Our Plans

Getting started

What is Chinafy?

TLDR; Chinafy is the bolt-on website performance solution that helps websites load fast, fully, and securely for visitors from China.

For global business owners, the Chinese market offers a vast consumer base, rapid economic growth, and lucrative opportunities, especially in luxury, tech, and health sectors.

However, it’s highly likely your company’s website doesn’t work in China (if you’re like 93% of all foreign businesses).

You may already know that there are some websites that are officially inaccessible in China like Google and Facebook.

But what you may not realize is that the majority of other websites face code-based or infrastructure-based issues in China. And this means your website might take more than 30 seconds to load if it even loads at all…

By combining our proprietary resource optimization tech address third party resources with best-in-class near-China CDNs, Chinafy is the only platform that can both accelerate and resolve the functionality issues websites face in China.

Chinafy does not work with websites that are officially blocked by the Chinese Ministry of Internet Technologies.

How can I test my existing site speed?

Chinafy has 2 free tools available for you to test your existing website speed:

1. Global Speed Test - test your site across 18 locations globally, including China.

2. Visual Speed Test - see how your site loads in real-time in China.

Other tools we’d recommend include WebPageTest.org by Chinafy partners, Catchpoint.

Why doesn’t my site load in China?

Most foreign websites face technical performance issues due to code-based and infrastructure-based incompatibilities when accessed from China.

China also blocks certain websites, such as Google and Facebook that are officially blocked by the Chinese government.

Chinafy eliminates the variables that we have control over by detecting and treating slow or blocked resources by either replacing them with China-friendly equivalents, removing them to ensure they aren’t stopping the rest of the site from functioning, and/or streamlining how they are fetched by means of domain compression. We also add China-friendly infrastructure (such as hosting, load balancers and near-China or in-China CDNs).

Does Chinafy work with highly interactive sites or sites that rely on dynamic content?

Chinafy is suitable for almost any website, regardless of how interactive.

The only websites we do not work with are as follows:

Websites officially blocked by the Chinese Ministry of Internet Technologies (MIIT).

Sites that rely heavily on Google Firebase, as unfortunately these would require rebuilding entirely due to the incompatibility of the backend code.

Mobile apps. However, we do have partners who specialize in app-building in China so if this is something you would like to do, we can connect you with the right people.

If you’re concerned about elements of your site that may be difficult to Chinafy, you can schedule a call with us and we’re more than happy to answer any and all questions you may have.

Does Chinafy work with e-commerce sites with payment processes?

Yes. As these sites are more complex, we only support them in our Enterprise or Custom packages.

For enquiries regarding our Enterprise plans - please contact enterprise@chinafy.com.

Does Chinafy work for web apps?

Yes. As these sites are more complex, we only support them in our Enterprise or Custom packages.

For enquiries regarding our Enterprise plans - please contact enterprise@chinafy.com.

Is Chinafy compatible with our existing infrastructure and tech stack?

Most likely, yes. Chinafy is compatible with most, if not all CMS platforms that you are currently using as our technology sits as a layer above your website.

To evaluate whether your website is compatible with Chinafy, submit our Get Started form.

How does Chinafy improve website performance in China?

Chinafy is a fully integrated solution combining infrastructural, file, and code-level optimizations which fine-tune the site as a whole specifically for visitors from China.

Chinafy combines its proprietary China web optimization and compatibility technology (which detects, and “treats” third party resources based on their respective best practices by replacing, removing or other) with a fully-managed, near-China or China CDN. Additionally, the stack is built inclusive of WAF, DDoS protection, and a scalable infrastructure leveraging best-in-class platforms like Amazon Web Services (AWS).

How does Chinafy work?

TLDR; Chinafy generates a version of your website and optimizes the experience across speed and functionality for visitors from China, without affecting your current site.

The onboarding process is as follows separated in the following phases:

i) Evaluation (~24 hours once you submit the Get Started Form)

ii) (Optional) Paid Trial

iii) Configuration phase (once payment is processed)

iv) UAT & Go Live

v) Ongoing management

Evaluation & Onboarding

Prior to any onboarding or commercials, Chinafy first internally accesses and tests your domain(s) and/or subdomain(s) to determine compatibility, scope of work, pricing, and an estimated timeline for configuration.

