Claude API payment methods: how to pay when your card is declined or you do not have a card

For direct payment to Anthropic, the Claude API accepts only cards: its Help Center states that it accepts credit and debit cards, but not PayPal or Venmo. If your card is repeatedly declined or you do not have a card that works internationally, you can top up through Kunavo and use the same Claude models with cards, Link, Apple Pay, or Google Pay, from a minimum of $10, with no monthly fee. Claude on Kunavo is 30% cheaper than Anthropic’s pricing, and the same key can be used with the OpenAI SDK or the native Messages API.

Payment methods accepted by Anthropic

Anthropic’s card decline article is clear: all purchases accept credit and debit cards, but not third-party payment services such as PayPal or Venmo. The card’s billing location must also be in a region Anthropic supports. API usage is prepaid: according to the API billing article, credits are purchased in the Claude Console, expire one year after purchase, and are nonrefundable; organizations with a monthly invoicing agreement are billed monthly.

Common reasons for a card decline

The same guide lists the following reasons. Most failed Console top-ups fall into one of these categories:

• The card’s billing country is not on Anthropic’s supported list;
• The billing address entered does not match the one on file with the bank;
• 3D Secure verification was started but not completed;
• The payment method used is not accepted;
• Insufficient funds;
• A temporary technical issue.

If you have tried all of the above and it still does not work, the option below does not require passing Anthropic’s card checks.

Payment methods available on Kunavo

Top-ups go through Stripe Checkout, and the checkout page shows the available methods based on your country and currency. The table below is a list verified against a live account; methods not listed are unavailable. Methods added in October 2026 (Google Pay, five methods in South Korea, UPI, iDEAL, Satispay, Pay by Bank, Bacs, ACH, Afterpay, Affirm, Zip, and cryptocurrency) are now available at checkout, but no actual payment has used them yet. In Taiwan, the available checkout methods are cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Link; JKO Pay and LINE Pay are not on the list.

Details about balances, top-ups, and the ledger are in the billing documentation.

How to pay

1. Create an account with an email or Google account; no card is required to sign up.
2. Open the billing page and choose an amount. The minimum is $10.
3. Choose a payment method shown for your country in Stripe Checkout and complete the payment.
4. Once Stripe confirms the payment, the balance is credited immediately, usually within seconds. Then create a key in API keys.
5. Send your first request:

# 儲值成功後，第一個呼叫長這樣。
curl https://api.kunavo.com/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KUNAVO_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude-sonnet-5",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "用一句話回答：付款成功了嗎？"}]
  }'

How billing works afterward

Claude on Kunavo costs 30% less than Anthropic’s pricing. Claude Sonnet 5 costs $1.40 per million input tokens and $7.00 per million output tokens; Claude Haiku 4.5 costs $0.70 and $3.50, respectively. Balances never expire, failed requests are not charged, and rates for each model are listed under Claude API pricing.

Frequently asked questions