Claude 3.5 Sonnet input costs $3 per million tokens on ClaudeCN, with output at $15 per million tokens — roughly 1.5x Anthropic’s direct API pricing.
Pricing Breakdown
ClaudeCN doesn’t publish a free tier. Every request hits your prepaid balance. The platform supports Alipay and WeChat Pay, but minimum recharge amounts aren’t listed — expect to deposit at least ¥50 based on similar relay sites.
| Model | Input (per 1M tokens) | Output (per 1M tokens) | Context Window |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude 3.5 Sonnet | $3.00 | $15.00 | 100K tokens |
| GPT-4o | $2.50 | $10.00 | 100K tokens |
| Compare that to Anthropic’s direct pricing: Claude 3.5 Sonnet is $3/$15 direct too. No markup on the base model. The premium is the China-optimized routing — you’re paying for access, not inflated token costs. | |||
| GPT-4o is slightly cheaper at $2.50/$10 per million tokens, but that’s OpenAI’s standard rate. No hidden fees beyond the per-token charges, but no batch discounts either. |
Pros & Cons
Pros
- No VPN required for Claude access in China
- 100K context window fully supported
- Payment via local methods (Alipay, WeChat Pay) Cons
- Only two models available — limited flexibility
- 94% uptime is below average for relay stations (most hit 97%+)
- No free trial to test routing quality
- Premium pricing matches direct API — no savings
Verdict
ClaudeCN is a niche play. If you only need Claude 3.5 Sonnet or GPT-4o from China without a VPN, it works. The pricing is fair — no markup on Anthropic’s rates — but the 94% uptime stings. I’ve seen relay stations drop to 90% during peak hours, and ClaudeCN’s 94% average suggests you’ll hit occasional timeouts. The composite score of 75.2/100 reflects the limited model selection and reliability concerns. For developers running production workloads, I’d want higher uptime guarantees. For personal use or prototyping, the convenience of local payment and no VPN might justify the lack of model diversity. Skip ClaudeCN if you need multiple models or cheaper rates. Use it if you’re a Claude power user who values direct RMB payments over API key management.
FAQ
Q: Can I use ClaudeCN without a VPN in China? A: Yes. That’s the primary selling point — the platform routes API requests through China-optimized servers so you don’t need a VPN to access Claude or GPT-4o. Q: What happens if my balance runs out mid-request? A: The platform doesn’t specify. Most relay stations cut off the request and return an error. Recharge via Alipay or WeChat Pay before your next call. Q: Does ClaudeCN offer batch discounts for high-volume usage? A: No. Pricing is flat per million tokens with no volume tiers or batch discounts listed. You pay the same rate whether you use 1M or 100M tokens per month.
Data provenance: any figures from hands-on checks are author-reported and tested on the recorded date. Independent verification is unavailable unless a source is linked.
