How to Use DeepSeek API Outside China: Pay by Credit Card, No Chinese Phone Number Needed

DeepSeek v4-flash offers exceptional performance at a fraction of the cost of GPT-4o. But for developers outside China, getting started is surprisingly difficult:

1. Account registration requires a Chinese phone number for SMS verification. International numbers are not accepted.
2. Payment requires Alipay or a Chinese bank card. International credit cards, PayPal, and Apple Pay are not supported.
3. The platform and docs are primarily in Chinese, creating a language barrier for English-speaking developers.

These barriers mean many developers in India, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere simply cannot use DeepSeek directly — even though it might be the best model for their use case.

AiCredits acts as a bridge between international developers and DeepSeek's API. We handle the registration, payment, and infrastructure so you can focus on building.

Here's what you don't need:
- No Chinese phone number
- No Alipay or WeChat Pay
- No VPN or proxy
- No Chinese ID verification

And here's what you get:
- Instant delivery — pay and get your API key within seconds
- OpenAI-compatible — works with any OpenAI SDK, just swap the base URL
- Credit card or PayPal — standard international payment methods
- Singapore servers — low latency across Asia, the Middle East, and beyond
- English-first — website, docs, and support are all in English

Go to the pricing page and choose a package. Plans start at $3, or try the free 100K token trial with no payment needed:

1. Click Buy Now on any package
2. Enter your email address
3. Pay with any credit card, debit card, or PayPal
4. Your API key appears on-screen instantly

The checkout is handled by Creem, a PCI-compliant payment processor. We never store your card details.

Your API key works with any OpenAI SDK. Here's Python:

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    api_key="sk-your-aicredits-key",
    base_url="https://api.aicreditsapi.com/v1"
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="deepseek-chat",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
)
print(response.choices[0].message.content)

And here's the curl equivalent:

curl https://api.aicreditsapi.com/v1/chat/completions \n  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-your-aicredits-key" \n  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \n  -d '{"model": "deepseek-chat", "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]}'

The trade-off: AiCredits pricing includes a service fee for handling these barriers. For developers who can use DeepSeek directly, the official route will always be cheaper. But for the majority of international developers who cannot — AiCredits is the only practical option.

Based on our user data, AiCredits is most popular with developers from:

• India — largest user base. Indian credit cards work seamlessly.
• United Arab Emirates — growing demand for AI tools among startups.
• Saudi Arabia — increasing investment in AI infrastructure.
• Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines — fast-growing developer communities.
• Nigeria, Kenya — emerging AI development hubs.

If you're in any of these regions and struggling with DeepSeek access, you're not alone — and there's now a straightforward solution.

Q: Is AiCredits legal?
Yes. AiCredits purchases DeepSeek credits legitimately and resells API access. You are using DeepSeek's models, just through our infrastructure.

Q: Do my API calls go through AiCredits servers?
Your requests are proxied through our endpoint, but we do not log or store prompt content. DeepSeek's data policies apply to model inference.

Q: What if my payment fails or I lose my API key?
Use the Order Lookup page with your order ID to recover your API key anytime. If an order was paid but not delivered, we reissue automatically.

Q: Can I try before committing?
Yes. Get 100K tokens free with no payment required, or buy a plan starting at $3 for 4M tokens. Test the full payment, delivery, and API call flow risk-free.

Q: What models are available?
Currently DeepSeek v4-flash and v4-pro. We evaluate adding more models regularly.