Cheapest Chinese LLM APIs in 2026

Published 2026-07-20 · NovAI Team

Here are the cheapest capable Chinese LLM APIs in 2026, ranked by input price. All prices are the upstream rate — NovAI adds 0% platform markup.

Cheapest models ranked (per 1M tokens)

#	Model	Input	Output	Provider
1	doubao-seed-2.0-lite	$0.075	$0.45	ByteDance
2	deepseek-v4-flash	$0.08	$0.17	DeepSeek
3	glm-5.3-flash (NEW)	$0.08	$0.28	Zhipu AI
4	hy3-preview	$0.127	$0.423	Tencent
5	hy3	$0.18	$0.72	Tencent
6	minimax-m2.5	$0.282	$1.128	MiniMax
7	doubao-seed-2.0-code	$0.448	$2.24	ByteDance

And glm-4.6v-flash is completely free — $0 input and output.

How to pick

Absolute cheapest: Doubao-Seed-2.0-Lite ($0.075 input); DeepSeek V4 Flash ($0.08/$0.17) is the best all-round value.
Free testing: GLM-4.6V Flash, no cost, no card.
Cheap + code-tuned: Doubao-Seed-2.0-Code ($0.448).

Quickstart

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    api_key="nvai-your-key",
    base_url="https://aiapi-pro.com/v1"
)

resp = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="deepseek-v4-flash",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
)
print(resp.choices[0].message.content)

All the cheapest Chinese models on one endpoint — 0% markup, $2 free credit.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the cheapest Chinese LLM API in 2026?

Doubao-Seed-2.0-Lite ($0.075 input) and DeepSeek V4 Flash ($0.08 input / $0.17 output) are the cheapest capable options, followed by the new GLM-5.3-Flash ($0.08 / $0.28, 1M context) and Hunyuan hy3-preview ($0.127). GLM-4.6V Flash is completely free. (Qwen3.5 Flash has been retired.)

Is there a completely free Chinese LLM API?

Yes. GLM-4.6V Flash is free on NovAI with no token limit and no credit card. It's ideal for prototyping before moving to a paid model.

Do these prices include a platform fee?

No. NovAI charges 0% platform markup — the prices shown are the upstream provider rates. New accounts get $2 free credit that never expires.