Good news! The Chinese internet has much changed in the past years; And I’ve witnessed how web hosting has become easier & faster for foreigners.
In this review I’ve covered what I consider “best China hosting” on modern cPanel in 2024 and what you need to know about Mainland China web hosting.
Some things remain the same thought — hosting IN mainland China requires a government issued ‘hard-to-get’ ICP license and will make your website incredibly slow from outside the country. Not to mention that speeds inside China vary greatly if you are not using a Chinese CDN; which is a whole other, expensive story.
Then there’s the old notion that web hosting to China is faster from Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, and other nearby locations..?
This just doesn’t hold water anymore; Asia-Pacific channels are crowded.
It’s easier to find fast hosting from the USA; thanks to the China-US submarine cable network. Although you will need to choose the right hosting provider.
Best China Web Hosting
When people ask me to suggest an easy to use cPanel based company for hosting a website that’s highly accessible from China — I recommend Bluehost.
Here’s my review on why I consider them the best;
They Know China
First of all most companies have no understanding of how the Chinese internet works; Bluehost operates in China with Chinese customers.
So they can help you where most web hosting can’t.
Reserved China Bandwidth
Connected to the CUCN (China-US Cable Network) on the west coast with reserved bandwidth dedicated to Mainland China. Giving you a peace of mind that traffic is as stable as possible. Best for both China and rest of the world.
Government Block Protection
Chinese government can block websites at will and often it’s done per IP address. All websites on shared hosting use shared IP addresses by default.
While there’s always the risk that your site gets blocked because you or someone else with the same IP is being targeted; live support can easily unblock you!
Explain the situation to support and they will change your website IP to a new one to get your site back and working from China in an instant.
I recommend using GreatFire Analyzer; the best tool to check and monitor if you are being blocked by the notorious ‘Great Firewall of China‘.
Another option is to get a dedicated IP which is not shared (more information).
Easy cPanel Web Hosting for WordPress
When looking for easy to use hosting solutions — it’s better to stick with modern cPanel which provides one-click installation of WordPress.
And because cPanel is the world’s most popular web hosting control panel, it’s the most supported and known. Unfortunately still many Chinese hosting companies are not using cPanel but times are gradually changing.
Free HTTPS Security
With Bluehost you get free SSL certificates for WordPress — which means that you can easily secure your website with HTTPS; crucial in security-conscious times.
Build trust for small businesses online and make sure that Chinese authorities ‘Internet police force’ cannot tap into your website traffic.
And there you have it; what I consider best cPanel hosting for China.
Visit Bluehost to get to know their affordable service in detail.
A word of warning! While US-China connections have improved. Choosing the wrong hosting company can render your website unusable from China.
I run a nationwide business in the country and have extensive experience on China related internet issues. I’m happy to answer your questions!
See you in the comments below. Sincere regards, Tim.
End notice; Kindly note that some of these reviews & posts contain affiliate links. This simply means that I can benefit from purchases made through links to some third-party services introduced on my blog. For no added cost to you.
Thank you for your support & please share if possible!
Thanks for the article & intel.
We are a global company currently hosting on BlueHost and have found their service quality to be as you have described.
Recently, we have been told that Chinese search engines (ie: Baidu) do not do such a good job at ‘ordering’ search results for sites that are hosted outside of China. Many are telling us that we should move to a hosting service inside of China for better Chinese search-engine SEO, etc..
We are a legal entity in China & Hong Kong, so we can get the necessary licenses. But, it seems that the hosting providers inside of China charge MUCH more than global hosting providers.
Can you please share some of your expertise and knowledge relating to this specific topic of China Hosting vs Rest-Of-The-Free-World hosting ?
Thanks again!
Thank you for your interesting question.
Indeed, you’ll find many recommendations for ICP licensed web hosting inside mainland China for better Baidu rankings, and visibility.
However, I find this an over simplistic view, and not really true either. I’ve ranked sites hosted abroad for the number one spot on Baidu without problems.
I’d focus on serving your visitors, rather than a search engine.
For example, if you have visitors from outside of China, it is far more difficult and expensive, to host a website from mainland that performs well outside.
If your visitors consist of only Chinese, hosting in China can be beneficial in terms of having your site work fast there.
And do note, that Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other countries with major Chinese speaking populations can have very poor connections to the mainland.
Also worth noting is that if you have a big business with plenty of capital, serving your site with a CDN from Baidu, Alibaba, etc. is the best option.
Thanks you for your generous analysis.
We are setting up a b2b eccommerce platform designed to service Chinese suppliers and manufacturers that are focusing on African market and middle East Markets.
I have been so worried about the Chinese firewall, at the same time we are very worried about speed and accessibility from outside China.
I would like to hear your view about BlueHost performance in terms of speed and overall reliability in Africa continent.
Thanks,
Hello there,
Our company is doing video interviews for Chinese customers and require very low latency so video is not interrupted while recording.
We are currently using AWS in China but still face problems every other time. We are about to transition to Alibaba Cloud in China but the question of using Alibaba Cloud in Hong Kong arise.
For low latency web app that relies heavily on video, do you think hosting in Hong Kong is better than hosting in Mainland China?
Unfortunately there is no definite answer to this. And it also depends on where in China the Chinese customers are physically located.
But what I can say, is that especially if you need to connect to various parts of mainland China a good Hong Kong server can be better.
From the limited experience I have on Alibaba Cloud’s ECS in HK, the results have been VERY impressive. Although I’m not a fan of their interface.
I recommend trying them out. And the best way to trial their servers is “with this link“. Btw. haven’t had a good experience with Amazon either.
Thanks, Tim.
This is such a helpful article!! Cheers, Tim!
Thank you Nate.
Hi Tim,
Thank you so much for the insight! I have a website with a small audience but all my customers come from China. I’m currently hosting with Dreamhost but have found that while some customers from mainland China can access my website and payment system fine, others are having issues.
I have been recommended against BlueHost and being told to use Udomain or Eggplant digital but considering the small earnings my website will make i’m reluctant to pay so much and was intrigued to see you recommending BlueHost here.
Would be really interested to know your thoughts 🙂