Will the load time of my Webflow website be slow in China, even if I purchase a Chinese domain?
TL;DR
- Webflow-hosted sites load slowly in China due to overseas hosting and the Great Firewall, even with a Chinese domain.
- To improve speed, export the site and host it on a local Chinese server with an ICP license, or use a reverse CDN like Cloudflare China Network.
Yes, your Webflow website may still load slowly in China even if you use a Chinese domain. This is primarily due to infrastructure and regulatory limitations, not the domain itself.
1. Webflow Hosting Is Outside Mainland China
- Webflow uses global hosting via AWS and Fastly, but its main servers are located outside Mainland China.
- Due to China’s Great Firewall (GFW), cross-border internet traffic experiences latency, packet loss, or even blocking.
- A local .cn domain may load the domain name slightly faster, but it does not affect where your website is hosted or how fast the content loads.
2. Content Delivery Is Impacted by the GFW
- Webflow’s CDN and asset delivery may be throttled or delayed when accessing from inside China.
- External scripts (like Google Fonts, YouTube embeds, third-party analytics) are frequently blocked or slowed dramatically.
- Even standard assets (images, videos, fonts, etc.) delivered from non-China servers can have increased load times.
3. Chinese Hosting Requirements Are Strict
- To legally and reliably host a site within China, you need an ICP license, which requires a local business presence.
- Since Webflow does not support onshore China hosting, you cannot fully comply with China’s regulatory hosting requirements.
4. Workarounds Are Limited But Possible
- You can use Webflow to design the site, then export the code and host it on a Chinese server (e.g., Alibaba Cloud) with an ICP license.
- Alternatively, use a proxy or reverse CDN provider (like Cloudflare China Network with Baidu) to serve cached content from Mainland nodes—this requires advanced setup and enterprise plans.
- Consider minimizing or removing blocked third-party services to reduce load failures (e.g., use local font files, self-host videos).
Summary
Even with a Chinese domain, a Webflow-hosted site will likely load slowly in China due to cross-border hosting and content restrictions. For faster performance, consider exporting your Webflow site and hosting it on a compliant Chinese server or using a reverse CDN.