All Chinafy users have the option of a paid trial.

Configuration Phase

Step 1: Chinafy generates a second version of your site using the publicly accessible HTML/CSS/JS from your current website. Log-in pages have a slightly different detection flow, but the principle remains similar.

Step 2: Chinafy scans and optimizes the China-specific version of your site for functionality from China. This means taking any slow or blocked resources and either replacing them with China-friendly equivalents, or removing them to ensure they aren’t stopping the rest of the site from functioning. This differs from resource to resource.

Step 3: We also implement domain compression across resource sources to minimize the “trips” required to fetch resources. These optimizations function like “rules” which include both those that are automatically applied based on best practices as well as custom rules set by our engineers during the configuration process.

Step 4: Chinafy adds China-friendly infrastructure, such as a fully-managed near-China or China CDNs.

UAT & Go Live

Step 5: The Chinafy version continually and automatically syncs content changes. Prior to the website going “live”, these changes are synched between your original website and the Chinafy preview/staging domain.

Step 6: Chinafy sends you a preview link for you to test the Chinafy version of your site and report back anything that is not aligned with your expectations.

Step 7: Time to turn on Chinafy to set your China-specific website version live. Geo-IP-based routing means that all visitors access your website through the same URL but anyone with a China IP address is sent to the Chinafy website (and everyone outside of China sees your site as usual - your global site is untouched, unchanged, and completely independent of the China version.). More on go live options are included here.

Ongoing management:

Content changes are automatically updated. Changes to the infrastructure or functionality may require further handling. More on change management here. Depending on your plan tier, support levels may vary.

What steps do we need to take after implementation?

After you’ve set your Chinafy website live, there’s nothing for you to do except sit back and enjoy the relief that you’re up and running.

If you make any functional changes to your global site (i.e. add new plugins not present at the initial configuration), you will need to let us know so that we can update these on the Chinafy side. And if you have any questions or issues, you can reach out to your support team.

Is content syncing one-way or two-way between my existing global site and the site generated by Chinafy?

Your existing global site is never changed by Chinafy. Content synchronization only occurs from your global site to the Chinafy version of your site and not the other way around. This means any changes you make to your site’s content will be reflected on the Chinafy site, but any treatment to resources (such as removing or replacing third-party resources like a YouTube video) do not affect your existing global site.

What is the integration process and how long does it take?

TLDR; An average of 1.5-2 working weeks once you’ve formally engaged Chinafy, our engineers can generate a Chinafy version of your site which you can test before setting it live when you’re happy with it.

Once payment has been processed, Chinafy will configure your China-specific site, involving:

Scanning the site to identify blocked or slow resources.

Setting rules to replace or remove blocked resources with a China-friendly equivalent and optimizing existing resources for better delivery.

Putting your Chinafy version on our technology stack which includes hosting modified files with our CDNs.

Setting rules so that the Chinafy version of the site is synchronized with your original site.

You will then get to preview and test your Chinafy site.

We make any necessary refinements.

The final step is to turn your Chinafy site online by making a quick update on your DNS.

Your new site can go live in as little as 2 weeks.

Do we need to change our existing codebase or site structure?

No. Our technology sits as a layer above your website and your existing global site will be untouched, unchanged, and completely independent of the China version.

Do we need to change our existing codebase or site structure?

No. Our technology sits as a layer above your website and your existing global site will be untouched, unchanged, and completely independent of the China version.

Does Chinafy affect my existing site for non-China users?

TLDR; No, your global site is untouched and completely independent of the Chinafy version.

In the go-live stage of your Chinafy implementation, you can either point your DNS to Chinafy’s DNS where we’ll add geo-IP-based routing, or you can do this at your own DNS.

Geo-IP-based routing means that all visitors access your website through the same URL but anyone with a China IP address is sent to the Chinafy website (and everyone outside of China sees your site as usual - your global site is untouched, unchanged, and completely independent of the China version).

What support does Chinafy offer during the integration process?

Chinafy offers different support levels depending on your plan:

Starter: Email support only, support@chinafy.com. Unless there is a critical system error, support availability is available during business hours 10am-7pm HKT with an average response time of <24 hours.

Pro+ Plan: Email support only, support@chinafy.com. Unless there is a critical system error, support availability is available during business hours 10am-7pm HKT with an average response time of <12 hours.

