This is the most pressing question for Chinese developers when using AI programming tools. This article will compare the pros and cons of official subscriptions, reselling services, third-party reverse engineering, and API solutions to help you find the most suitable purchasing channel.
Core Value: After reading this article, you'll understand the real costs, stability, and risks of the 4 mainstream purchasing options for Claude Code, and master the selection strategy that suits you best.
Claude Code Subscription Options: Core Points
| Option Type | Monthly Cost | Stability | Main Risks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Official Subscription | $20-200 | Very High | Account ban risk for Chinese users |
| Reselling Service | ¥150-300 | Medium | Reseller exit scam/price hikes |
| Third-party Reverse | ¥99-199 | Low | Instant ban/service interruption |
| API Pay-as-you-go | Based on usage | Very High | Higher cost for heavy users |
Claude Code Official Subscription Plans Explained
According to Anthropic's official 2026 pricing, Claude Code offers three subscription tiers:
Pro Plan ($20/month):
- $20 monthly or $200 annually (save $40)
- 5x free tier usage, supports Claude Sonnet 4.5
- Suitable for light development, learning, and small projects
- May hit usage limits during extended coding sessions
Max Basic ($100/month):
- 5x Pro plan usage
- Full access to Claude Opus 4.5 flagship model
- Supports full-time professional development work
Max Premium ($200/month):
- 20x Pro plan usage
- Ideal for large projects and complex tasks
- Virtually unlimited coding sessions
🎯 Cost Reference: According to Anthropic statistics, Claude Code averages $6 per developer per day, with 90% of users' daily cost below $12, translating to approximately $100-200 monthly.
Core Pain Point for Chinese Users: While official subscriptions offer the best value, mainland Chinese users face severe account ban risks when purchasing directly. Anthropic has strict fraud detection mechanisms for unusual payment patterns and IP addresses, leading to numerous Chinese user account bans and loss of paid fees.
Comparison Analysis of Claude Code Purchase Channels
Option 1: Official Direct Purchase (High Risk, High Return)
Purchase Process:
- Visit claude.com to register an account
- Prepare an international credit card or virtual card
- Configure a stable international network proxy
- Choose Pro or Max subscription plan
Advantages:
- ✅ Best pricing (Pro starts at $20/month)
- ✅ Most stable service with official technical support
- ✅ Earliest access to feature updates
- ✅ Data security guaranteed
Disadvantages:
- ❌ Extremely high account ban rate for Chinese users (Main risk)
- ❌ Requires stable international payment channels
- ❌ Requires reliable network proxy environment
- ❌ No refunds after account ban
Suitable For: Users with overseas credit cards, stable international network access, and technical capabilities.
Option 2: Reseller Services (Medium Risk, Medium Cost)
Typical Service Providers: cldcode.com and other professional reseller platforms
Service Model:
- Resellers register overseas accounts in bulk
- Users pay in RMB to purchase account usage rights
- Monthly fees typically range from ¥150-300
- Some offer shared or dedicated accounts
Advantages:
- ✅ Convenient payment, accepts RMB
- ✅ No need for international payment channels
- ✅ Resellers handle network environment configuration
- ✅ Chinese customer support available
Disadvantages:
- ❌ 20%-50% more expensive than official pricing
- ❌ Resellers may shut down or stop services
- ❌ Users don't own the account
- ❌ Prices and service terms may change anytime
- ❌ Accounts still risk being banned by official
Real Case: In the second half of 2025, multiple Claude reseller services shut down due to Anthropic's strengthened risk control, causing significant losses for prepaid users.
Suitable For: Users without international payment channels and lower price sensitivity.
Option 3: Third-Party Reverse Engineering Services (High Risk, Low Cost)
Service Principle:
- Exploits Claude Max's "ban refund" loophole
- Provides API access through reverse engineering
- Monthly fees typically range from ¥99-199
Advantages:
- ✅ Cheapest pricing
- ✅ Convenient payment
Disadvantages:
- ❌ Extremely high service interruption risk
- ❌ May be banned by Anthropic at any time
- ❌ Very high provider shutdown rate
- ❌ No service guarantees
- ❌ May violate Anthropic's terms of service
- ❌ Data security cannot be guaranteed
Industry Status: According to statistics, over 60% of third-party Claude reverse engineering services that emerged in 2025 shut down or disappeared within 3 months of operation.
Risk Warning: Such services not only provide poor user experience but may also lead to project code leaks and even legal risks.
Suitable For: Not recommended for any users—risks far outweigh benefits.
Option 4: API Pay-As-You-Go (Low Risk, Flexible Cost)
Service Providers: APIYI (apiyi.com) and other professional API service platforms
Service Model:
- Provides official Claude API and AWS Bedrock Claude API
- Billing based on actual usage, no monthly fees
- Supports all Claude models (Sonnet 4.5, Opus 4.5, Haiku 4.5)
Advantages:
- ✅ Fully compliant and legal, officially authorized API
- ✅ Extremely high stability, no account ban risk
- ✅ Pay-as-you-go, lower cost for light users
- ✅ Supports domestic payment methods
- ✅ Unified API interface for easy integration
- ✅ Quick switching between multiple AI models
- ✅ Comprehensive technical support and documentation
Disadvantages:
- ❌ Heavy users' monthly cost may exceed official subscription
- ❌ Requires some API integration capabilities
- ❌ Pay-as-you-go requires cost control awareness
Cost Comparison:
- Light users (100K-200K tokens/month): ¥50-100
- Medium users (500K-1M tokens/month): ¥200-400
- Heavy users (2M+ tokens/month): ¥600-1000+
Typical Use Cases:
- Code review and optimization
- Technical documentation generation
- Problem debugging and solutions
- Small project development assistance
💡 Selection Recommendation: The API option is most suitable for light to medium users. If you code less than 4 hours per day or have smaller projects, API pay-as-you-go total cost is usually lower than official subscription while avoiding account ban and reseller risks.
