Baidu account without a Chinese phone number: can you sign up from abroad?
Baidu will not create an account without a mobile number that it can text. That stops many people outside China before they download anything. This page helps you decide in two minutes: is it worth trying to sign up, or can you skip the account?
Step 1: is your country code offered?
Baidu has a sign-up page for users abroad at passport.baidu.com/v2/?reg&overseas=1. On 31 October 2026 we counted 161 country codes in its list.
| Offered | Missing |
|---|---|
| United States and Canada, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Brazil, Mexico, Australia | All EU countries, including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Ireland |
To check your own country, open the page and click +86 on the left of the first field. The list that opens shows every code Baidu takes.
- Your code is missing: you cannot sign up with your number. Go to step 3.
- Your code is there: go to step 2.
Step 2: what an account gives you, and what it does not
| With a free Baidu account you can | You still cannot |
|---|---|
| Log in on the share page | Read the site in English: it stays Chinese |
| Save shared files to your own Netdisk | Download big files or folders in the browser: Baidu sends you to its desktop app |
| Start downloads | Download fast: free accounts are limited to roughly 100 to 170 KB/s |
Two more things to know before you try:
- Even with a listed country, the text message sometimes does not come. Internet-based (VoIP) numbers are the usual victims.
- Accounts for sale and rented numbers are a bad idea. Whoever controls the phone number controls the account.
Step 3: choose
| Your situation | Best route |
|---|---|
| You need the files from one link, once | Skip the account. Use the steps in How to download without a Baidu account |
| Your country code is missing | Skip the account |
| You will use Baidu Pan regularly and your code is offered | Sign up. The PanPull blog translates the Chinese form field by field: Baidu Netdisk sign-up outside China |
Skipping the account
PanPull fetches the share on its side and passes the files on to you. You give it the share link and an email address, nothing from Baidu. Shares up to 150 MB are free, and for bigger ones you see the price before you decide.
Related: Download without installing the client · How long a download takes
Have a Baidu link? Check it on PanPull and see the size and price first. Up to 150 MB is free.