Enterprise Plan: Named technical manager, named accounts manager. Technical support is available 7 days a week with guaranteed response in under 24 hours and an average response time of 2 hours.

Paid Trial: Same as Pro+ plan support levels unless explicitly mentioned otherwise.

You may also be able to find the answer to your questions in articles on our helpdesk.

Chinafy vs. Alternatives

What are the alternatives to Chinafy?

TLDR; you could rebuild your website from scratch in China, or use a CDN, but you may still face incompatibility issues with third-party resources that a CDN will not resolve.

Chinafy has no direct platform alternatives. Here are some potential near-alternatives.

One alternative is to rebuild your website from scratch without using third party resources that are inaccessible or slow in China. You would then host the website and its resources in China, add a China CDN, and obtain the necessary licenses in order to do so. From there, you will then likely take manual actions to submit your website URLs to search engines like Baidu.

It’s worth bearing in mind that this alternative requires significant investment and resources both during the rebuilding process and also long-term maintenance. However, should you wish to pursue this route - Chinafy has partners we can refer you to!

In some cases, websites that are hosted in China still use Chinafy for optimizations across both speed and functionality, namely to address portions of their website that are still leveraging third party resources for specific functionality.

Any other near-alternative, such as a global CDN, may still result in limitations, such as slow loading speeds, limited functionality, and hinder your ability to effectively market your business to China.

Or, (we know we’re biased here but our customers would say similarly!), you could just bolt on Chinafy to your existing website to make it 30%-40% faster compared to using a near-China or China CDN alone, as Chinafy addresses third-party resource compatibility issues that impact the loading process.

What’s the difference between Chinafy and a CDN?

TLDR; Chinafy addresses third party resource compatibility issues that CDNs do not, which means websites using Chinafy, or Chinafy plus a CDN, run 30-40% faster on average than a website that just uses a China or near-China CDN.

Chinafy and CDNs are inherently different, but interrelated, web performance solutions. They complement one another by optimizing different parts that make up a website.

Websites consist of both primary and third-party resources.

Chinafy is the only platform to detect, address, replace or remove third party resources* that impact both speed and functionality specifically for a website in China.

On the other hand, content delivery networks (CDNs), hosting providers, and CDN solutions like global accelerator (GA), inherently specialize in accelerating resources found on the primary domain - such as images hosted on the website domain itself, in addition to related services (i.e. security).

*Third-party resources are typically defined as any resources (such as scripts, stylesheets, or plugins, sometimes images) that are loaded from a domain that is different from the primary domain of the website. While they may appear as part of the website, they are delivered from other sources. Examples can include Vimeo, YouTube, Google APIs and more.

That’s why even if a website uses a China CDN, many third-party technologies are inaccessible or load slowly in China.

Chinafy optimization by default includes both its proprietary intelligent China web resource optimization suite and a fully-managed CDN, the latter of which you may choose to use your own should it have basic geo-routing and regional caching capabilities.

Websites on average run 30-40% faster for visitors in China using Chinafy than when using a CDN alone. Variances are expected based on network conditions, website builds and more.

Privacy & Security

Do I need an ICP license to use Chinafy?

TLDR; Probably not.

An ICP (Internet Content Provider) certification is a permit issued by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) to permit China-based websites to operate in China. This means if you want to host inside of China, or use any CDN Points of Presence inside of China (i.e. via a China CDN), you will require an ICP filing or license.

Chinafy can support both websites hosted in or outside of China. For websites hosted outside of China, we use an entirely offshore stack including near-China points of presence - even if powered by China networks. Generally, the difference between a website hosted in or outside of China with Chinafy are only marginally different. As such, the decision to host in or outside of China is up to you and your business needs.

If you’re not sure about whether you need an ICP or not, you can connect with us support@chinafy.com to be connected with our ecosystem partners who specialize in this area.

If you already have an ICP filing or license, we provide the option to select onshore options with the same Chinese networks.

How does Chinafy ensure compliance with Chinese internet regulations?

Chinafy is compliant with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology(MIIT), ISO 27001 certified, PCI DSS (Payment Card Industries Data Security Standard) and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compliant.

Does Chinafy provide any regulatory or compliance checks?

