Comparison · Hong Kong or Singapore
The two busiest hosting hubs in Asia, side by side: who each one is close to, what a server costs there, and what the cables and the law look like. Every figure is dated and sourced.
Quick answer
Hong Kong or Singapore: which is better for dedicated server hosting?
For dedicated server hosting, Singapore is better for users in Southeast Asia, India and Oceania; Hong Kong is better for Taiwan, the Philippines, South Korea and Japan. Microsoft's July 2026 median puts the two cities 36 ms apart. Copperstrait rents the same servers in Hong Kong and Singapore at one price, from $143.25 per 30 days, crypto, no KYC.
| Hong Kong | Singapore | |
|---|---|---|
| Hosts selling bare metal there (2 November 2026) | 20 of 33 | 26 of 33 |
| Hosts with a crypto, no-ID server passing every rule | 3 | 6 |
| Median monthly price for at least 16 cores, 64 GB of memory and 1.9 TB of SSD or NVMe | $425.00 | $903.51 |
| Cheapest such server found | €310.00 ($346.33) (RedSwitches) | $191.00 (MonoVM) |
| International submarine cables in service (TeleGeography) | 14 | 34 |
| Personal data law | PDPO (Cap. 486) | PDPA 2012 |
| On the EU's list of adequate countries | ✗ | ✗ |
| Copperstrait Strait 16 | $143.25/30 days | $143.25/30 days |
Prices checked on
Host counts and prices: Copperstrait survey of 2 November 2026, among hosts that accept crypto without ID at signup; 1 EUR = 1.1172 USD (ECB, 2026-10-30). Cables: TeleGeography Submarine Cable Map, read 2 November 2026; Hong Kong counted over its six landing points.
It depends on where they are. The table uses two public sources. Microsoft publishes median round trips between its cloud regions. WonderNetwork pings between its own servers every hour.
Singapore wins to the south and west; Hong Kong wins to the north and east. The gap is often 20 to 35 ms, which a player or a trader notices.
| Users in | From Hong Kong | From Singapore | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taipei | 14.3 | 43.2 | WonderNetwork |
| Manila | 18.6 | 29.9 | WonderNetwork |
| Seoul | 39 | 68 | Microsoft Azure |
| Osaka | 48 | 72 | Microsoft Azure |
| Tokyo | 49 | 72 | Microsoft Azure |
| Hanoi | 53.7 | 47.8 | WonderNetwork |
| Bangkok | 45.0 | 22.8 | WonderNetwork |
| Kuala Lumpur | 35 | 8 | Microsoft Azure |
| Jakarta | 47 | 16 | Microsoft Azure |
| Chennai | 70 | 37 | Microsoft Azure |
| Pune | 88 | 53 | Microsoft Azure |
| New South Wales (Australia) | 122 | 95 | Microsoft Azure |
| California | 148 | 170 | Microsoft Azure |
| Frankfurt | 193 | 167 | Microsoft Azure |
Microsoft Azure: P50 round trip from its East Asia (Hong Kong) and Southeast Asia (Singapore) regions, 30 days ending 30 July 2026. WonderNetwork: median of 336 hourly runs of 30 pings from the user city to each hub, 19 October to 2 November 2026. Neither is a Copperstrait measurement. We publish no latency or speed figures of our own: we have not measured them. Test from where your users are once the server is yours.
In our survey, Hong Kong was cheaper at the hosts that take crypto without ID. The median monthly price for at least 16 cores, 64 GB of memory and 1.9 TB of SSD or NVMe was $425.00 in Hong Kong and $903.51 in Singapore.
The single cheapest server at that floor was in Singapore, though: $191.00 at MonoVM. In Hong Kong it was €310.00 ($346.33) at RedSwitches. One cheap box sets the floor; the median shows the market.
Copperstrait charges the same in both cities. Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo (Japan): every server in every city, at the same price. Strait 16 costs $143.25/30 days. The whole grid is on how much a Copperstrait server costs.
Singapore, by cable count. TeleGeography's Submarine Cable Map listed 34 international cables in service landing in Singapore, with 13 more planned. Hong Kong's six landing points had 14 in service and 2 planned.
Ten cables in service land in both cities. That is one reason the Hong Kong to Singapore path is short: WonderNetwork's median from Singapore to Hong Kong was 30.2 ms. The fibre lower bound for the 2,586 km between them is 25.3 ms.
The full matrix between Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo is on the latency between Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
Each city has its own personal data law: the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, Cap. 486, in Hong Kong, and the Personal Data Protection Act 2012 in Singapore. Neither city is on the European Commission's list of countries with adequate data protection. Japan and South Korea are on it.
Hong Kong also has its National Security Law of 2020. What it means for a hosted website is set out, with sources, on how Hong Kong's National Security Law affects hosted websites. Singapore's rules on stored data are on whether Singapore has a data retention law for hosts. None of this is legal advice.
Copperstrait is operated by DomaineGoat LLC, incorporated in Panama and answerable to Panamanian law only. The datacenter in each city is bound by the law of the place it stands in.
Only if your users are in mainland China, and Copperstrait does not serve them. We do not serve residents or companies of Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Russia, Belarus, China, Yemen or Western Sahara, nor the occupied regions of Ukraine.
Many Hong Kong offers are built around China-optimised routes. In Copperstrait's survey of 2 November 2026, 7 of 33 Asian hosts sold CN2 or similar routes. Every server has a 1 Gbit/s port with a monthly traffic allowance (Strait 16 20 TB, Strait 32 20 TB, Strait 32F 30 TB), one dedicated IPv4 address and an IPv6 /64; going past the allowance never triggers an automatic bill. No China-optimised route (CN2) is sold. For users in Taiwan, the Philippines, Korea or Japan, a standard route from Hong Kong is the short one. The term is explained on what CN2 GIA is.
Pick by audience, then by budget.
The wider picture, including Tokyo, is on the best server location for users across Asia.
16 cores · 64 GB
$143.25
$128.92 / month
$386.77 for 3 months
$114.60 / month
$687.60 for 6 months
$100.28 / month
$1,203.30 for 1 year
3 months $386.77 (−10%)6 months $687.60 (−20%)1 year $1,203.30 (−30%)
Best value
32 cores · 384 GB
$356.25
$320.62 / month
$961.87 for 3 months
$285 / month
$1,710 for 6 months
$249.38 / month
$2,992.50 for 1 year
3 months $961.87 (−10%)6 months $1,710 (−20%)1 year $2,992.50 (−30%)
32 cores · 384 GB
$828.68
$745.81 / month
$2,237.43 for 3 months
$662.94 / month
$3,977.66 for 6 months
$580.08 / month
$6,960.91 for 1 year
3 months $2,237.43 (−10%)6 months $3,977.66 (−20%)1 year $6,960.91 (−30%)
In every plan: Same price in every city · RAID 1 · Dedicated IPv4 · No logs · No KYC · No setup fee
About 30 to 36 ms. WonderNetwork's median from Singapore to Hong Kong was 30.2 ms over two weeks to 2 November 2026. Microsoft's published median between its two regions is 36 ms.
Singapore. Microsoft's median from its Singapore region to New South Wales is 95 ms, against 122 ms from Hong Kong.
Hong Kong. WonderNetwork's median from Manila was 18.6 ms to Hong Kong and 29.9 ms to Singapore, from 19 October to 2 November 2026.
No. Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo (Japan): every server in every city, at the same price.
No. We publish no latency or speed figures of our own: we have not measured them. Test from where your users are once the server is yours. The figures come from Microsoft and WonderNetwork, with their dates.
Hong Kong · Singapore · Tokyo from $143.25
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