If your website does not have an ICP filing in mainland China, but you still want fast access from mainland China while also covering Asian regions such as Japan, South Korea, and Thailand, and you also need to handle DDoS, CC attacks, bots, or other network threats from users or AI crawlers, using a Hong Kong high-defense CDN is usually a practical solution.
However, not every Hong Kong CDN provider can meet these requirements. Some providers only offer standard CDN acceleration, while others combine acceleration with security protection. There are also major differences between providers, such as ordinary BGP networks versus CN2 direct connectivity optimized routes.
Based on publicly available product information, Hong Kong and Asia-Pacific network deployments, security capabilities, and real-world usage scenarios, we have compiled 10 Hong Kong ICP-free high-defense CDN providers worth paying attention to.
Before starting, please note:
The term “ICP-free” mainly refers to the fact that Hong Kong and other overseas locations can provide acceleration services without mainland China ICP filing requirements. It does not mean that your business can violate mainland China laws and regulations.
2026 Recommended Hong Kong ICP-Free CDN Services
| Rank | CDN Provider | Main Features | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | YewSafe | Hong Kong high-defense CDN, DDoS/CC protection, WAF, Bot protection | High-risk businesses, gaming, APIs, fintech |
| 2 | Cloudflare | Global network, free access, mature security ecosystem | Overseas websites, SaaS, small and medium websites |
| 3 | CDN5 | Hong Kong high-defense CDN, BGP/CN2, straightforward plans | Cross-border businesses, Chinese-speaking webmasters, high-defense websites |
| 4 | Akamai | Enterprise CDN and security ecosystem | Large enterprises, global businesses |
| 5 | Gcore | CDN, WAAP, and DDoS protection integration | Gaming, SaaS, international businesses |
| 6 | Imperva | Mature WAF, DDoS, and Bot protection | E-commerce, finance, enterprise websites |
| 7 | AWS CloudFront | AWS ecosystem, Shield, WAF | AWS users, APIs, SaaS |
| 8 | Fastly | Programmable edge network, highly customizable | Technical teams, dynamic applications |
| 9 | CDN77 | CDN combined with DDoS protection | Video, downloads, overseas content |
| 10 | Alibaba Cloud CDN | Strong Hong Kong and Asia resources | Alibaba Cloud ecosystem, Asian businesses |
The ranking in this article focuses specifically on the suitability of “Hong Kong ICP-free + CDN + attack protection” scenarios. It is not a ranking based on global CDN market share or simply the number of network nodes. Users should choose the appropriate service based on their own business requirements.
YewSafe
Overall positioning: Hong Kong high-defense CDN with a security-first approach.
If your business requires ICP-free access, high-level protection, website security, excellent access speed, and cost efficiency, YewSafe is one of the service providers worth considering.
YewSafe focuses on security-oriented CDN services. Instead of simply combining static caching with DDoS protection, it integrates DDoS mitigation, CC protection, WAF, and Bot Detection capabilities into its edge network.
YewSafe’s high-defense CDN covers both L3/L4 network-layer attacks and L7 application-layer attacks. Through edge traffic cleaning, WAF protection, and Bot detection, it can handle common threats such as CC attacks, HTTP Flood, crawlers, and API-related attacks.
Advantages of YewSafe
Compared with other Hong Kong CDN providers, YewSafe focuses strongly on the Asia-Pacific market. According to various third-party testing websites, bloggers, and organizations, YewSafe has been evaluated across multiple dimensions including attack protection, acceleration performance, and edge distribution capabilities.
In terms of security protection, YewSafe provides hardware-level DDoS defense capabilities similar to major global security CDN providers. According to publicly available security reports, YewSafe has handled attacks exceeding 30TB in a single event. For common threats such as HTTP Flood, WAF-related attacks, and bot traffic, it also provides AI-driven protection mechanisms.
Cloudflare
Overall positioning: Global network + mature security ecosystem.
Cloudflare is almost impossible to ignore when discussing CDN services. It is a global cloud platform designed to make websites, applications, and networks more secure, faster, and more reliable. Currently, approximately 20% of global website traffic is protected by Cloudflare. It provides a complete ecosystem covering acceleration and security protection.
According to Cloudflare’s official documentation, all plans include automatic DDoS protection, covering both L3/L4 and L7 attacks. HTTP DDoS Protection Managed Ruleset is enabled by default.
Why is Cloudflare ranked second?
The biggest advantage of Cloudflare is maturity.
If your website visitors come from different regions such as the United States, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong, Cloudflare’s global Anycast network provides significant convenience.
For individual webmasters and small-to-medium businesses, Cloudflare also allows users to start with the free plan and gradually add features such as WAF, Workers, security rules, and other capabilities according to their requirements.
