How good Alakazam really is?

Alakazam needs some nice dodging. Every game has a glass cannon. He is it for Pokémon Go. If you don't dodge quick moves, then I wouldn't really use him as a universal attacker and would choose matchups. Obvious best one is fighters. A poliwrath with bubble/HP is a slow attacker and a great one to face with him. Machamp too.

Both. You need to dodge every attack because it has such low HP.

Also watch who you're putting him against. Anything with Ghost or Dark moves, even without STAB, will wreck him even quicker. Lick and Bite will take him out quick.

No, the Strongest attacker, (at the same level), is Dragonite. Can easily mow down two Snorlax of the same CP with charge move dodging and missing a few quick move dodges here and there, and Alakazam certainly cannot do that.

At the same CP however, I do believe Alakazam is stronger. However for practical purposes Dragonite is almost always the better attacker except against psychic weakness mons (yes, even against Lapras).

Just become more proficient at dodging, and you'll love his performance. Very potion efficient too.

Basically you don't let him being hit by any charge moves, if he got hit by charge moves, it is your fault, not his fault! If not sure when the opponent's charge moves are coming, then just cut!

Good attacker but nit the best...

I've conducted tests over Alakazam vs Dragonite (DB/DC). Both in the same level.
Conclusion:
1. When taking out a fat Chansey (1200cp), Alakazam does it slightly faster than Dragonite, but the difference is within one second. Hence the DPS of Alakazam is slightly higher than Dragonite.
2. When taking out a fat Snorlax (over 3000cp), Alakazam does it slightly slower - he needs to dodge Snorlax's specials at least once otherwise he would lose.

If you play Counter-Strike, then Alakazam is AK47 while Dragonite is M4A1.
Besides, the auto-select will always pop my Dragonite when the defender is Snorlax or Chansey. I seldom see cases where Alakazam is popped. To switch into Alakazam takes a second at best. So in the end, Dragonite wins back the difference.

He is a weaker version of Dragonite.
He can be usefull as a prestiger of as a generalist attacker (especially vs Snorlax) if high CP. Don't forget that Tyranitar will comme in the next few month and will be the beast we are lakcing for Snorlax and Lapras.

He is not worth investing a lot of dust except if you can get dragonite.

...just dodge. its not that hard.

Yeah, he is the fastest dps in current gen1, though db dragonites dun really lagged that far behind, and had way more survivability than this glass cannon. His fragility is made worst by the lag refund glitch. That's the reason why I dun really use him in my attack team.

Might wish to check out this comparison vid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjwI021oJQA