Chinafy does not provide its own regulatory or compliance checks, however we do have optional third-party professional consulting services available if required.

Is Chinafy secure?

Chinafy is ISO 27001 certified, GDPR and PCI DSS compliant.

We use secure software development practices to prevent security threats and we perform rigorous security testing including threat-modeling, automated scanning, and third-party testing.

If an incident occurs, we resolve the issue quickly using our security incident response practices and keep you informed with real-time system status.

You can learn more about Chinafy security in our Trust Center.

How does Chinafy handle traffic spikes or increased demand from the Chinese market?

Chinafy is designed to be scalable, so as your business scales and demand increases, our load balancers will ensure your site can handle an uptick in traffic.

In the case where traffic is spiking because of a malicious attack, such as a DDOS (distributed denial of service attack), Chinafy will be alerted and process this from a security standpoint.

Relatedly, Chinafy Enterprise customers have the option to work with Chinafy to set custom bot mitigation rules.

Billing & Invoicing

How is my Chinafy plan or pricing determined?

Pricing is based on two variables:

i) technical complexity of website or web portal requiring optimization

ii) support and additional features required.

When you submit your website, our team evaluates the website within 24 hours to determine the technical scope of work. Through a call or online, we will then clarify the support and additional features required if any.

Invoicing is only for annual Pro+ or Enterprise plans.

What are the key differences between the plan options?

Chinafy has 3 core subscription plans. Each plan is tailored to your specific needs - our team will determine the best fit based on your website's size, complexity and performance requirement.

Starter - Limited to static, template-based websites like Squarespace or Shopify with 10 or fewer pages.

Pro+ - The entry plan for most websites. This plan covers the basics and includes optimizing the website, Pro+ support levels, and in most cases include sites requiring login or live streaming support.

Enterprise - For organizations requiring vendor onboarding, dedicated technical accounts manager, having more than one subdomain, require change management, and 99.99% SLA uptime and more.

Custom: Chinafy also offers custom pricing for more complex sites like web apps and learning management systems.

Is there a free trial?

TLDR; No, but we do offer a free analysis and predicted results, and an optional two-week paid trial before subscribing to a full plan.

As most sites require significant configuration to Chinafy them, we start with a free initial analysis to give you an idea of the results Chinafy could offer your business.These estimations are based on results we’ve achieved for sites similar to yours.

We will tell you whether your site is suitable for China and the performance impact we can expect to achieve for your site. When you subscribe to a Chinafy plan, we will implement optimisations in the configuration stage.

You can also trial Chinafy for two weeks before subscribing to a full plan, and the payment goes towards your final plan. This trial includes a proper configuration for up to 5 pages, a preview link and time series analysis (how your site’s loading time in China performs over a period of time).

Are there any hidden costs?

TLDR; No, we are transparent about all required fees.

Starter & Pro+ plans include an initial set-up fee plus the option to subscribe annually or monthly via credit card.

Enterprise plans are available only for an annual basis but do not include an initial set-up fee.

You can view our plans here.

We also have add-ons such as live streaming support for events, accelerated (24/48/72 hour) setup, additional expert support, anonymized user metric functionality and more. These are all optional add-ons and not included in any of our plans by default.

Other

How quickly can we expect to see an ROI after implementing Chinafy?

Standard Chinafy requires a set-up period of 1.5-2 weeks on average. After this, your site traffic and other metrics will depend on your brand’s existing global presence and China-specific marketing efforts. Accelerated set-up options are available.

What is the uptime guarantee for Chinafy’s infrastructure?

We offer a minimum of 5x financially-backed SLA of 99.9% uptime across all Chinafy plans.

You can check the current Chinafy system status here.

How does Chinafy handle updates or changes to my website post-integration?

Chinafy will rescan your website and apply changes accordingly.

Syncing changes on Chinafy sites is mostly a hands-off process as we have automated rules in place to do so for you.

This is what happens on Chinafy when you make changes to your site:

Content-based changes: Re-design or new pages with images, text, and media files are automatically synced upon discovery - with rare exceptions due to non-standard development practices.

We also recommend that you use versioning parameters such as "file_20220801.pdf" to help us better sync and manage the files that have been/will be copied on Chinafy on the revamped site.

