeded $3.5 billion revenue in 2024, with worldwide spending growing at a double-digit, year-over-year rate of 16.4%. This market is projected to exceed the $7 billion revenue mark by 2029, at a five-year CAGR of 15.1% from 2024 through 2029 in constant currency, according to Gartner.
Alibaba Cloud believes it is well positioned to capture the resulting opportunities as its key strengths include empowering developers with advanced toolchains and serverless orchestration; driving AI innovation through offerings such as AI models, AI gateways, and one click AI application templates; and strong market awareness underpinned by a product strategy designed to meet growing demand for scalable, flexible, and secure solutions.
Auto-scaling capabilities
During this year’s Apsara conference, Alibaba Cloud’s annual flagship technology conference, Alibaba Cloud has upgraded its ACS to enhance its auto-scaling capabilities through optimised scheduling and container image cache acceleration technologies.
This enables elasticity, supporting the scaling of up to 15,000 pods per minute to handle massive, highly concurrent agent requests.
