Gcore vs Tencent Cloud: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of Gcore and Tencent Cloud to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
Gcore
6.9/10
Luxembourg-based edge and cloud provider offering CDN, virtual machines, bare metal, managed Kubernetes, object storage, AI GPU cloud, and DDoS/WAF security for businesses.
Tencent Cloud
6.6/10
Tencent Cloud is a public cloud platform offering compute, containers, storage, databases and security services, plus Lighthouse VPS bundles for small workloads.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.9/10 | 6.6/10 |
| Integration | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Support | 5/10 | 5/10 |
| Cost | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Customization | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 8/10 | 6/10 |
| Reliability | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Ease of Use | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Analytics | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Scalability | 8/10 | 8/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | €390/mo DDoS Protection Start | $4/mo Lighthouse Linux Starter |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | €390/mo DDoS Protection Start | $4/mo Lighthouse Linux Starter |
| Features | ||
| Cloud Compute | ||
| DDoS Protection | ||
| Managed Kubernetes | ||
| Multiple Regions | ||
| Object Storage | ||
| API and CLI | Not listed | |
| Automatic Backups | Not listed | |
| Content Delivery Network | Not listed | |
| Dedicated Servers | Not listed | |
| Managed Databases | Not listed | |
| Serverless Functions | Not listed | |
| VPS Hosting | Not listed | |
Gcore vs Tencent Cloud cost by team size
| Team size | Gcore | Tencent Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | €390/moDDoS Protection Start | $4/moLighthouse Linux Starter |
| 5 users | €390/moDDoS Protection Start | $4/moLighthouse Linux Starter |
| 10 users | €390/moDDoS Protection Start | $4/moLighthouse Linux Starter |
| 25 users | €390/moDDoS Protection Start | $4/moLighthouse Linux Starter |
| 50 users | €390/moDDoS Protection Start | $4/moLighthouse Linux Starter |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Gcore
- Has a free plan (Tencent Cloud does not)
- Higher Security score (8/10 vs 6/10)
- Higher Integration score (7/10 vs 6/10)
Why choose Tencent Cloud
- Higher Cost score (8/10 vs 7/10)
Pros & Cons
Gcore
Pros
- The CDN includes 1 TB of traffic and 1 billion requests free each month, and traffic after that starts at 0.01 EUR per GB.
- DDoS protection pricing does not depend on attack size, and mitigation is not metered on any plan.
- The managed Kubernetes control plane is free with high availability, so you pay only for the nodes.
- A large edge footprint, reported at about 210 PoPs and 200 Tbps of capacity, suits latency-sensitive workloads such as gaming and streaming.
- Headquarters in Luxembourg is an advantage for buyers who prefer an EU-based provider.
Cons
- Trustpilot scores are around 2.5 out of 5, with complaints about recurring billing, refunds, and slow support.
- There is no public price list for VMs and bare metal; prices are only available through the calculator.
- The Terraform v2 provider is still in alpha and Gcore says it is not ready for production.
- The product range is very broad, which can make it harder for small teams to understand how pricing works.
Tencent Cloud
Pros
- Lighthouse VPS bundles start at 4.2 USD per month for 2 vCPU and 2 GB RAM, with a promotional starter plan offered at 10.08 USD per year.
- Lighthouse instances get basic Anti-DDoS, workload protection, monitoring alarms and CAM permissions activated by default.
- TKE managed Kubernetes can run very large clusters, with a stated control-plane capacity of over 50,000 nodes per cluster.
- A strong regional footprint in mainland China and Asia-Pacific helps teams serving users in those markets.
- Reviewers on Gartner and G2 praise its cost performance and how easy Lighthouse is to deploy.
Cons
- Reviewers report support staff with limited technical depth or language gaps on complex issues.
- Users describe the documentation as uneven.
- Lighthouse cannot change its IP, bind an EIP or use IPv6 after creation, and bundles cannot be downgraded.
- Discounts and cross-border data transfer charges make total cost harder to predict.
- Tencent provides no technical support for third-party software in the Lighthouse app images.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Gcore scores higher on our Hosting & Infrastructure criteria: 6.9/10 against 6.6/10 for Tencent Cloud. The largest gap is in Security: 8/10 for Gcore and 6/10 for Tencent Cloud.
Gcore has a free plan; Tencent Cloud does not list one.