Infrastructural or Functional changes: These changes tend to be more custom or complex and require additional configuration from Chinafy. Please contact support@chinafy.com in advance to have them reviewed for additional configuration on a case-by-case basis.

The time required may vary depending on whether the changes are design-based or functionality-based.

Is Chinafy scalable as we grow our business in China?

We can answer this in two ways. Firstly, as your website attracts more demand and traffic, Chinafy will automatically scale as required, as our system uses AWS for hosting and security, which is designed to automatically scale.

Secondly, we can also support you with your China marketing efforts through our Chinafy partners as your business scales.

What do we need to do if there are any issues after implementation?

We don’t tend to see many issues after implementation, however if your website isn’t working in the way you expected it to, you can just message our support team. Support levels will defer between different plan tiers.

Are there regular check-ins or reviews?

We don’t usually provide check-ins or reviews as once your site is up and running, there shouldn’t be a need for this. However, you have the option to contact our support team for anything you need, and you will be sent a preview link for if you ever want to check how your website is displaying in China.

How does Chinafy monitor the performance of our website?

Chinafy receives alerts for any problems that arise that would affect your website performance, such as server errors or major traffic spikes. Besides this, you have the freedom to monitor the performance of your website just as you would do with your global site.

Can we use our existing analytics tools to track performance of the China website?

Yes! You are welcome to use existing analytics tools but it’s worth knowing that Chinafy will not control these for you.

How does Chinafy handle SEO in China? Will the integration affect our ranking on Chinese search engines like Baidu?

Chinafy will help you with your site’s speed and functionality to improve technical SEO and search rankings. We also automatically push your URLs to Baidu.

Try more of our tools for free!

How fast is your site in China? Why are your pages incomplete? Find the answers with these tests.

Speed Test

Test your website speed and deliverability from 18 server locations around the world including Beijing & Shanghai.

Try now

Code Test

Identify high impact code incompatibilities like Youtube videos, Google Fonts & Facebook assets in China.

Try now

Resource Test

Compare the speed and resource compatibility of a webpage delivered from US versus China

Try now

Visual Speed Test

See how fast (or slow) your website loads in China, literally. Compare your real-time results for US, Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.

Try now

China SEO Basic Test

Compare how many pages of your site are indexed by the world's major search engines

Try now

Chrome Extension

Install our chrome extension and know how well a page performs in China straight from your browser.

Coming Soon

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Frequently Asked Questions

Our Plans

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Frequently Asked Questions

Our Plans

Starter

Features

One-off set-up and configuration

Configuration Timeline

Accelerated Turnaround

Accelerated Turnaround

Included Bandwidth

Custom Development

Support Service

Plan Support Levels*

Email Support

Access to the Chinafy Knowledge Base

Content Synchronization

Ongoing Change Management

Vendor Onboarding & Procurement Support

Named Account Manager

Go Live Video Support

Slack Channel Support

Chinafy User Accounts

Configuration

Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Standard Geo-location Set-up

Custom Geo-location Set-up

SSL Certificate

Default Web Application Firewall (WAF)

Bot Protection

DDoS Protection

Onshore China CDN^^

"Bring-your-own CDN"

Custom SSL Certificate

Advanced Web Application Firewall (WAF)

Service Levels Agreement (SLA)

Pro+

Features

One-off set-up and configuration

Configuration Timeline

Accelerated Turnaround

Accelerated Turnaround

Included Bandwidth

Custom Development

Support Service

Plan Support Levels*

Email Support

Access to the Chinafy Knowledge Base

Content Synchronization

Ongoing Change Management

Vendor Onboarding & Procurement Support

Named Account Manager

Go Live Video Support

Slack Channel Support

Chinafy User Accounts

Configuration

Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Standard Geo-location Set-up

Custom Geo-location Set-up

SSL Certificate

Default Web Application Firewall (WAF)

Bot Protection

DDoS Protection

Onshore China CDN^^

"Bring-your-own CDN"

Custom SSL Certificate

Advanced Web Application Firewall (WAF)

Service Levels Agreement (SLA)

Enterprise

Features

One-off set-up and configuration

Configuration Timeline

Accelerated Turnaround

Accelerated Turnaround

Included Bandwidth

Custom Development

Support Service

Plan Support Levels*

Email Support

Access to the Chinafy Knowledge Base

Content Synchronization

Ongoing Change Management