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GoldBean API: Use Baidu AI Without a Chinese Phone Number

#javascript #api #ai #x402

53 endpoints. One API key. Zero onboarding pain. Pay per call from $0.005.

The Problem: Baidu Cloud Is Powerful, But Inaccessible

Baidu has some of the most mature AI services for Chinese-language tasks. Their OCR engine handles mixed Chinese-English documents better than most Western alternatives. Their NLP stack covers everything from text correction to keyword extraction. And the Qianfan LLM platform offers competitive models at aggressive pricing.

But here is the catch: signing up for Baidu Cloud as a non-Chinese developer is painful.

  • You need a Mainland China phone number for SMS verification
  • You must complete real-name authentication with a Chinese national ID
  • Payment requires Alipay, WeChat Pay, or a Chinese bank card
  • Documentation is primarily in Chinese
  • Support channels expect a domestic user context

For overseas developers, startups, and SaaS builders, this is a hard wall. You either abandon the tool or spend weeks routing through proxies, translation layers, and third-party resellers.

That is exactly why we built GoldBean API.

What Is GoldBean API?

GoldBean is a unified gateway to Baidu's AI ecosystem. We handle the account management, authentication, and billing with Baidu on our side. You get a single API key and immediate access to 53 production-ready endpoints.

What you get:

Category Endpoints Examples
OCR 10 General text, handwriting, web image, QR code, business license
Translation 3 Text, doc-level, domain-specific (medical/legal)
TTS & ASR 5 Mandarin TTS, speech recognition, speaker diarization
NLP 12 Sentiment analysis, NER, keyword extraction, text correction, similarity
LLM (Qianfan) 7 OpenAI-compatible chat, embeddings, reranker, image gen, DeepThink
Search & Knowledge 5 Web search, news, image search
Image Recognition 6 Object detection, plant/animal/dish/car identification, logo

Authentication is dead simple:

X-API-Key: gb_live_xxxxxxxx
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No OAuth dance. No token refresh. No regional account setup.

Quick Start: OCR in 30 Seconds

cURL 

curl -X POST https://api.goldbean-api.xyz/v1/ocr \
  -H "X-API-Key: gb_live_xxxxxxxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "image": "https://example.com/invoice-screenshot.jpg",
    "type": "general",
    "language": "CHN_ENG"
  }'
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Python (requests) 

import requests

API_KEY = "gb_live_xxxxxxxx"
BASE_URL = "https://api.goldbean-api.xyz/v1"

# 1. OCR on a remote image
resp = requests.post(
    f"{BASE_URL}/ocr",
    headers={"X-API-Key": API_KEY, "Content-Type": "application/json"},
    json={
        "image": "https://example.com/invoice-screenshot.jpg",
        "type": "general",
        "language": "CHN_ENG"
    }
)
data = resp.json()
print(data["text"])          # Extracted text
print(data["confidence"])    # 0.97
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Response:

{
  "text": "Invoice #: INV-2024-001\nDate: 2024-07-25\nTotal: ¥1,250.00",
  "confidence": 0.972,
  "words": [
    {"word": "Invoice", "location": {"top": 12, "left": 34, "width": 89, "height": 21}},
    ...
  ]
}
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Quick Start: Translation

cURL 

curl -X POST https://api.goldbean-api.xyz/v1/translate \
  -H "X-API-Key: gb_live_xxxxxxxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "text": "Machine learning models require large datasets for training.",
    "source": "en",
    "target": "zh"
  }'
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Python (requests) 

import requests

API_KEY = "gb_live_xxxxxxxx"
BASE_URL = "https://api.goldbean-api.xyz/v1"

resp = requests.post(
    f"{BASE_URL}/translate",
    headers={"X-API-Key": API_KEY, "Content-Type": "application/json"},
    json={
        "text": "Machine learning models require large datasets for training.",
        "source": "en",
        "target": "zh"
    }
)
print(resp.json()["translation"])  # "机器学习模型需要大量数据集进行训练。"
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Pricing: Transparent and Predictable

We charge per API call. No monthly minimums. No prepaid wallet lock-in.

Tier Price per Call Example Endpoints
Basic $0.005 General OCR, text translation, sentiment analysis
Standard $0.005 Handwriting OCR, doc-level translation, TTS
Premium $0.005–$0.08 LLM chat (per 1K tokens), image generation, DeepThink

Subscription plans (optional, for high-volume users):

Plan Monthly Cost Includes
Starter $5 100 calls + priority support
Monthly $9.90 1,000 calls + premium endpoints access
Quarterly $25 3,000 calls + LLM quota
Yearly $89 15,000 calls + full LLM access

Free tier: 50 calls/day/IP for testing. No credit card required.

How does this compare to Baidu Cloud direct?

Factor Baidu Cloud Direct GoldBean API
Signup Chinese phone + real-name ID Email only
Payment Alipay / WeChat / Chinese bank PayPal, card, Alipay, USDC (x402)
Pricing Prepaid wallet, complex tiers Per-call, no minimum
Docs Chinese-first English-first
Support Domestic-focused English email/Discord
LLM access Separate Qianfan signup Built-in, OpenAI-compatible

For low-to-mid volume usage, our pricing is competitive. For high volume, Baidu direct can be cheaper — if you can get an account. GoldBean is the bridge for everyone else.

LLM Access: OpenAI-Compatible Qianfan Models

GoldBean exposes Baidu's Qianfan LLM platform through an OpenAI-compatible interface. Change your base_url and keep your existing client code.

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    api_key="gb_live_xxxxxxxx",
    base_url="https://api.goldbean-api.xyz/v1"
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="baidu-deepseek-ocr",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Summarize this invoice text: ..."}]
)
print(response.choices[0].message.content)
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Available models include general chat, vision-language, embeddings, reranker, and reasoning (DeepThink) variants.

Who Is This For?

Cross-border e-commerce sellers

  • OCR Chinese product labels, invoices, and customs documents
  • Translate listings between Chinese and English/Spanish/Arabic
  • Extract keywords from competitor listings for SEO

Document processing pipelines

  • Batch-process scanned Chinese contracts and forms
  • Convert mixed-language PDFs to structured text
  • Build RAG systems over Chinese knowledge bases

Chinese NLP research & products

  • Sentiment analysis on Weibo/Xiaohongshu content
  • Named entity recognition for Chinese financial news
  • Text similarity for deduplication and matching

AI application builders

  • Add Chinese-language capabilities without managing Baidu accounts
  • Integrate TTS for Mandarin voice assistants
  • Use Qianfan LLMs as a cost-effective alternative for Chinese contexts

Conclusion

Baidu's AI stack is too good to be locked behind a domestic-only signup flow. GoldBean API removes that barrier.

If you are building something that needs Chinese-language OCR, translation, NLP, or LLM inference, you can be up and running in under five minutes.

Get started:

  1. Grab a free API key at goldbean-api.xyz
  2. Run the OCR or translation example above
  3. Upgrade to a paid plan when you are ready

Questions or feedback?

GoldBean API is an independent gateway and is not affiliated with Baidu. Baidu is a trademark of Baidu, Inc.

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