A developer on GitHub filed an issue: “I can pay Apple, Anthropic, OpenAI with my card, but not DeepSeek.” The issue got 6 rocket reactions and 4 hearts. DeepSeek replied “Possible in the future…” and closed it.

This is the reality of accessing Chinese LLM APIs from outside China. Each provider has different registration flows, payment options, and country restrictions. Some take 5 minutes. Others are effectively walled off.

Here’s every provider, tested from the US in March 2026.

Quick Reference

Provider	Signup Time	Payment	International?	Difficulty
DeepSeek	2 min	PayPal, Alipay, WeChat	Yes	Easy
Qwen (Alibaba)	5 min	Credit card	Yes	Easy
Kimi (Moonshot)	3 min	Credit card	Yes	Easy
GLM (Zhipu)	3 min	Credit card	Yes (via z.ai)	Easy
StepFun	3 min	Stripe (credit card)	Yes	Easy
MiniMax	5 min + wait	Credit card	Yes (2-3 day approval)	Moderate
ByteDance (Doubao)	Blocked	Alipay, bank transfer	No	Difficult
Baidu (ERNIE)	Blocked	Alipay, bank transfer	No	Difficult
Tencent (Hunyuan)	10 min	Credit card	Partial	Moderate

Tier 1: Easy Access (5 Minutes or Less)

DeepSeek

Registration: Email only. Go to platform.deepseek.com, enter email, verify, done.

Payment: PayPal is the main international option. No credit card support (the most common complaint from international developers). Minimum top-up: $5.

API Key: Dashboard → API Keys → Create. Immediate access.

Gotchas:

PayPal is not available in all countries. If you can’t use PayPal, use OpenRouter or SiliconFlow instead.
During high-traffic periods, new account registration and top-ups may be temporarily frozen.
Free tier exists but rate limits are strict (~2 RPM).

Base URL: https://api.deepseek.com/v1

curl https://api.deepseek.com/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DEEPSEEK_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model":"deepseek-chat","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Hello"}]}'

Qwen (Alibaba Cloud)

Registration: Alibaba Cloud international account. Email + phone verification. Accepts international phone numbers.

Payment: Credit card (Visa, Mastercard). This is the smoothest international payment experience among Chinese providers.

API Key: Model Studio → API Keys → Create.

Gotchas:

Multiple regional endpoints. Use the international one from outside China.
Free quota for new users (100M tokens across select models, expires 90 days).
Rate limits are per-account across all API keys (30,000 RPM for qwen3-max).
Pricing page has historically had 404 issues — check official docs for latest.

Base URL (International): https://dashscope-intl.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1

Kimi (Moonshot AI)

Registration: Email or phone. Go to platform.moonshot.ai.

Payment: Credit card accepted.

API Key: Dashboard → API Keys → Create.

Gotchas:

During peak hours (Beijing time business hours), you may see “insufficient compute” errors. Kimi’s own system once suggested users “try DeepSeek instead” — unprecedented candor.
K2.5 has automatic 75% caching discount, similar to DeepSeek.

Base URL: https://api.moonshot.ai/v1

GLM (Zhipu AI)

Registration: Two platforms:

International: z.ai — email signup
China: open.bigmodel.cn — may need Chinese phone

Use z.ai for international access.

Payment: Credit card on z.ai.

API Key: Dashboard → API Keys.

Gotchas:

GLM-4.7-Flash is completely free — no credit card required, no daily limits.
GLM-5 pricing is 67-100% higher on the international platform vs Chinese platform.
API docs quality varies between Chinese and international sites.

Base URL (International): https://api.z.ai/api/paas/v4/

StepFun

Registration: platform.stepfun.ai for international. Email signup.

Payment: Stripe (credit card). Smoothest payment among all Chinese providers.

Gotchas:

Only one main model (Step 3.5 Flash) available.
Also available on OpenRouter for free trial.

Base URL (International): https://api.stepfun.ai/v1

Tier 2: Moderate Access

MiniMax

Registration: Email + phone verification at platform.minimax.io.

Payment: Credit card.

The catch: International accounts require manual approval — 2-3 business days. You can sign up but won’t get API access immediately.

Gotchas:

Also offers an Anthropic-compatible endpoint (https://api.minimax.io/anthropic).
Chinese endpoint (api.minimaxi.com) may have different rate limits.

Base URL (International): https://api.minimax.io/v1

Tencent (Hunyuan)

Registration: Tencent Cloud International account. More complex than Alibaba Cloud — requires more identity verification steps.

Payment: Credit card.

