The honest comparison for developers who need reliable, affordable access to Chinese AI models
TokenEase is 40% cheaper than OpenRouter for Chinese models, with a free trial (no credit card) and automatic failover when providers go down. DeepSeek had 9 outages since September — TokenEase routes around them.
| Feature | TokenEase | OpenRouter | ChinaModelAPI | SiliconFlow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | 1M tokens, 14 days | No free tier | No free tier | Limited free tier |
| Credit Card Required | No (for trial) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| OpenAI-Compatible API | Full compatibility | Full compatibility | Compatible | Compatible |
| DeepSeek V4 | $1.50/M output | $2.00/M output | $1.80/M output | $1.60/M output |
| Kimi K3 | $2.00/M output | $2.50/M output | $2.20/M output | $2.10/M output |
| GLM-5.1 | $8.00/M output | $10.00/M output | $9.00/M output | $8.50/M output |
| Qwen-Plus | $1.20/M output | $1.50/M output | $1.40/M output | $1.30/M output |
| Automatic Failover | Built-in | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| Unified Billing | One bill, all models | One bill | One bill | One bill |
| MCP Server Support | Native | No | No | No |
| Pay-as-you-go | Available | Available | Available | Available |
| Monthly Subscription | From $1.99/mo | Pay-as-you-go only | Pay-as-you-go only | Pay-as-you-go only |
| Starter Cost | $1.99/mo | ~$5-10 minimum | ~$5 minimum | ~$3 minimum |
TokenEase vs OpenRouter $2.00
Save 25%
TokenEase vs OpenRouter $2.50
Save 20%
TokenEase vs OpenRouter $10.00
Save 20%
TokenEase vs OpenRouter $1.50
Save 20%
Yes. We negotiate volume pricing directly with Chinese AI providers and pass the savings to you. For DeepSeek V4, TokenEase charges $1.50 per million output tokens vs OpenRouter's $2.00 — a 25% saving. Across all Chinese models, average savings are 20-40%.
Absolutely. TokenEase is fully OpenAI-compatible. Just change the base_url to https://tokenease.io/v1 and your api_key to your TokenEase token. Zero code changes otherwise.
TokenEase has automatic failover. If one provider is down, your requests are automatically routed to an alternative model (e.g., Kimi K3 or GLM-5.1) with the same API interface. No code changes, no downtime.
No. Just enter your email at tokenease.io/register and get 1M tokens free for 14 days. No credit card required.
TokenEase offers automatic failover between providers, MCP server support, and monthly subscription plans starting at $1.99. ChinaModelAPI is pay-as-you-go only and doesn't provide failover or MCP support.
Free trial: 1M tokens, 14 days, no credit card
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