AITUNNEL alternative — Claude, GPT and Gemini at 1.7–2× lower prices
RuAPI is an LLM gateway priced in US dollars: input and output for Claude, GPT and Gemini cost about half of what AITUNNEL (aitunnel.ru) charges. Pay in USDT / USDC from $5 — no foreign card needed. One OpenAI-compatible key, a native Anthropic API for Claude Code, no VPN.
$ curl https://www.ruapi.ai/v1/chat/completions \
-H "Authorization: Bearer sk-..." \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"model": "claude-sonnet-5-5",
"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]
}'Only BASE_URL and KEY — zero business code changes.
Why developers switch to RuAPI
Claude, GPT and Gemini at about half the price.
Claude Sonnet 5.5: $2.40 per 1M input tokens on RuAPI vs 400 ₽ (≈ $4.93) on AITUNNEL. GPT-5.4: $3.00 vs 500 ₽ (≈ $6.16). Even with AITUNNEL's +20% bonus for crypto top-ups, it comes out about 1.7× more expensive. At the Bank of Russia rate of 23 Oct 2026.
Crypto from $5, and refundable.
On AITUNNEL, crypto top-ups start at 1,500 ₽ (≈ $18.49) and are non-refundable. RuAPI takes USDT / USDC from $5, and unused balance can be refunded within 7 days, in the same coin.
No USDT yet? Buy it with rubles.
You can buy USDT with rubles via SBP — in the official Crypto Bot in Telegram or on Bybit P2P; the first time takes 15–30 minutes. Step-by-step guide: docs.ruapi.ai/en/buy-usdt. Visa / Mastercard cards issued by foreign banks are accepted too.
Key parameters
base_url
OpenAI-compatible: https://www.ruapi.ai/v1
Native Anthropic: https://www.ruapi.ai (no /v1)
Providers
OpenAI — GPT
Anthropic — Claude
Google — Gemini
DeepSeek, Qwen, GLM, Kimi, MiniMax and more
Payment
USDT / USDC — TRC20 / BEP20 / Polygon
Visa / Mastercard issued by foreign banks
$5 minimum
RuAPI vs AITUNNEL: the difference
| RuAPI | AITUNNEL | |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Sonnet 5.5, per 1M tokens (input / output) | $2.40 / $12.00 | 400 ₽ / 2,000 ₽ (≈ $4.93 / $24.65) |
| Claude Opus 5.5, per 1M tokens | $4.80 / $24.00 | 800 ₽ / 4,000 ₽ (≈ $9.86 / $49.31) |
| GPT-5.4, per 1M tokens (prompts up to 272K) | $3.00 / $18.00 | 500 ₽ / 3,000 ₽ (≈ $6.16 / $36.98) |
| Gemini 3.1 Pro, per 1M tokens (prompts up to 200K) | $2.40 / $14.40 | 400 ₽ / 2,400 ₽ (≈ $4.93 / $29.58) |
| Payment | USDT / USDC or a Visa / Mastercard issued by a foreign bank | In rubles: card, SBP, company invoice; crypto via NOWPayments |
| Minimum crypto top-up | $5 | 1,500 ₽ (≈ $18.49) |
| Refund of unused balance | Within 7 days, USDT / USDC included | Within 24 hours (card, SBP, invoice); crypto payments non-refundable |
| Price currency | US dollars | Rubles |
| Native Anthropic API (Claude Code) | Yes | Yes |
| From Russia without a VPN | Yes | Yes |
AITUNNEL prices are from its model pages at aitunnel.ru/models; payment and refund terms from aitunnel.ru/docs/payments (checked 23 Oct 2026). Converted at the Bank of Russia rate of 81.1255 ₽/$ on 23 Oct 2026; AITUNNEL's +20% crypto top-up bonus is not included. RuAPI prices are the standard rate. Prices may change.