From the Uplink Switch LLC family: this post first appeared on RelaySwitch (relayswitch.io). Prices quoted are the live catalog figures at publication; the original page re-reads them at render.
There is no free Claude API tier anywhere real. What Anthropic's subscriber credits are, what the proxies on GitHub do, and what every Claude model costs per million tokens here, from a $10 top-up by card or crypto.
There is no free Claude API. Anthropic's pricing page lists a per-token price for every model and no free tier; the threads that rank for the phrase are about subscriber credits, proxies and trial coupons. This post says what each of those is, then gives the number that matters: what every Claude model costs per million tokens on this key today, read from the live catalog, from a $10 top-up by card or crypto.
The floor, today
Claude Haiku 5.5 is $0.06 in and $0.15 out per million tokens: about $0.0002 for a chat turn of 2,000 tokens in and 500 out, or roughly 51,282 turns on a $10 top-up.
What "free Claude API" turns out to be
- Anthropic's subscriber API credits. A monthly allowance attached to some paid consumer plans, spent through a Console organisation you link. It is a perk of a subscription, not a free tier, and it is capped.
- Proxies on GitHub. Repositories that pool donated keys, or that put a Claude-shaped endpoint in front of an open-weight model. The first puts your prompts through someone else's account; the second is not Claude.
- Trial credits. A few dollars on a new account at some gateways, gone in a day of real use. Useful for a test, not a plan.
- Cheap API landings. Pages that say "free Claude" and mean pay-as-you-go from zero. That is what this site is, without the word free in front of it.
Every Claude model on the key, per million tokens
| Model | Input | Cached | Output | Developer list in / out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 5.5 | $0.06 (40% under) | $0.01 | $0.15 (70% under) | $0.10 / $0.50 |
| Claude Sonnet 4 5 20250929 | $0.50 | $0.05 | $2.4706 | — |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | $0.60 (40% under) | $0.06 | $3.00 (40% under) | $1.00 / $5.00 |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | $0.60 (40% under) | $0.06 | $3.00 (40% under) | $1.00 / $5.00 |
| Claude Sonnet 5 | $1.20 (40% under) | $0.12 | $3.00 (70% under) | $2.00 / $10.00 |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | $1.20 (40% under) | $0.075 | $3.00 (70% under) | $2.00 / $10.00 |
| Claude Fable 5 1 | $0.9341 | $0.0212 | $4.6706 | — |
| Claude Opus 4.6 | $1.80 (64% under) | $0.16 | $7.50 (70% under) | $5.00 / $25.00 |
| Claude Opus 4.7 | $1.80 (64% under) | $0.16 | $7.50 (70% under) | $5.00 / $25.00 |
| Claude Opus 5 | $1.80 (64% under) | $0.16 | $7.50 (70% under) | $5.00 / $25.00 |
| Claude Opus 5.5 | $2.716 (32% under) | $0.1455 | $9.70 (51% under) | $4.00 / $20.00 |
| Claude Fable 5 | $3.00 (70% under) | $0.30 | $15.00 (70% under) | $10.00 / $50.00 |
| Claude Fable 5.1 | $6.00 (40% under) | $0.15 | $30.00 (40% under) | $10.00 / $50.00 |
| Claude Opus 4 5 20251101 | $14.1176 | $1.4118 | $70.5882 | — |
Cheapest output first; USD per million tokens, read at render; Anthropic's list where the catalog has it. Thinking variants are on the Claude price hub.
What a $10 top-up buys
| Model | Per chat turn | Turns per $10 |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 5.5 | $0.0002 | 51,282 |
| Claude Sonnet 4 5 20250929 | $0.0022 | 4,473 |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | $0.0027 | 3,703 |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | $0.0027 | 3,703 |
| Claude Sonnet 5 | $0.0039 | 2,564 |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | $0.0039 | 2,564 |
A turn is 2,000 tokens in and 500 out at today's price; rounded down.
The cheapest paid route, step by step
- An email address opens the account. No identity documents, no phone number, no Anthropic account.
- A top-up from $10 by card, Apple Pay, PayPal, or USDT, USDC, BTC, ETH, SOL. Nothing is added on top.
- A key, with a monthly spend limit if you want one. The Claude ids answer both the Anthropic Messages format and the OpenAI chat format.
Base URL https://api.relayswitch.io/v1, your key (it starts with sk-relay-), the model id. Nothing else changes.
python
1from openai import OpenAI
2
3client = OpenAI(base_url="https://api.relayswitch.io/v1", api_key="sk-relay-...")
4reply = client.chat.completions.create(
5 model="claude-haiku-5-5",
6 messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Say hello in five words."}],
7)
8print(reply.choices[0].message.content)
bash
1curl https://api.relayswitch.io/v1/chat/completions \
2 -H "Authorization: Bearer $RELAYSWITCH_KEY" \
3 -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
4 -d '{"model": "claude-haiku-5-5", "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]}'
For Claude Code and the Anthropic SDK, set ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL to the base URL and ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN to the key; the Claude Code guide has the exact lines.
NSFW, roleplay and what Claude will not do
The Claude ids follow Anthropic's usage policy here exactly as they do at Anthropic. If the search that brought you here was about Janitor AI, SillyTavern or an unfiltered assistant, the uncensored builds on this key are the models made for that, on the same balance and the same base URL, and the roleplay client runs them in the browser.
Questions
Can I get the Claude API for free?
Not as a free tier. Anthropic has none: its API is prepaid per token, and the monthly API credit it gives some subscription plans is a perk of paying for the plan, spent through a Console organisation. The GitHub proxies that say "free Claude API" pool other people's keys or route to a different model. Here the floor is a $10 top-up, and Claude Haiku 5.5 costs about $0.0002 a chat turn at today's price.
Does the Claude API allow NSFW?
No. The Claude ids answer as Anthropic serves them, under Anthropic's usage policy, here as anywhere; a request that policy refuses comes back refused. For unfiltered chat and roleplay the uncensored builds on the same key are the models made for it, priced per token with the same balance.
Is there a free API for Claude Code on GitHub?
The repositories that rank for that are proxies: they pool keys, or point Claude Code at an open-weight model under a Claude-shaped endpoint. Claude Code itself runs on this key with two environment variables (ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://api.relayswitch.io/v1, your key as ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN) and bills per token from the balance; the Claude Code guide has the exact lines.
Can I get any AI API for free?
Some providers run free tiers on small open-weight models with daily caps, and most hand new accounts a trial credit for a few days. For the Claude models specifically, no. What exists is a metered price and the choice of who bills you for it.
What is the cheapest paid way to call Claude?
On this key Claude Sonnet 5.5 is $1.20 in and $3.00 out per million tokens today, against Anthropic's list of $2.00 and $10.00; Claude Haiku 5.5 is cheaper still at $0.06 / $0.15. Prepaid from $10, by card or in USDT, USDC, BTC, ETH, SOL, no identity check, no subscription.
Originally published at https://relayswitch.io/blog/free-claude-api.
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