Cloud Hosting in China: How the Main Providers Compare

Cloud hosting in China means renting servers in a mainland region from Alibaba Cloud, Huawei Cloud, Tencent Cloud or Baidu AI Cloud, or from the China regions of AWS and Microsoft Azure, which local companies operate. Every website on these servers needs an ICP filing. Google Cloud has no region in mainland China.

Key takeaways

• Chinese providers lead the market: in Canalys figures for the second quarter of 2022, Alibaba Cloud, Huawei Cloud, Tencent Cloud and Baidu AI Cloud held 79% of it together.
• AWS and Azure run their China regions through local operators (Sinnet and NWCD for AWS, 21Vianet for Azure), with accounts separate from their global platforms.
• Google Cloud has no mainland China region: its closest regions are in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
• A website on a mainland server needs an ICP filing, which a foreign company completes through an entity registered in China.

Thanks to the Great Firewall, the Chinese internet runs its own social networks, e-commerce platforms and cloud providers. For an overseas company, that makes China cloud hosting a separate project from its global infrastructure. This guide defines the hosting models, explains what changes in China, then compares the providers.

Cloud Hosting vs Managed Hosting

When it comes to hosting a website or an application, the two most popular options are managed hosting and cloud hosting. Where to host, and the ICP filing that comes with a mainland server, is covered in our guide on how to host a website in China.

Managed Hosting

In the managed hosting model, the service provider takes care of the technical side of the IT system. The provider manages, maintains, monitors and secures the servers, hardware and infrastructure, and handles software updates and backups.

With this model, clients can focus on their core business without running the IT system themselves. Outside of China, managed hosting providers include WP Engine, Kinsta and Hostinger.

Cloud Hosting

In the cloud hosting model, the provider uses virtual servers to deliver computing resources on demand. It manages the servers, storage and network infrastructure, while clients rent only what they need, without buying hardware. In exchange, clients manage their own IT systems.

The cloud hosting providers most readers know are Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Why Choose Cloud Hosting?

Cloud hosting suits businesses of all sizes because it scales more easily than managed hosting. Managed hosting providers usually sell predefined setups, while cloud hosting lets you build the architecture your business needs.

You scale up by renting more machines as your business grows, and scale down during quieter periods. Replicating data over several servers and regions improves reliability and fault tolerance, and keeps performance up during traffic peaks.

Since clients manage their own systems on cloud servers, they can build more complex architectures and keep full control over the configuration.

How Is Cloud Hosting in China Different?

AWS, Azure and Alibaba Cloud all operate inside and outside China, but their Chinese and international platforms are not the same.

• Separate platforms. Only customers with an AWS (China) account can use the AWS China regions, and Azure in China is a physically separated instance of Azure. Moving an application built on a global platform to its China version, or the reverse, can require changes to the architecture and the code.
• Different services. Microsoft notes that Azure in China has a feature parity gap with global Azure. Check that every service your application uses exists in the China region before you plan a migration.
• An ICP filing for every website. A website on a server in mainland China needs an ICP filing before it goes live, and a foreign company files through an entity registered in China. Our ICP license guide explains the permits; since 2023, apps and mini programs also need their own filing.

If you are unsure whether your project should run on a mainland cloud at all, our team can help you make your website work in China.

Which Cloud Providers Lead the Chinese Market?

AWS, Azure and Google Cloud are not the largest cloud providers in China. According to Canalys, spending on cloud infrastructure services in mainland China reached 7.3 billion USD in the first quarter of 2022, about 13% of the world total. In the second quarter of 2022, the same analyst ranked Alibaba Cloud first with 34% of the market, ahead of Huawei Cloud (19%), Tencent Cloud (17%) and Baidu AI Cloud (9%).

These figures date from 2022 and newer estimates may differ: read them as a map of the main players, not as current market shares.

Chinese Cloud Hosting Providers Compared

The strengths and weaknesses below are our team’s assessment when this guide was first published in 2023. Offers and prices change often: check them on each provider’s website.

Provider	Operated by	Strengths	Points to check
Alibaba Cloud (阿里云, Aliyun)	Alibaba Group, owner of Taobao and Tmall	Market leader in the 2022 figures, the widest range of products, regions across the mainland and in Hong Kong, its own ICP filing system	Pricier than its competitors in our 2023 assessment; its international site does not support ICP filing
Huawei Cloud (华为云)	Huawei	Builds on Huawei’s strengths in hardware and security; its clients include state-owned enterprises, government agencies and banks	A less competitive range of products than Alibaba Cloud and Tencent Cloud in 2023
Tencent Cloud (腾讯云)	Tencent, owner of WeChat	Strong in gaming, live streaming, video on demand and instant messaging; competitive pricing and frequent promotions	A less mature range of products than Alibaba Cloud in 2023
Baidu AI Cloud (百度智能云)	Baidu, owner of the Baidu search engine	Focused on AI services for enterprise applications	A narrow scope: outside AI projects, the three providers above cover more needs
AWS China	Sinnet operates the Beijing region, NWCD the Ningxia region	Many of the services and APIs of AWS global	Two regions only, Beijing and Ningxia, and a separate AWS China account
Azure China	21Vianet, through Shanghai Blue Cloud Technology	Many of the services of global Azure	A physically separated instance, with a feature gap to global Azure

Do AWS and Azure Have Their Own Data Centers in China?

They serve China through regions run by local companies. Beijing Sinnet Technology operates and provides the cloud services of the AWS China (Beijing) Region, and Ningxia Western Cloud Data Technology (NWCD) those of the AWS China (Ningxia) Region, which only AWS (China) accounts can use (Amazon Web Services in China). Microsoft Azure in China is a physically separated instance, operated by Shanghai Blue Cloud Technology, a subsidiary of 21Vianet (Microsoft Azure in China).

Is Google Cloud Available in China?

No. Google Cloud has no region in mainland China: the closest Cloud Run regions are Hong Kong (asia-east2) and Taiwan (asia-east1), and none is in Shanghai or Guangzhou (Cloud Run locations). A website on Google Cloud is hosted offshore: it needs no ICP filing, and it faces the same speed issues as any site hosted outside China. Our guide on speeding up a website in China with a CDN covers the options for offshore sites.

How to Choose a Cloud Provider for China

• Start from your current stack. Teams on AWS or Azure keep familiar tools in the China regions, but with separate accounts and some missing services.
• Match the provider to the workload. In our assessment, Alibaba Cloud has the widest range, Tencent Cloud stands out for gaming, video and messaging, and Baidu AI Cloud for AI applications.
• Plan for WeChat. A WeChat Mini Program can only call server domains that use HTTPS and have an ICP filing (WeChat Mini Program network documentation, in Chinese), so its back end must run on a mainland server.
• Plan for Chinese. Filing systems are in Chinese, and Alibaba Cloud requires an account on its China site for ICP filing: someone on your side must read and write Chinese.
• Compare current prices. Promotions change often, so compare offers on each provider’s website at the time you buy.

What Should You Do Next?

List the services your application needs, check that they exist in the China regions you are considering, and confirm that your entity can complete the ICP filing before you choose a provider.

QPSoftware is a digital agency in Shanghai, founded in 2009. Our ICP license and China hosting consulting team can help you choose a provider, build your infrastructure in China and prepare the filing, whether you are launching your website or deploying your app in China.

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