Starting a VPN business in China isn’t for the faint of heart.
You face strict rules and a watchful government that monitors everything online.
In China, the demand for VPNs is huge. Millions are looking for privacy and secure internet access. If you’ve ever considered this opportunity, now’s the time to act.
But many feel overwhelmed before they begin. How do you create a service that won’t get blocked? Is it really possible to offer secure VPN access in China?
It certainly is, and we’re here to make that path easy, so you won’t fall into any traps.
Keep reading to learn how to make a VPN business smoothly in China!
It is, but there’s a huge catch. You’ll need to be a government-approved business, which means you’ll have to follow China’s data retention laws. That means it’ll be hard to gain user trust. If you operate without government approval, you’ll be arrested.
Much of China’s population is desperate for internet access at this point.
However, you might have doubts—who would get a VPN directly approved by the Chinese government, right?
Well, there’s another option. You can set up a business outside China but still focus on the Chinese market. That’s how most of the bigger VPN companies operate in China.
As long as you do that and make the proper arrangements, you’ll enjoy a large margin of profits coming from a country with a huge population and a yearning for internet freedom!
Now, let’s get right to it! Here’s what you need to do.
This is the first step. The Chinese government is vicious towards the idea of an open internet, with them having only a 9/100 global internet freedom score.
China only allows VPNs they’ve approved, so they try to block others.
Make sure you know all the laws and work around them safely.
For a start, if your VPN operates from outside China, you’re a bit safer, but it’s still important to play it smart.
Don’t just pick any country. Set up your headquarters in a country that supports privacy, like Switzerland or Panama, where you’re not forced to log user data.
And make sure users know that while the VPN can help, there are risks due to how harsh China’s government can be.
Next, start doing market research. Find out how many people want VPN services in China.
Identify your audience. Are they expats, business folks, or locals looking for more online freedom?
Look at what competitors are doing. What features do they provide? What pricing models do they use?
Look for gaps in the market that you can fill. This understanding helps you create a service that stands out and meets users’ needs.
To keep your VPN user-friendly, you’ll need a simple app.
You can build it, hire a developer, or go with a white-label app you can brand. Building gives you full control but costs more time and money; white-label is faster and cheaper.
Whichever you pick, make sure the app has one-click connect, easy server switching, and “stealth mode” to bypass blocks.
Since you’ll be focusing your business in China, you’ll want features like a kill switch. You’ll also need different obfuscation options. These, and features like auto-reconnect are key to keeping things secure and reliable for your Chinese users.
China’s Great Firewall is very strong, and it can easily block out most VPNs.
A good start would be to choose protocols that can disguise themselves. OpenVPN and Wireguard are good options, but you’ll need to configure them properly.
You can also go further and add tools like Obfsproxy or Stunnel to OpenVPN to further make it look more like regular web traffic.
Shadowsocks is another popular option in China because it’s lightweight and good at avoiding detection.
All in all, you can combine tools like Shadowsocks with OpenVPN or even V2Ray to make it harder for the firewall to spot and block your VPN.
Doing all this will give you a reliable tech stack to build on.
Protocols by themselves won’t be enough.
If DNS requests are exposed, then even with a VPN, someone could still see what sites users are trying to visit. This lets ISPs or authorities track, block, or monitor activity, even if the rest of the connection is secure.
You can counter this by using DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) or DNS-over-TLS (DoT). These methods keep users’ requests private, so no one can spy on their browsing.
It’s an extra layer that keeps users’ online activity truly private and stops outside interference.
Set up servers in countries like Hong Kong, Japan, or Singapore to provide the best speed for your users.
The best thing is that these countries have providers that can offer cheap options.
Just make sure that whatever server provider you choose doesn’t keep logs and has strong privacy, like DigitalOcean or Vultr. Those two are perfect if you keep your servers in Singapore.
Once the server is set up, you can configure the servers with masking tools like Stunnel, Shadowsocks, or V2Ray with XTLS.
Choose payment options that are easy for users.
Alipay and WeChat Pay are popular in China. These platforms are trusted for online payments.
Whatever you do, make sure your payment process is secure and straightforward.
A smooth payment experience can help you grow your user base and keep them coming back.
Once your VPN is ready, put together a marketing plan.
Use social media and influencer partnerships to reach your audience.
To make it stand out, create posts about what makes your VPN special. The usual features will work here—mention things like privacy, access to global content, and ease of use.
