AllMusic editor John Lucas rated the album four out of five stars. He noted Alive was "notably less club-oriented than its predecessors, instead aiming for a modern pop sound" and called it her by "far her strongest, lacking the filler that weighed down her first two. Indeed almost any of the 13 tracks could have been strong singles in their own right, something that could certainly not have been said of Different or Stronger [...] All in all, Alive is an underrated set."[1]