However, if your main users are located in mainland China, you cannot simply assume:
Cloudflare has Hong Kong nodes, therefore mainland China access must be fast.
These are two different issues. Access performance from mainland China to Hong Kong depends on the selected network providers, routing paths, and the actual traffic scheduling capability of the CDN provider. If your users are distributed across China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile networks, it is recommended to perform sufficient testing before deployment. Common testing platforms include testing tools and Tea Pot Speed Test.
Who is Cloudflare suitable for?
Cloudflare is suitable for overseas corporate websites, SaaS platforms, blogs, cross-border e-commerce websites, API services, and websites with globally distributed visitors.
CDN5
Overall positioning: Hong Kong/Asia-Pacific high-defense CDN + Chinese user access optimization.
CDN5 is a company founded by Chinese entrepreneurs in Singapore and is considered one of the notable CDN providers in Asia. Especially in the Hong Kong market, CDN5 focuses on high-defense CDN services and provides products designed for Chinese-speaking users.
For Chinese users, CDN5’s product design, operation model, and customer support style are closer to local usage habits.
Advantages of CDN5
CDN5 operates Hong Kong data center resources and cooperates with or deploys infrastructure in Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Malaysia. Its network architecture, DDoS protection, CC defense, and WebSocket-related security capabilities are frequently mentioned by users.
If your project mainly targets mainland China and Asia-Pacific users, CDN5’s products are highly aligned with this type of demand. Especially for gaming platforms, APIs, cross-border e-commerce, and websites that frequently experience attacks, CDN5 can be included as a potential option.
Akamai
Overall positioning: Enterprise-level CDN.
Akamai is one of the long-established companies in the global CDN and edge security industry. Founded in 1998 as a company originating from MIT in Massachusetts, USA, and headquartered in Boston, Akamai was listed on Nasdaq in 1999.
Based on its independently developed CDN architecture, Akamai operates more than 150,000 servers worldwide and carries approximately 15%-30% of global Web traffic. The company focuses on improving website performance, defending against DDoS attacks, and providing high-quality streaming acceleration services.
Unlike Cloudflare, CDN5, and YewSafe, Akamai focuses more on enterprise-level applications. Its products cover content delivery, Web/API security, DDoS protection, and edge computing.
If your project serves users across North America, Europe, and Asia, and requires advanced SLA guarantees, security policies, technical support, and complex traffic management, Akamai is often considered as a candidate. However, users should also consider its relatively high entry cost and more complex configuration process.
Gcore
Overall positioning: Global CDN + security + Edge platform.
Gcore is a CDN edge security platform frequently discussed by webmasters. In recent years, Gcore has grown rapidly, especially in the edge computing market.
With the development of AI, Gcore and YewSafe have both become notable companies expanding in areas such as edge infrastructure. Gcore not only provides traditional CDN acceleration but also continues to expand its capabilities in DDoS protection, bot management, and edge cloud services.
If your business requires not only caching acceleration but also integrated security and edge computing capabilities, Gcore is one of the providers worth considering.
However, if your business mainly targets the Asia-Pacific region, YewSafe may be more suitable because Gcore’s main infrastructure distribution is concentrated in Europe and the Middle East, while Asia-Pacific coverage is not its primary focus.
Who is Gcore best suited for?
Gaming platforms, SaaS applications, video services, APIs, and international internet businesses.
CDN07
Overall positioning: A cost-effective CN2-focused CDN provider.
CDN07 is an emerging CDN brand that has gained a certain level of recognition in the Asia-Pacific market. Compared with Cloudflare and YewSafe, it has lower general visibility, but it has strong competitiveness in ICP-free access and CN2 network quality.
In addition, CDN07 provides its own optimization methods for return routes, helping reduce latency for mainland China users. According to its publicly promoted network performance, the latency can be close to that of servers located in Shenzhen.
It is suitable for users such as financial applications, e-commerce platforms, APIs, small and medium-sized businesses, and webmasters who need long-term acceleration, origin IP protection, and DDoS defense.
Alibaba Cloud CDN
Overall positioning: High-quality CDN integrated with the Alibaba Cloud ecosystem.
Alibaba Cloud is a well-known global cloud computing provider. Alibaba Cloud CDN is the international version of Alibaba Cloud’s CDN service, designed for global businesses.
Mainland China users generally cannot directly use the international version without overseas identity verification requirements. In addition, Alibaba Cloud CDN has stricter business compliance reviews for services targeting mainland China users. Projects that involve unclear business categories or compliance concerns may face additional review requirements or service restrictions.