These are exactly what people in China want, even more than others do.
And of course, don’t forget to use local platforms with targeted ads. This is a competitive market, so building brand awareness is one of the most important steps.
China restricts VPN app downloads, so you need workarounds.
For Android, use Chinese app stores like Huawei AppGallery or Tencent App Store, or offer a direct APK download on your website.
For iOS, use TestFlight or custom profiles if you can’t list in the App Store.
You should also provide multiple ways to access your site, even if the main link gets blocked, so Windows users will be able to get it as well.
With all that done, you can go ahead and launch your VPN.
Want to keep everything running smoothly? You can try doing these, and you won’t be bothered by the government.
The firewall affects different areas of China in different ways, so test your VPN in cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong.
Tools like GreatFire Analyzer show if your VPN is accessible.
Doing regular testing, you can spot blocked IPs or slow speeds, so you can quickly adjust.
Keep a system in place to monitor these issues since the firewall changes frequently.
China’s blocking methods are always evolving, so make sure you’re keeping up with the latest obfuscation tech.
For instance, if something like V2Ray alone doesn’t work, you can combine it with XTLS, gRPC tunneling, or Cloak to make your VPN traffic look like regular web traffic.
Rotate between methods to keep the VPN working well as the firewall updates.
The more comfortable you can make things for your users, the better.
You can have your guides and troubleshooting pages in both English and Mandarin.
Alongside that, provide customer support and translated versions of your updates in Mandarin as well.
Don’t forget to provide quality English support though, as China has a lot of tourists who would likely be looking for VPNs.
If you simply say that your VPN is a way to bypass the Firewall, you’ll be in trouble.
Your best bet would be to keep advertisement limited to the fact that the VPN keeps data private and secure.
Most of the time, you likely will have some hassles marketing on social media. We recommend sticking to word of mouth.
You can also use affiliate marketing. Whatever you do, make sure you frame the VPN as a privacy tool, not an anti-censorship tool.
The legal things alone will take up a huge chunk of your expenses, so you’ll need to budget carefully.
Don’t worry. We’ll outline everything you need to do. This way, you won’t end up spending too much money while handling so many things at once.
Hosting servers yourself on platforms like Vultr is the cheapest route, costing around $5 to $10 per server per month.
It’s low-cost but hands-on—you’ll need to manage these servers.
Managed options, like AWS or paid Shadowsocks services, can cost more, sometimes hundreds per server monthly, but they’re easier to handle.
An app can cost between $10,000 and $30,000 to build.
Monthly costs for security, updates, and Mandarin support can run $20,000 to $50,000 as you scale.
You’ll need to have a tailored business model if you want to work with Chinese users. Here are some popular examples you can try:
Of course, the legal issues are the first and foremost problem you have to deal with. But things go beyond that. Here’s a more detailed look at some of the common hurdles you might end up facing:
You have to understand that China only allows government-approved VPNs. If your VPN isn’t approved, it’s illegal, and users could face fines.
Even if you’re based outside of China, you can still get blocked.
After you‘re done picking a safer country as a base of operations, make sure to let your users know what they’re getting into.
The Great Firewall uses deep packet inspection, active probing, and other advanced tech to block a lot of VPN traffic. It can spot common protocols like OpenVPN.
You’ll need to combine that with other advanced technology to mask your traffic so it looks like regular browsing.
Stay on top of the GFW’s changes since they update their methods regularly.
Anything that works with Tor, like Snowflake, is a good idea to implement.
The GFW can block specific IP addresses. If your IP gets flagged, your users won’t be able to connect.
You’ll need to rotate your IP addresses regularly to keep the service running. This can add to your costs.
Getting your app into Chinese app stores is tough.
Most VPN apps get removed because of government pressure.
You should provide alternatives for users to download your app, like direct APK links for Android. Make it easy for them to access your service.
Running a VPN in China won’t get easy anytime soon. The Great Firewall is always evolving, and the government always holds the internet with a tight fist.
But you can’t deny the profits. With China’s 850 million users, the VPN market is expected to grow by 12% CAGR in the next few years.
If you need someone to do a huge part of the technical work for you, we’ve got you covered.
Our VPN App Development Service covers all the bases for your app, and our experts can give you helpful advice on how to get started.
China isn’t the only hard-to-operate country we’ve worked on. So, what are you waiting for? Come say hi!