Gotchas:

International endpoint exists (hunyuan.intl.tencentcloudapi.com) but documentation is sparse.
Recent 450%+ price increase on some Hunyuan models suggests high demand / capacity constraints.

Base URL (International): https://api.hunyuan.cloud.tencent.com/v1

Tier 3: Effectively Walled Off

ByteDance (Doubao / Seed)

Cannot register internationally. Volcano Engine requires Chinese phone number + real-name identity verification (身份证).

Workaround: Access Seed 2.0 models via third-party gateways:

OpenRouter (when available)
CometAPI
EvoLink (coming soon)

This is frustrating because Seed 2.0 Pro has frontier-level benchmarks (AIME 98.3%, Codeforces 3020 Elo). You just can’t access it directly.

Baidu (ERNIE)

Cannot register internationally. Baidu Cloud account requires Chinese phone number. Payment via Alipay or bank transfer only.

Additional barrier: ERNIE API is NOT OpenAI-compatible — it uses a custom API format.

Workaround: Access ERNIE via OpenRouter. But the non-standard API means fewer tool integrations.

The Third-Party Alternative: When Direct Access Fails

If you can’t register directly, or want a single account for all providers:

OpenRouter

One API key for DeepSeek, Qwen, Kimi, ERNIE, and dozens more
US-based billing (credit card)
Slight markup on pricing (~10-20%)
No Chinese registration needed
Best for: developers who want “just works” without provider management

SiliconFlow (硅基流动)

This platform is hugely popular among Chinese developers but almost unknown in the English-speaking world.

9B and smaller models: completely free, permanently
DeepSeek calls at ¥1.33/M tokens (~$0.18/M)
OpenAI-compatible format
Regional routing to bypass IP restrictions
Best for: cost-sensitive developers, especially for smaller models

Website: siliconflow.cn (Chinese interface, but API is standard OpenAI format)

Fireworks AI

Hosts DeepSeek, Qwen, and other Chinese models
US-based infrastructure (lower latency from US)
Standard billing
Note: Cursor uses Fireworks to proxy DeepSeek, which adds latency. Direct API is faster.

Common Problems and Solutions

”PayPal not available in my country”

Use OpenRouter or SiliconFlow instead of DeepSeek direct. Same models, standard credit card billing.

”Model responds in Chinese despite English prompt”

Known issue with DeepSeek. Add explicit language instruction to system prompt:

You must respond entirely in English. Never use Chinese characters.

DeepSeek R1’s thinking tokens may still appear in Chinese even with this instruction — this is expected behavior.

”403 / Invalid API key errors in Cursor”

Cursor proxies some Chinese models through Fireworks, not direct. If you get errors:

Try using the model via “Custom API” instead of built-in provider
Enter your own API key + base URL
Verify your API key works with a direct curl first

”Rate limited despite low usage”

Alibaba Cloud (Qwen) applies rate limits at the account level, not per-key. All API keys under one account share the same quota. Also has undocumented second-level rate limiting (RPM/60) that can block burst traffic.

IDE Quick Setup Table

Provider	Cursor base_url	Cline base_url	Model name
DeepSeek	`https://api.deepseek.com/v1`	same	`deepseek-chat`
Qwen	`https://dashscope-intl.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1`	same	`qwen3.5-plus`
Kimi	`https://api.moonshot.ai/v1`	same	`kimi-k2.5`
GLM	`https://api.z.ai/api/paas/v4/`	same	`glm-5`
StepFun	`https://api.stepfun.ai/v1`	same	`step-3.5-flash`
OpenRouter	`https://openrouter.ai/api/v1`	same	`deepseek/deepseek-chat`

All providers are OpenAI-compatible except Baidu ERNIE. Change the base URL and API key — your existing code works.

Full model specs and pricing: Model Directory. Cost comparison: Calculator.

Chinese LLM API Authentication: Every Provider Compared

Quick Reference

Tier 1: Easy Access (5 Minutes or Less)

DeepSeek

Qwen (Alibaba Cloud)

Kimi (Moonshot AI)

GLM (Zhipu AI)

StepFun

Tier 2: Moderate Access

MiniMax

Tencent (Hunyuan)

Tier 3: Effectively Walled Off

ByteDance (Doubao / Seed)

Baidu (ERNIE)

The Third-Party Alternative: When Direct Access Fails

OpenRouter

SiliconFlow (硅基流动)

Fireworks AI

Common Problems and Solutions

”PayPal not available in my country”

”Model responds in Chinese despite English prompt”

”403 / Invalid API key errors in Cursor”

”Rate limited despite low usage”

IDE Quick Setup Table

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