Does CyberGhost work in China?

As of Aug 11, 2026, CyberGhost is blocked in China.

Status: blocked
Confidence: medium
Last verified: Aug 11, 2026
Method: No obfuscation mode exists, so no workaround path. Website DNS/connectivity-blocked on China Telecom (AS4134), China Unicom (AS4837), CERNET (AS4538) and Shanghai Mobile (AS24400) per OONI; reachable only on China Mobile Guangdong (AS9808), which does not imply the tunnel works. No positive in-country user report found since mid-2024.

Verified working in China right now

Astrill (low confidence, StealthVPN (TCP mode) required; install and sign up before arrival (website confirmed blocked in-country, OONI, daily through 2026-08-10); occasional server switching expected.)

What we're seeing

OONI measurements from June 1 to August 11, 2026 show www.cyberghostvpn.com blocked on China Telecom, Unicom, CERNET and Shanghai Mobile (2 OK against 17 anomalies on Telecom in the last 30 days, zero OK on the others). One China Mobile Guangdong network reaches the site freely, and we verified that probe is genuinely in-country, but website reachability on one mobile network does not revive a tunnel that has no obfuscation mode. The newest in-country user report remains negative and dates to November 2022; nothing from 2026 argues for a change.

Sources for the above:

user_report (Aug 11, 2026): Control on the one all-OK ASN. AS9808 shows www.google.com 0 OK / 46 anomalies, so the probe is a healthy in-country vantage, not tunneled. CyberGhost's site being reachable there is a real per-ISP filtering difference, not a measurement artifact. 4.
forum (Aug 11, 2026): V2EX full-archive search via sov2ex API. Most recent CyberGhost mention is Dec 2023; last substantive in-country report is Nov 2022 ("bought CyberGhost and NordVPN on Black Friday, neither connects"). Background, not fresh evidence, but confirms the absence of any positive report.
user_report (Aug 11, 2026): OONI community measurements, per-ASN, last 30 days. AS4134 China Telecom 2 OK / 17 anomalies, AS4837 Unicom 0 OK / 7 anomalies, AS4538 CERNET 0/6, AS24400 Shanghai Mobile 0/10, AS56044 China Mobile 0/2. Only AS9808 (China Mobile Guangdong) fully OK (24/24). Website block, not a direct tunnel test. 2.
user_report (Aug 11, 2026): OONI 61-day series (June 1 to Aug 11): 67 OK / 143 anomalies / 18 failures. Anomalies persistent across the whole window; no recovery event visible. The OK share is explained by the AS9808 probe (per-ASN decomposition in source 1). 3.
user_report (Jul 21, 2026): OONI Jul 4-21 2026: 30/50 DNS anomalies on China Telecom, Unicom and others; China Mobile mostly clean

Common questions

Is using a VPN legal in China?

Only government-licensed VPNs are legal. The 2017 rules ban unlicensed services, and authorities have penalized individual users. Enforcement against visitors is rare but not zero. We report availability, not legal advice.

Do VPNs still work in China after the 2026 firewall upgrade?

Mostly no. As of July 2026, Astrill with StealthVPN is the only VPN we verified working. NordVPN and Proton connect intermittently with obfuscation. Most others are blocked or unreliable.

Can I download a VPN from inside China?

Usually not. Vendor websites are blocked in-country and Western app stores are unreachable without a VPN. Install and sign up before you arrive, and carry a backup.