{"slug": "i-couldn-t-pay-for-deepseek-v4-with-my-card-so-i-built-a-proxy", "title": "I couldn't pay for DeepSeek V4 with my card. So I built a proxy", "summary": "An international developer built a proxy service called api-hub.cc that accepts credit cards for DeepSeek V4 API access, bypassing the official platform's Alipay and WeChat Pay requirement. The service charges a flat $0.20 per million input tokens for Flash model, undercutting DeepSeek's peak-hour pricing of $0.28. The proxy offers three credit tiers ($5, $20, $100) and works with any OpenAI-compatible SDK by changing the base URL.", "body_md": "DeepSeek V4 is incredible value. But the official platform won't take my credit card. Here's how I fixed it.\n\nDeepSeek V4-Flash is roughly **$0.14 per million input tokens** from the official API — a fraction of what OpenAI or Anthropic charge. It supports an OpenAI-compatible endpoint, so in theory you can drop it into any existing project.\n\nThere's just one catch: the official DeepSeek platform only accepts **Alipay and WeChat Pay**. If you're an international developer with a Visa or Mastercard, you literally cannot pay them.\n\nI wanted to use DeepSeek for a project. I couldn't. So I built a proxy that accepts credit cards.\n\nThe stack is straightforward:\n\nWhen you buy credits, the server calls LiteLLM's `/key/generate`\n\nto create an API key with a spending limit matching your purchase. The key works with any OpenAI-compatible SDK — just change `base_url`\n\nto `https://api-hub.cc/v1`\n\nand you're set.\n\nIn late June 2026, DeepSeek announced a peak/off-peak pricing model for V4 Flash. During Beijing peak hours (9:00-12:00 and 14:00-18:00), official prices double to ~$0.28/M input.\n\napi-hub.cc charges a flat $0.20/M for Flash input at all hours — which means during peak times, the proxy is actually **cheaper** than going direct.\n\nThree tiers: **$5** (casual use), **$20** (daily driver), **$100** (team/power user).\n\nThe only thing standing between most international developers and DeepSeek's pricing is a payment method. api-hub.cc solves that one problem — everything else (the speed, the quality, the OpenAI compatibility) is already there.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-couldn-t-pay-for-deepseek-v4-with-my-card-so-i-built-a-proxy", "canonical_source": "https://api-hub.cc/blog/", "published_at": "2026-07-14 13:43:25+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-14 13:47:51.043050+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-products", "ai-tools", "developer-tools"], "entities": ["DeepSeek", "api-hub.cc", "LiteLLM", "OpenAI", "Anthropic", "Visa", "Mastercard"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-couldn-t-pay-for-deepseek-v4-with-my-card-so-i-built-a-proxy", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-couldn-t-pay-for-deepseek-v4-with-my-card-so-i-built-a-proxy.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-couldn-t-pay-for-deepseek-v4-with-my-card-so-i-built-a-proxy.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-couldn-t-pay-for-deepseek-v4-with-my-card-so-i-built-a-proxy.jsonld"}}