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How I check live $/request for image APIs

#ai #api #openai #productivity

When I compare image-generation API relays, the first thing I look for is a live unit price I can see before I top up — not a vague “contact sales” page.

What I check

  1. Per-request / per-image pricing on the pricing page

    If I can’t see $ or ¥ for the model I care about, I bounce.

  2. Whether the popular image models are listed with a real number

    Example: some OpenAI-compatible relays show gpt-image-class models around ¥0.01 per call (verify on their pricing table — prices move).

  3. Client compatibility

    I prefer relays that work with Cherry Studio (and other OpenAI-compatible clients) so I don’t rewrite my workflow.

  4. Low friction to try for real

    I don’t trust “free forever” promo codes. A ¥1 minimum top-up after register is enough to run a real smoke test.

One place that passed this checklist for me

I recently tried KuaiAI — an API relay focused on stable, low-cost image (and language) models. Pricing is listed on the site; Cherry Studio style OpenAI-compatible setup works; minimum recharge is ¥1. There’s no free-credit white-glove trial — you pay a tiny amount and verify yourself.

I’m not affiliated beyond being a user shopping for cheaper image API calls. If you have a better public pricing page for image APIs, drop it in the comments.

Quick checklist you can reuse

  • [ ] Unit price visible without login wall
  • [ ] Image model line items (not only chat LLMs)
  • [ ] Works in Cherry Studio / OpenAI-compatible base URL + key
  • [ ] Tiny paid trial (¥1) instead of “DM for quota”

Link again: https://kuaiai.69069.xyz

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