What base URL does LobeChat need for NovAI?

https://aiapi-pro.com/v1 - set it as the OpenAI provider base URL (OPENAI_PROXY_URL) together with your NovAI key; the model list is fetched from /v1/models.

Are there free models I can use in LobeChat?

Yes: GLM-4.7-Flash, GLM-4.6V-Flash, GLM-4.1V-Thinking-Flash, CogView3-Flash, CogVideoX-Flash are free and unlimited on NovAI (no token cap, no card). New accounts also get $2 credit for paid models.

Does NovAI add a markup on model prices?

No. Prices are the raw provider list rate with 0% platform fee (vs OpenRouter ~5.5%). Live per-model prices: /china-ai-leaderboard.json.

LobeChat + Chinese AI Models (2026)

Updated 2026-10-10 · verified against the live model list

LobeChat is a polished open-source chat framework with plugins, vision, TTS and a beautiful UI. Because it accepts any OpenAI-compatible provider, you can plug NovAI into LobeChat and chat with 121 Chinese frontier models — DeepSeek, Qwen, GLM, Kimi, Seedance, MiniMax, Hunyuan — with five of them free and unlimited.

Connect NovAI to LobeChat

Open LobeChat Settings → Language Model.
Enable OpenAI and set the API Base URL / proxy to https://aiapi-pro.com/v1.
Enter your NovAI API Key.
Save. The full Chinese model list appears in the model picker.

# optional: self-host LobeChat via Docker
docker run -d -p 3210:3210 \
  -e OPENAI_PROXY_URL=https://aiapi-pro.com/v1 \
  -e OPENAI_API_KEY=YOUR_NOVAI_KEY \
  lobehub/lobe-chat

Which model to pick

Use case	Model	Cost
Everyday chat, free forever	glm-4.7-flash	Free, unlimited
Vision / image understanding	glm-4.6v-flash	Free, unlimited
Balanced quality	glm-5.3-flash	$0.08 / $0.28 per 1M
Hardest reasoning / plugins	deepseek-v4-pro / kimi-k2.7-code	see live leaderboard

Troubleshooting

Model list empty: confirm the base URL ends with /v1; test curl https://aiapi-pro.com/v1/models.
401: key not active or credits exhausted — top-up from $5, or switch to a free model.
Vision fails: confirm the model is a vision model (glm-4.6v-flash is free and unlimited).

Exact live prices for all 121 models: leaderboard (machine-readable JSON). NovAI charges 0% platform fee — you pay the raw provider list price.

Get a key: $2 free credit · Browse models: model catalog · Pricing: live leaderboard