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

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.

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.