The international and China sites are completely separate account systems - the same email creates two different accounts. Chinese users most often stall on two barriers: overseas phone numbers and rejected domestic dual-currency cards. One more trap: the registration country cannot be freely changed later.
We have written separately about how to get discounts at each provider (Alibaba Cloud International, Tencent Cloud International), but the step before that - how to open an account at all - is rarely explained clearly, and it is exactly where users in mainland China hit their first wall.
This page follows the order "understand the systems, then the barriers, then the differences, then decide whether to self-signup or use a channel". The head-to-head comparison is in Alibaba vs Tencent Cloud International.
First: the international and China sites are two different worlds
This is the easiest thing to get wrong and the reason people waste a day: the international site and the China site are two completely separate account systems.
- Accounts cannot be linked. Register on both with the same email and you get two different accounts - resources, billing and settings are entirely separate.
- Resources and data do not cross over. A China-site account cannot directly access international-site resources, or the reverse.
- Choosing wrong means starting again. So confirm which side your workload belongs on before opening anything.
⛔ The one case that forces you onto the China site is ICP filing. If your website must serve users inside mainland China and complete filing, filing is only available on the China site - the international site does not offer it. Conversely, if your users are mostly overseas, or you only need Hong Kong or Singapore nodes, the international site is the right side.
Three barriers on Alibaba Cloud International
Self-signup is not complicated in itself, but three points stop a good share of users in mainland China:
| Barrier | How it shows up | Why it is awkward |
|---|---|---|
| 1. An overseas phone number | Mainland numbers cannot receive the verification code; registration requires an international number | Users without one turn to virtual numbers, but virtual numbers risk being flagged as abnormal registration, with no stability guarantee |
| 2. An overseas credit card | Domestic dual-currency cards have a real chance of being rejected at binding or first charge | The issuing bank may treat the small cross-border pre-authorisation as anomalous and block it |
| 3. Identity verification | Overseas nodes generally do not require it; a passport or business licence is enough and no Chinese ID is needed | But buying mainland China node products requires verification - the step most likely to stall you at the last moment |
A detail on barrier 2: when binding a card, a small pre-authorisation is usually raised to confirm the card is real, then automatically reversed - it results in no actual charge. So do not panic at that line item. But it is also the point where issuing banks most often block the transaction.
Taken together the conclusion is clear: the barriers are not complicated, but every one of them depends on whether you have overseas payment and communication access. That is precisely where a channel helps - it solves provisioning itself, not the price (see section six).
Four differences between the international and China sites
| Dimension | International site | China site |
|---|---|---|
| Billing currency | US dollars | CNY |
| Payment methods | International cards, PayPal and similar | Alipay, WeChat Pay and similar |
| Verification | Generally not required for overseas nodes (passport or licence works) | Required (Chinese ID documents) |
| ICP filing | Not offered | Offered (mandatory for mainland sites) |
Beyond those four, there is one rule that is easy to overlook and expensive to get wrong:
⛔ The country or region chosen at registration, and the billing address, cannot be freely changed afterwards. The consistent account is that changing them may trigger risk controls and affect data-compliance determinations. So decide the entity and region at registration time rather than filling the form casually - it is tied to your phone number country, your payment method, and whether you can order normally later.
Tencent Cloud International: what we know for certain
Tencent Cloud International belongs to the same "international site" category, and the general barriers are similar (international registration and payment conditions). But this page does not speculate about the specific registration steps - the official pages are authoritative.
Two things we do know, and which affect your decision:
- Its channel programme has five tiers (Registered / Silver / Gold / 50K+ Gold / 5M+ Platinum) - one more than Alibaba Cloud International four-tier structure, meaning the margin different channels can pass on is distributed differently, and it is worth asking several.
- Its strengths change the bill shape: video, live streaming, online gaming and mini-program backends are where it is strong, and in those workloads the largest line is often traffic rather than instances - so the saving priorities differ completely from a conventional web workload.
Both points are expanded in how to get Tencent Cloud International discounts; if you are choosing between the two, see Alibaba vs Tencent Cloud International.
Three things to do right after signing up
A new account is most likely to go wrong in its first few weeks. These three take about ten minutes together and prevent most of the trouble:
- Check that the registration country and billing details agree. As noted above, the registration country cannot be freely changed, and a billing address that does not match the country or payment method can trigger risk controls. Do this right after opening the account, and keep your own record.
- Set a budget alert. A new account has no usage baseline, so if something runs away you receive no warning - the classic source of surprise billing during a free period. The method is in why your AWS bill jumped, and the reasoning is universal.
- Tag from day one. An untagged bill cannot be attributed to a project or environment afterwards, so even good cost optimisation has nothing to aim at. The general approach is in AWS billing: six actions that actually work.
An easily skipped action worth doing: record which email, which phone number, which region and which billing address you used. Since the registration country cannot be freely changed, that record is your evidence if you ever need to verify or appeal something.
Self-signup or a channel: three questions
This is not "which is better" but what your materials and your time allow:
| Your situation | The easier path |
|---|---|
| You have an overseas phone number and card | Self-signup - minutes of work, account active immediately |
| You are missing either one | Self-signup stalls at verification; a channel helps with the provisioning conditions, not the price |
| You need local-currency settlement | Channels usually offer more flexible settlement - see how to pay for overseas cloud services |
| You need mainland China nodes (verification required) | Confirm whether your materials (passport or licence) are ready, then decide the path |
⛔ When going through a channel, settle one question first: who owns the account. A low price with an account in someone else name means handing over ownership of your infrastructure - permissions, data and migration all follow from it. The three vetting questions are in where to find AWS discount information you can trust (all three are universal). A channel discount lowers what you actually pay; it does not replace official discounts - both can apply.
FAQ
I have a China-site account - can I use the international site directly?
No. The two account systems are entirely independent - registering on the international site with the same email produces a different account, and resources, billing and settings do not cross over. Balances, offers and instances on the China site cannot be carried across, or the reverse.
Does the international site require verification?
It depends where you are buying: overseas nodes generally do not require it (and where verification is needed, a passport or business licence works - no Chinese ID), but buying mainland China node products requires verification. So the answer depends on where your workload runs.
What if I have no overseas phone number or card?
This is the most common situation for users in mainland China and one of the core reasons channels exist - they solve the provisioning conditions rather than the price (though the two are often discussed together). Note however that virtual numbers risk being flagged as abnormal registration, with no stability guarantee - do not judge purely on "whether it passes verification".
Does the email address I register with matter?
Yes. Public practical experience consistently recommends an international mailbox (Gmail, Outlook and similar), because domestic mailboxes can filter out the verification email and stall the flow. For company use, a domain email is better for multi-person management and handover.
What is the small charge at registration?
It is a pre-authorisation for card verification - used to confirm the card is valid, then automatically reversed, with no actual charge. But note: it can also be blocked by the issuing bank as an anomalous cross-border transaction, which is exactly why domestic dual-currency cards get rejected.
Once the account is open, how do I get discounts?
Both providers build official discounts from three routes (term subscription plus a commitment discount plus interruptible capacity), but whether the commitment locks the spec differs sharply: Alibaba Cloud International savings plans commit an amount, while Tencent Cloud International reserved instances lock the spec. See Alibaba vs Tencent Cloud International; all five providers are in cloud discount mechanisms compared; channel pricing for the two is in Alibaba Cloud International discounts and reseller pricing and Tencent Cloud International discounts and reseller pricing.