# I couldn't pay for DeepSeek V4 with my card. So I built a proxy

> Source: <https://api-hub.cc/blog/>
> Published: 2026-07-14 13:43:25+00:00

DeepSeek V4 is incredible value. But the official platform won't take my credit card. Here's how I fixed it.

DeepSeek 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.

There'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.

I wanted to use DeepSeek for a project. I couldn't. So I built a proxy that accepts credit cards.

The stack is straightforward:

When you buy credits, the server calls LiteLLM's `/key/generate`

to create an API key with a spending limit matching your purchase. The key works with any OpenAI-compatible SDK — just change `base_url`

to `https://api-hub.cc/v1`

and you're set.

In 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.

api-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.

Three tiers: **$5** (casual use), **$20** (daily driver), **$100** (team/power user).

The 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.