TL;DR The 5 Best China-based CDNs: 1. Alibaba Cloud, 2. Baidu Cloud, 3. BaishanCloud, 4. ChinaCache, 5. Tencent Cloud.
What is CDN, and why do you need it in China?
A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a group of geographically distributed servers (or Points of Presence, PoP) that speed up web content delivery by bringing it closer to where users are.
So if your current CDN provider or the CMS’s CDN provider doesn’t have servers in China, your web content will perform poorly in China. You can run a speed test here to visually see how your site load in China (inside the Great Firewall of China).
The popular CDN outside China (you maybe using) are Akamai, Cloudflare, Fastly, and KeyCDN all have no servers (PoPs) in China directly. If you are unsure what CDN your CMS is using, don’t hesitate to reach out, we can give you a free audit.
How to choose CDN in China?
The golden rule is to find CDN providers with servers near your users. The next thing we recommend you look at is how difficult or how easy to integrate the CDN with your existing websites. With these rules, you rule out a lot of western CDN providers.
What does it take to get China CDN?
Unlike the west, getting China CDN requires having some legal permits: ICP License or ICP Filing. You need a company registered in China to quantify to get an ICP License. Does this sound daunting to you? You probably need our help. We’ve helped many fortune 500 companies host and deploy their assets in China CDN and take care of the legal permits for them. If this sounds like you, schedule a free consultation call with one of our experts, and we’ll guide you thru your steps for the legal permits.
The 5 Best China-based CDNs
There are many China CDN players in the market. To help you the best, we provide the top 5 China CDN providers that have been in the market long enough and have proven reliable in China.
Each of these China CDN providers (cloud providers) has shown that they use their CDN infrastructure to power their apps and website across 1 billion netizens in China.
1. Alibaba Cloud
If you are already using Amazon Web Services (AWS), Alibaba Cloud or Aliyun is the “Chinese AWS.” Even though AWS China (or AWS CN regions) operates inside mainland China, in terms of scale and market share, Alibaba Cloud is the leading cloud company in China. Alibaba Cloud not only gives you CDN in China but also covers all the fundamental needs, for example, getting servers in China.
2. Baidu AI Cloud
Baidu AI Cloud is the cloud powering the leading search engine Baidu in China, and it’s also known as the “Chinese Google.”They have a wide range of cloud hosting services, and in recent years, they have launched more Big Data and AI(Artificial Intelligence) related services for developers.
3. BaishanCloud
BaishanCloud is recognized as the only Chinese service provider with global network capabilities by Gartner Research. The company has mainly focused on CDN in and outside of China.
4. ChinaCache
ChinaCache was founded in 1998 and had a long history of Cloud and CDN offerings in China. It’s the first company to provide CDN content serving in China.
5. Tencent Cloud
Tencent Cloud is the backbone that supports WeChat or Weixin, the “Super app for everything” and “digital Swiss Army knife” because of its robust ecosystem and wide range of functions, such as WeChat Pay and WeChat Mini Programs. With daily active users of 968 million (2021 data) of WeChat, Tencent Cloud CDN plays a crucial role, and you can leverage their CDN to boost your web content.
How can we help you?
We make companies’ sites perform faster in China with one click and deploy to multi-China-CDNs directly. Also, help companies to stay in full compliance with Chinese laws.
Clients like Bottega Veneta, Ethereum, Netlify, and many others have partnered with us to support their services and clients in China.
Contact us today, and our experts will explain all the secrets of getting CDN and making your site perform at the best speed in China!
