GPTunneL alternative — Claude 2–3× cheaper
RuAPI is an LLM gateway priced in US dollars: Claude Sonnet 5.5 costs about half of what it does on GPTunneL, and Claude Opus 5.5 about a third. Cache reads cost less than regular input for every user and in every API format. Pay in USDT / USDC from $5 — no foreign card needed. 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 choose RuAPI
Claude at a half to a third of the price.
Claude Sonnet 5.5: $2.40 / $12.00 per 1M input / output tokens on RuAPI vs 400 ₽ / 2,000 ₽ (≈ $4.93 / $24.65) on GPTunneL. Claude Opus 5.5: $4.80 / $24.00 vs 1,200 ₽ / 6,000 ₽ (≈ $14.79 / $73.96). Even with GPTunneL’s top 25% discount (from 60,000 ₽ spent in 30 days), Sonnet is about 1.5× and Opus about 2.3× our price. At the Bank of Russia rate of 23 Oct 2026.
Cache discounts in every API format.
GPTunneL’s docs say that on a personal account, requests through the OpenAI-compatible /v1/chat/completions are billed at the regular input price for the whole prompt, and the cache savings stay with GPTunneL. On RuAPI, cache reads are billed at the cache price for every user, in both OpenAI and Anthropic format: $0.12 per 1M tokens instead of $2.40 for Claude Sonnet 5.5.
Step-by-step guides for your tools.
GPTunneL’s docs have no section with setup guides for Cline, Cursor or other coding tools (docs.gptunnel.ru, 23 Oct 2026). RuAPI has step-by-step guides for Claude Code, Cline, Codex, Kilo Code, Roo Code, Continue, OpenCode and Cherry Studio at docs.ruapi.ai/en.
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 — TRC20 / BEP20 / TON / Polygon
USDC — TRC20 / BEP20 / Polygon
Visa / Mastercard issued outside Russia
$5 minimum
RuAPI vs GPTunneL
| RuAPI | GPTunneL | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | 1,200 ₽ / 6,000 ₽ (≈ $14.79 / $73.96) |
| Cache on a personal account, OpenAI-compatible API | Cache reads at the cache price | Whole prompt at the regular input price |
| Cache via the Anthropic API (Claude Code) | Yes | Yes |
| Guides for Claude Code, Cline, Codex and more | Step by step | No dedicated section |
| Payment | USDT / USDC or a card issued outside Russia (Visa / Mastercard) | Rubles: SBP, cards, invoices for companies |
| Price currency | US dollars | Rubles |
| Native Anthropic API (Claude Code) | Yes | Yes |
| From Russia without a VPN | Yes | Yes |
GPTunneL prices from gptunnel.ru/ru/prices/text/claude, volume discounts from gptunnel.ru/ru/prices, cache billing from docs.gptunnel.ru/api/chat-completions and docs.gptunnel.ru/api/anthropic-messages, payment methods from gptunnel.ru/ru/prices (checked 23 Oct 2026). Converted at the Bank of Russia rate of 81.1255 ₽/$ on 23 Oct 2026; RuAPI prices are the standard rate. Prices may change.