A practical guide for German developers who want to use the Claude API in production. It covers the price difference compared with Anthropic directly, payment methods from Germany, latency from Frankfurt, GDPR notes, and the legal notice required under § 5 DDG — everything you should know before your first call.
First call in 5 seconds
Kunavo is compatible with the OpenAI wire protocol. If your code already uses the OpenAI SDK, migrating requires a one-line change in base_url. In Python:
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(
api_key="sk-kn-...",
base_url="https://api.kunavo.com/v1", # einzige Zeile, die du änderst
)
resp = client.chat.completions.create(
model="claude-sonnet-4-6",
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Stell dich kurz auf Deutsch vor."}],
)
print(resp.choices[0].message.content)It’s identical for Node.js / TypeScript:
import OpenAI from "openai";
const client = new OpenAI({
apiKey: process.env.KUNAVO_API_KEY!,
baseURL: "https://api.kunavo.com/v1",
});
const resp = await client.chat.completions.create({
model: "claude-opus-4-7",
messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Erkläre Retrieval-Augmented Generation in 3 Sätzen." }],
});
console.log(resp.choices[0].message.content);Registration is free: top up from $10, pay only for what you use (pay-as-you-go), and your balance never expires—enough to thoroughly test Claude Opus 4.7, Sonnet 4.6, and Haiku 4.5.
Price difference compared with Anthropic directly
Depending on the model, Claude models on Kunavo are 30% cheaper than Anthropic’s official rates. Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3,00 input / $15,00 output per 1M tokens directly from Anthropic—on Kunavo, $2,10 / $10,50 (30% cheaper). With prompt caching, rereading the stable prefix costs 10% of the input rate, or $0,21 per 1M tokens. Full rates for all models are at /pricing.
Latency from Frankfurt / Berlin
Kunavo operates in a single US-East region (Ashburn, Virginia), behind an Anycast edge that terminates TLS near you. What the edge shortens is the TLS handshake, not the route across the Atlantic: from a cloud server in Frankfurt, round-trip time is determined by the physical distance to the U.S. East Coast, plus the model's own inference time. A direct call to Anthropic also crosses the Atlantic. We pass streaming responses through directly; we do not buffer or batch.
Payment methods—cards, Apple Pay, Link
We use Stripe natively. Available for German business and individual customers:
- Cards: Visa, Mastercard, American Express
- Apple Pay, Google Pay, Link (one-click)
Top-ups are denominated in USD; Stripe can convert the amount to euros at checkout, and if you pay in USD, your bank performs the conversion. SEPA Direct Debit is not included: it is not enabled for our account and therefore never appears in checkout. Every card issued in Germany works normally — including a debit card linked to your SEPA account. Pay by Bank is also unavailable: checkout displays it only for buyers in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Finland; for Germany, Stripe still offers it only as a private preview.
Minimum top-up: $10 USD (~€9). No subscription; it’s a prepaid wallet, and unused balance never expires.
VAT and invoices
The standard checkout does not show VAT or provide a field for a VAT ID; an invoice showing VAT is not generated automatically. Your top-ups, with date, amount, and status, appear in your billing dashboard; if you need a receipt for your accounting records, email contact@kunavo.com.
GDPR and data residency
Routing logic runs in the gateway in the single US-East region (Ashburn), not at the Anycast edge — the edge only terminates TLS. Billing data and account information are stored in a single primary database with daily encrypted volume snapshots. We forward requests to upstream providers — failover switches providers, never the model — and those providers process prompt content under their own terms. Kunavo does not offer a data processing agreement (DPA), Zero Data Retention, or EU data residency. If your workload requires these, contract directly with the model provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, or Google's enterprise terms). Details at /legal/privacy.
Legal notice (§ 5 DDG)
The mandatory information under § 5 DDG and § 18 MStV is available at /legal/impressum. The business address, authorized representatives, and VAT ID are disclosed when the contract is concluded or upon request. Privacy information is available at /legal/privacy.
Frequently asked questions from Germany
- Invoice showing VAT? Not automatically: checkout does not show VAT or ask for a VAT ID. For an accounting receipt: contact@kunavo.com.
- Servers in the EU? Only the anycast edge, which terminates TLS near you. The gateway, routing, and database run in US-East (Ashburn).
- DPA (GDPR Art. 28)? No, Kunavo does not offer a DPA. Anyone who needs one should conclude it directly with the model provider.
- SEPA Direct Debit? No — SEPA Direct Debit is not enabled on our Stripe account. A debit card linked to your SEPA account works normally. Kunavo can optionally top up automatically from a saved card (from $10, by card or Link only).
Ready to get started? Register for free, top up from $10, and make your first Claude call in five minutes. Questions from Germany? Email contact@kunavo.com directly—we respond in German.