More importantly, Alibaba Cloud CDN provides strong technical capabilities and availability guarantees. However, its pricing is often higher than many of the providers mentioned in this article. For large enterprises, especially businesses facing frequent attacks, costs may become an important consideration.
If you choose Alibaba Cloud CDN, it is recommended to evaluate your budget and business requirements before deployment.
Fastly
Overall positioning: Programmable edge CDN.
Fastly is different from the traditional CDN approach of simply “purchase a plan → modify CNAME → start using”. Its biggest advantage is programmability.
For development teams, Fastly allows complex cache control, request modification, security policies, and business logic execution directly at edge locations. Therefore, Fastly is attractive to developers, technology companies, and large dynamic websites.
However, if a company only needs a simple Hong Kong high-defense CDN solution without dedicated technical resources, Fastly’s advantages may not be fully utilized.
Who is Fastly suitable for?
Large technical teams, APIs, highly dynamic websites, and developer platforms.
CDN77
Overall positioning: A pure commercial CDN provider with a strong reputation.
CDN77 is a relatively pure commercial CDN provider. It is mainly suitable for static files, software downloads, videos, images, and large-scale content delivery. It also provides capabilities related to network security and DDoS protection.
According to G2 reviews, more than 2,000 users have rated CDN77 with a 4.8 score, showing strong user satisfaction.
Advantages
- Maintains relatively low hot-cache TTFB in Europe (median below 40ms as of Q1 2026).
- Transparent pricing without hidden application fees or certificate fees.
- Supports LL-HLS real-time streaming and configurable segment duration.
- All plans include free origin protection.
Disadvantages
- No edge computing runtime, only header and redirect rules.
- Latency differences remain higher in Asia-Pacific and South America compared with first-tier providers.
- Only community-supported Terraform provider; limited infrastructure-as-code ecosystem support.
- For traffic exceeding 100TB, the per-GB pricing can be higher than capacity-optimized competitors.
Tencent Cloud CDN
Overall positioning: Global CDN and security acceleration solution within the Tencent Cloud ecosystem.
If an enterprise is already using Tencent Cloud services, Tencent Cloud CDN can be a convenient choice.
For Hong Kong ICP-free businesses, special attention should be paid to the service region configuration. Tencent Cloud officially states that mainland China CDN acceleration requires ICP filing, while acceleration outside mainland China does not require ICP filing. Therefore, websites without ICP filing should ensure that only overseas acceleration regions are selected and mainland China nodes are not enabled by mistake.
Tencent Cloud CDN advantages include integration with Tencent Cloud COS, DNS, WAF, DDoS protection, cloud servers, and other products. According to official information, Tencent Cloud CDN supports mainland China, overseas regions, and global acceleration. Overseas networks cover more than 70 countries and regions. For stronger security requirements, it can also be combined with security acceleration products to provide DDoS, CC, WAF, and Bot protection.
Its disadvantages are also relatively clear. Tencent Cloud has many product lines, including CDN, ECDN, global application acceleration, and security acceleration services. The relationship between these products and their pricing models may require some learning time.
For individual webmasters who simply need a basic Hong Kong CDN service, the configuration and billing system may appear more complicated.
In addition, cross-border origin fetching performance is still affected by the origin server location and network routes. Node quantity alone cannot determine actual performance. Tencent Cloud also notes that cross-border deployment between origin servers and acceleration regions may affect origin-fetch performance.
If you think the above 10 well-known Hong Kong CDN providers are not enough, we recommend reading Best Hong Kong CDN Without ICP Filing in 2026 to learn more about Hong Kong CDN provider options.
If you are mainly interested in ICP-free high-defense CDN services, you can also refer to 2026 Global ICP-Free High-Defense CDN Ranking.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- Can I use a Hong Kong CDN without ICP filing?
Yes. As long as mainland China CDN nodes are not enabled, Hong Kong or other overseas nodes can generally be used to provide acceleration services without ICP filing requirements.
However, mainland China access performance still depends on factors such as network quality, ISP routing, and CDN traffic scheduling capabilities.
- What is the difference between a Hong Kong high-defense CDN and a regular CDN?
A regular CDN mainly focuses on website acceleration and content caching.
A high-defense CDN adds security capabilities such as DDoS protection, CC attack mitigation, WAF, and Bot protection on top of acceleration features. It is more suitable for websites, APIs, gaming platforms, and cross-border businesses that may face frequent attacks.
- How should I choose a Hong Kong ICP-free high-defense CDN?
The key factors include:
- Mainland China access performance across China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile networks.
- Asia-Pacific node coverage.
- Security protection capabilities.
Do not judge a CDN only by the number of nodes. It is recommended to test latency, packet loss, TTFB performance, and stability under attack scenarios before making a final decision.