Claude Official API vs AWS Bedrock Comparison
| Comparison | Claude Official API | AWS Bedrock Claude |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Standard pricing | Batch mode saves 50% |
| Availability | Single region | Global/regional endpoints available |
| Features | Full features | Smart routing reduces cost by 30% |
| Use Cases | General development | High concurrency/large-scale applications |
| Integration Difficulty | Simple | Requires AWS account configuration |
🎯 Technical Recommendation: In actual development, we recommend testing API calls through the APIYI apiyi.com platform. This platform provides both Claude official API and AWS Bedrock API, supporting one-click switching for easy comparison to choose the solution that best fits your project needs.
Purchase Recommendations for Different User Types
Light Users (<2 hours of coding per day)
Recommended Solution: Pay-as-you-go API
Reasons:
- Monthly cost approximately ¥50-150, lower than any subscription plan
- No need to worry about usage limits
- Pay only when you use, no waste
Recommended Service: APIyi apiyi.com Official Relay API
Moderate Users (2-4 hours of coding per day)
Recommended Solution: Pay-as-you-go API or Reseller Service
Selection Strategy:
- If you have stable network access and technical capability → API solution
- If you prefer simple, hassle-free usage → Legitimate reseller service
Cost Expectations:
- API solution: ¥200-400/month
- Reseller service: ¥200-300/month
Heavy Users (>4 hours of coding per day)
Recommended Solution: Official Subscription (if possible) or Reseller Service
Reasons:
- Official Max plan ($100-200/month) offers best value for money
- Unlimited usage, available 24/7
- API solution has higher costs for heavy users
Risk Mitigation:
- Official subscription requires solving network and payment issues
- Choose reputable reseller services
- Regularly backup important data
Alternative Solution: If official subscription is restricted, consider APIyi apiyi.com's enterprise-level API plan, which supports bulk recharge discounts and dedicated technical support.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: Why are Chinese users’ official subscriptions prone to being banned?
Anthropic has strict risk control mechanisms for payment behavior and IP addresses. Chinese mainland users' common practices like using virtual cards and proxy IPs trigger risk control algorithms, leading to account bans. Anthropic does not refund already-paid fees, resulting in significant losses.
Q2: What’s the difference between reseller services and third-party reverse-engineered services?
Reseller Services: Legitimately purchase official accounts and resell them. While there's a risk of operators disappearing, they are relatively compliant.
Third-party Reverse-engineered: Use technical loopholes to provide unofficial services, violating Anthropic's terms of service. They can be banned at any time, and service providers have extremely high rates of disappearing.
Q3: How can I control costs with pay-as-you-go API?
Cost Control Recommendations:
- Choose the appropriate model (Haiku 4.5 has lowest cost, Opus 4.5 has highest cost)
- Use smart prompts to reduce unnecessary token consumption
- Batch process tasks to avoid frequent calls
- Set monthly budget reminders
- Monitor costs in real-time using APIyi apiyi.com platform's usage statistics feature
The platform provides detailed usage analysis and cost prediction tools to help you optimize your usage strategy.
Q4: How can I quickly get started with Claude API?
Recommended quick start with APIyi apiyi.com:
- Visit apiyi.com and register an account
- Recharge to get API Key (supports Alipay/WeChat Pay)
- Select Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Opus 4.5 model
- Call using standard OpenAI SDK format
The platform provides comprehensive documentation and code examples, allowing integration to be completed in 5 minutes.
Purchase Decision Flowchart
Start → Do you have stable international network and payment channels?
├─ Yes → Daily coding hours?
│ ├─ >4 hours → Official Max Subscription ($100-200/month)
│ ├─ 2-4 hours → Official Pro Subscription ($20/month)
│ └─ <2 hours → Pay-as-you-go API (apiyi.com)
│
└─ No → Daily coding hours?
├─ >4 hours → Legitimate reseller service (¥200-300/month)
├─ 2-4 hours → Pay-as-you-go API (apiyi.com)
└─ <2 hours → Pay-as-you-go API (apiyi.com)
Summary
Key points for purchasing Claude Code monthly subscriptions:
- Official subscription is most cost-effective: Starting from Pro at $20/month, but Chinese users face account suspension risks
- Reseller services carry moderate risk: Prices are 20%-50% higher than official rates, requires choosing reputable merchants
- Third-party reverse engineering carries high risk: Not recommended, with a failure rate exceeding 60%
- API solution is most stable: Suitable for light to moderate users, cost-controllable and fully compliant
Final Recommendation: For most Chinese users, we recommend prioritizing APIYi apiyi.com's Claude API service. This solution balances stability, compliance, and cost-effectiveness, supporting both official API and AWS Bedrock dual channels, providing reliable technical support and flexible payment models.
Visit apiyi.com to start your AI programming journey – the platform offers free credits for new users and comprehensive documentation.
Author: Technical Team
Technical Discussion: Welcome to discuss in the comments section. For more Claude usage tips, visit APIYi apiyi.com technical community
References:
- Claude Pricing: claude.com/pricing
- AWS Bedrock Pricing: aws.amazon.com/bedrock/pricing
- Northflank Blog: northflank.com/blog/claude-rate-limits-claude-code-pricing-cost
