How do I get free Claude API credits?

Sign up at cheapapi.site and verify your email. A $5 credit balance is added automatically. No card required.

What can I do with $5 in API credits?

On a Pro pack rate $5 buys roughly 1,200 to 1,500 chat turns on Claude Sonnet 5.5 at 4,000 tokens in / 1,500 tokens out.

Does the free credit expire?

Free credit does not expire while your account is active. It is consumed before any paid credit.

$5 free credit, no card needed

Sign up, verify your email, and $5 lands in your account. Use it to test Claude, GPT-6, DeepSeek V4, Gemini or any of the 99 live models before you top up.

Step 1

Create an account

Enter your email and a password. No card details, no phone number required at signup.

Step 2

Verify your email

Click the link in the confirmation email. The $5 credit is added to your balance automatically once verified.

Step 3

Generate a key and test

Create an API key in the dashboard. Point your tool at cheapapi.site and start calling models.

What the $5 covers

✓Live API calls to all 99 models

✓Claude Code, Cursor, Cline, SDK tests

✓Streaming responses

✓Does not expire while account is active

✗Not a provider-issued credit (Anthropic, OpenAI)

✗Cannot be used on provider consoles or playgrounds

Claim your $5 now

Free credit is consumed first. Paid credit is never touched until the free balance runs out.

Create account Setup guide

Common questions

How much can I do with $5?

On the Pro pack rate (21 cents per credit) $5 buys roughly 23 credits. At 4,000 tokens input and 1,500 tokens output per call on Claude Sonnet 5.5, that covers around 1,200 to 1,500 chat turns. Premium and Max packs go further because the per-credit rate drops to 15 cents.

Use the cost estimator to see exact numbers for your model and usage.

Is this the same Claude model as from Anthropic directly?

Yes. The same model serves your request. cheapapi is a licensed reseller that holds upstream capacity. Your prompt goes to the same model and returns the same output you would get from the official API.

Does the credit expire?

Free credit does not expire as long as your account is active. It is consumed before any paid balance.

Do I need a card to get the free credit?

No card is needed to claim the $5 credit. You only need a card when you decide to top up with a credit pack.

Can I use the free credit with Claude Code?

Yes. Set ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://cheapapi.site and ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN=sk-tm-YOUR-KEY then run claude. Every call deducts from your balance, free credit first. See the config generator for all tools.