What is the difference between Alibaba Cloud international and domestic sites? In-depth evaluation of global node-free ICP Filing instances
Many overseas enterprises, independent developers or foreign trade merchants will struggle with a problem when choosing cloud servers:
Should I choose Aliyun Domestic Station (aliyun.com) or Aliyun International Station (alibabacloud.com)?
Some people say that international stations are exempt from filing and are very fragrant. Others worry that international stations are not easy to register and are slow to visit China. Today we will use the vernacular, not nonsense, from compliance, registration, price and the actual network performance of global nodes, to give the two an in-depth comprehensive evaluation.
1. core card comparison: domestic station vs international station
Although both are called Alibaba Cloud, their account systems, billing models, and legal compliance are completely isolated. We first through a table, intuitively see their essential difference:
Comparison dimension
alibaba cloud domestic station (aliyun.com)
alibabacloud.com
Main service object
Corporate/Individual Developers in Mainland China
Overseas enterprises, cross-border e-commerce, overseas business, independent developers
Real Name Authentication Requirements
Extremely strict. Must be bound domestic mobile phone number, ID card or domestic enterprise business license.
Relatively loose. In principle, only overseas mobile phone numbers and mailboxes are required. If you open an account through a channel, the threshold is lower.
ICP Filing Requirements
Nodes in mainland China must be filed, otherwise the domain name cannot be resolved.
Overseas/overseas nodes are completely free of filing, that is, buy and use.
Billing and Currency
RMB (RMB) settlement, support Alipay, WeChat, domestic bank cards.
S. dollar (USD) settlement, support PayPal, international credit cards or through the channel on behalf of the top-up.
Content Wind Control
Following domestic Internet regulation, content censorship is relatively strict.
Follow the local laws of overseas nodes, and the content restrictions are relatively loose.
Summary of key differences:
Domestic station: suitable for the main domestic market, a formal record qualification, the pursuit of domestic multi-node ultra-low latency users.
International site: suitable for overseas business (such as foreign trade, cross-border e-commerce), do not want to go through the cumbersome filing process, or need to deploy sensitive/agile development projects.
2. core pain points: "exemption from filing" and "registration threshold" of international stations"
1. How cool is it to avoid filing?
If you buy a server at a domestic station, if you choose mainland nodes such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, your domain name must be filed with the ICP of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. This process usually requires submitting various materials, brushing face authentication, and waiting for 10-20 working days. During this period, the website cannot be launched, and the time cost is extremely high.
And
Overseas nodes of Alibaba Cloud International Station (such as Hong Kong, Singapore, the United States, Europe, etc.) are completely exempt from filing
. After you buy the instance and resolve the domain name, the website can go online directly in 5 minutes.
2. How does the registration threshold of the international station pass?
Many domestic users want to use the international station, but the card in the "registration" this step. Because the official website of the international station is registered directly, it usually requires an overseas mobile phone number and an overseas payment method (such as a credit card issued by non-mainland China).
Industry unspoken rules/common solutions
: At present, most domestic users use the international station to open accounts through authorized channels (agents) of Aliyun international station.
Process: The channel provider sends you an invitation link $\rightarrow $You register with a clean email address $\rightarrow $When registering, choose overseas (e. g. Hong Kong, Singapore) $\rightarrow $to associate with the channel provider.
Advantages: In this way, you don't need to bind overseas credit cards, directly let the channel business to help you backstage recharge US dollars, you can pay the channel business RMB. this has greatly lowered the entry threshold for individuals and domestic enterprises.
3. global node free filing instance depth evaluation
Since most people choose international stations for "exemption from filing" and "going to sea", what is the network quality of these overseas nodes? We have conducted in-depth measurements on the three most popular regional nodes.
1. China Hong Kong Node (Asia Pacific South-Hong Kong)
For the flesh in the country, but do not want to record users, the Hong Kong node is the absolute first choice.
Network bandwidth: Alibaba Cloud Hong Kong node is equipped with high-quality CN2 GIA (China Telecom Next Generation Bearer Network) direct connection, and at the same time, it integrates the direct connection BGP network of China Unicom and China Mobile.
Delay performance: from southern China (such as Guangdong and Shenzhen) to Hong Kong, the delay is usually between 10ms and 20ms. Even in central and western or northern cities (such as Beijing and Chengdu), the delay can be stable at about 40ms to 60ms.
Experience conclusion: For domestic users, there is almost no perceptual difference between the access speed and the domestic dual-line computer room. It is very suitable for personal blog, small and medium-sized enterprise official website and Web application without filing.
2. Singapore Node (Asia Pacific Southeast-Singapore)
Singapore is an Internet hub in Southeast Asia and a battleground for offshore companies.
Network bandwidth: The international bandwidth is very sufficient, not only connecting Southeast Asian countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, etc.) very fast, but also optimizing the direct connection route in the direction of returning home.
Delay performance: the delay of domestic coastal cities visiting Singapore is 40ms - 60ms; Local visits in Southeast Asia are usually 10ms-30ms.
Experience Conclusion: If your business has to take into account both domestic users (no filing) and the entire Southeast Asian market (e. g. TikTok operations, cross-border e-commerce, overseas game set-up), Singapore is the most cost-effective node.
3. West American Node (West of the United States-Silicon Valley/Virginia)
Traditional classic nodes for North American and global markets.
Network bandwidth: the standard international bandwidth, the carrying capacity against DDoS attacks is significantly stronger than the Asia-Pacific node.
Delay performance: domestic visits to the United States and West, due to limited physical distance, the delay is usually between 130ms-180ms. But the United States local user access is in the range of 10ms-40ms.
Experience conclusion: not suitable for major customers in the domestic industry
Duty. However, if it is a pure overseas foreign trade independent station, Amazon peripheral tool, or overseas API node docking, the unit price per megabyte of bandwidth of the US-West node is much lower than that of Hong Kong, and the cost performance is higher.
4. Selection Guide: Which One Should You Buy?
After reading so much, I finally give a decision logic for closing my eyes:
Decisively choose [domestic station]: 100% of your customers are in mainland China. You are a regular domestic company with sound qualifications and are not short of the filing time of this half month. It is necessary to interface with various domestic compliance interfaces (e. g. WeChat Pay official ecology, domestic specific qualification approval).
Decisive election of [international station]: eager to go online: the project needs to be deployed immediately, and can't wait for the half-month filing cycle. Business to sea: do cross-border e-commerce, foreign trade, game overseas clothing, overseas App. Geek/Developer: Absolute freedom of deployment is required. I don't want to be accidentally injured by domestic wind control because of occasional sensitive words. No domestic real name conditions: due to various reasons can not provide domestic mainland identity card or business license users.
Summary
: Alibaba Cloud International Station's overseas filing-free example, with the blessing of the CN2 line, the performance of the Hong Kong and Singapore nodes is extremely impressive, basically achieving a perfect balance between "overseas compliance and domestic speed. If you plan to start, it is recommended to find a reliable official channel lingducloud to help open an account, so that while avoiding overseas payment restrictions, you can also enjoy a number of channel-specific discounts.
