How to Use DeepSeek Models Without a Chinese Phone Number — A Guide for Non-Chinese Developers

Alex Chen — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 14:59:54 +0000

You've heard DeepSeek is cheap and performs well.

You go to platform.deepseek.com to sign up.

Step one: enter your Chinese phone number. You don't have one.

Step two: top up with Alipay or WeChat. You can't use those.

You close the tab.

Sound familiar?

There's a simpler way

Neutrino API is a lightweight gateway. It gives you an OpenAI-compatible endpoint that's backed by DeepSeek's models. You pay $5 by credit card, receive an API key by email, and start coding — no Chinese phone number, no Alipay.

Here's how easy it is.

Install the OpenAI Python library if you haven't already:

pip install openai

Then write this:

from openai import OpenAI

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

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="deepseek-chat",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Explain quantum computing in simple terms."}]
)

print(response.choices[0].message.content)

That's it. You changed base_url, api_key, and model name. Everything else — the chat.completions.create() call, the response object, the message.content — works exactly the same as with OpenAI's SDK.

Streaming works too

stream = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="deepseek-chat",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Write a haiku about programming."}],
    stream=True
)

for chunk in stream:
    if chunk.choices[0].delta.content:
        print(chunk.choices[0].delta.content, end="")

Node.js? Same deal

npm install openai

import OpenAI from 'openai';

const client = new OpenAI({
  baseURL: 'https://api.neutrinoitapi.com/v1',
  apiKey: 'your-api-key',
});

const response = await client.chat.completions.create({
  model: 'deepseek-chat',
  messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Hello from Node.js!' }],
});

console.log(response.choices[0].message.content);

Is it for you?

If you're an indie developer or a small team who:

wants to cut API costs
has been curious about Chinese models like DeepSeek
doesn't want to deal with Chinese platform registration

→ this might be worth a try.

If you're building a mission-critical enterprise app with strict data-residency requirements, this isn't the right fit right now.

What happens to your data?

Your prompts and responses pass through the gateway and are forwarded to DeepSeek's official API for processing. The gateway itself does not store, log, or inspect your data. I collect only your email for API key delivery.

One last thing

I built this as a side project to test a hypothesis: that enough developers would pay a small amount to skip platform friction. It's not a VC-backed startup — it's just me, validating an idea.

If you try it and it works for you, I'd love to hear about it. If you try it and something doesn't make sense, tell me that too — it helps me figure out what to fix.

Try Neutrino API →