How to use Claude, ChatGPT, and Grok from China: payments, accounts, and legitimate access

If you want to use Claude, ChatGPT, or Grok from mainland China, the usual sticking point is not “knowing how to ask a question.” It is payment and accounts: how to upgrade without a foreign bank card, whether WeChat or Alipay can be paid directly to the official vendor, and how to avoid sites that want your official password. The paths below are official direct subscription, practices to treat with caution, and a legitimate third-party entry point. The article also states who Trymodel is for, and who it is not for.

The conclusions first:

• This is not a tutorial for “registering another official ChatGPT / Claude account.” A third-party platform is an independent product. Official features, memory, and after-sales support are not interchangeable.
• WeChat Pay and Alipay currently cannot be paid directly to official web subscriptions from OpenAI or Anthropic. Grok / The X Subscription web checkout already lists Alipay in official documentation, but not every account will necessarily see it, and UnionPay has not yet been fully listed in the official payment notes.
• Gift cards, proxy top-ups, and shared accounts all have real risks. This article only covers the risks and legitimate alternatives; it does not provide steps.
• If you only want to switch among multiple models in one interface and pay with a card or Alipay (or in yuan on the Simplified Chinese site, where WeChat Pay is also available), an independent third-party platform may be a fit. If you must use official Claude Code, official memory, or an official invoice, use official channels, not a third-party chat page.

Where users in China actually get stuck

These three model families belong to different companies, and official subscriptions are separate: ChatGPT is at chatgpt.com, Claude at claude.ai, and Grok at grok.com. Even if you can open each vendor’s personal plan at about $20, that is still three bills, and the payment methods and account systems are not shared.

For many people, the obstacles usually stack:

1. Payment methods do not match. Official web subscriptions mainly accept credit or debit cards, plus local payment methods in a few countries. WeChat Pay, Alipay, and UnionPay, which are commonly used in mainland China, are not on OpenAI’s or Anthropic’s official web payment lists.
2. Service region and currency are a separate issue. Seeing a currency option does not mean your region has been added to the formal service area, and it does not mean a local wallet has been connected.
3. Official capabilities are tied to the official account. Memory, project spaces, official Claude Code, official invoices, and after-sales support all travel with the official account. Handing your password to someone else, or switching to a third-party page, does not move those capabilities with you.

So “how to use these from China” has to start with a clearer question: do you want the complete product inside an official account, or a legitimate way to pay for conversation and model comparison? Those are not the same thing.

Where official direct subscription is hard, vendor by vendor

The payment information below follows official notes that could still be opened on 11 November 2026. Each company may change this at any time; check the checkout page again before you order.

ChatGPT (OpenAI)

According to OpenAI’s multicurrency billing notes (the page showed an update from about two days earlier):

• For a web subscription on chatgpt.com, the payment methods available in all countries are credit and debit cards.
• Additional local methods are offered only in specific markets, for example UPI in India, GoPay in Indonesia, Pix in Brazil, Kakao Pay / Naver Pay in Korea, GCash in the Philippines, MoMo in Vietnam, and Link bank debit in some United Kingdom and European Economic Area cases.
• The official list does not include Alipay, WeChat Pay, or UnionPay, and it does not include Chinese yuan (CNY). Gift-card purchase and redemption are currently limited to the United States and are priced in US dollars.
• If you subscribe through the iOS or Android app, Apple App Store or Google Play collects the payment, and available methods depend on your app-store account region. That is not a basis for inferring that the official website already supports WeChat Pay or Alipay.

Therefore: “paying OpenAI directly with WeChat or Alipay” is not something official checkout currently allows. Many claims online about “opening Plus with Alipay” actually mean paying an intermediary first, or topping up a virtual card first. They do not mean Alipay appeared on OpenAI’s payment page.

Claude (Anthropic)

According to the Claude paid-plan billing FAQ and Claude pricing:

• For a Pro / Max / Ultra web subscription on claude.ai, the official methods accepted are only credit or debit cards.
• When you subscribe through Claude’s iOS or Android app, Apple or Google handles payment, and available methods follow the app store.
• In the personal-plan payment options on the pricing page, what is listed is credit cards; ACH, invoices, and similar options do not apply to an ordinary personal web subscription.

The official website likewise does not list WeChat Pay or Alipay as payment methods. Not having a foreign card does not mean you can check out on claude.ai with a mainland China wallet instead.

Also note: official Claude Code is tied to an Anthropic account or an official API key, and to the corresponding login and permissions. Third-party web chat cannot replace that official toolchain.

Grok (xAI)

Grok’s situation is not identical to the first two, but it should not be written as “Alipay and UnionPay are already fully open.”

• The payment-methods notes for The X Subscription, checked on 11 November 2026, list: on the web, cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Link, and Alipay. The documentation also states that some methods are available only in specific countries, and that the checkout page as actually shown is authoritative; if a current plan does not show a method, use a method the page supports, or keep the existing plan.
• A Mobile Payment Network report dated 3 November 2026 said that around 1 November, some users saw Alipay and China UnionPay on Grok web checkout, and that the billing address could include mainland China and similar regions. The report also stated that, as of publication, xAI had not issued a formal announcement about Alipay or UnionPay access, and the feature may still have been in a limited rollout. UnionPay, which that report mentioned, was not listed separately on the official payment-methods page checked that day.
• The same coverage also noted that the Alipay entry mainly appears on the web; in-app purchases still go through Apple or Google.

A more careful statement is therefore: official Grok documentation already lists Alipay as a method that may appear on web checkout, but whether you can see it, and whether payment succeeds, follows your own checkout page; UnionPay or Alipay should not be described as fully open for every account. Even if payment succeeds, that does not mean official service in mainland China already matches the complete U.S. scope. You should still follow xAI’s terms of service when you use it.

Can WeChat or Alipay be paid directly to the official vendor?

“Paying Alipay to a proxy top-up shop or a virtual-card platform” is not the same as “paying Alipay directly to OpenAI / Anthropic.” The former only shows that an intermediary received your money. It does not change whether the official vendor has connected that channel.

What risks gift cards, proxy top-ups, and shared accounts each carry

The notes below only describe common risks, to help you judge; they do not provide purchase, top-up, or account-sharing steps.

Unofficial gift cards

OpenAI’s official notes currently limit gift-card purchase and redemption to the United States. Common problems with “official redemption codes” of unclear origin include: the issuing region does not match your account, the card itself came from a stolen payment method, the credit is later clawed back, and the account is then placed under risk review. When authenticity is hard to judge, do not treat this as a more stable substitute for official payment.

Proxy top-ups

A proxy top-up usually asks you to hand over a login password, a verification code, or a one-time login credential (for example, session information). The risk is not “a few dollars more,” but:

• The other party may take over the account directly, change the email, turn off two-factor authentication, or move the account elsewhere.
• If the payment source triggers a chargeback or a fraud dispute, the official vendor may roll back the membership, or even restrict the account.
• If something goes wrong, the official vendor will not recognize an order from an unofficial channel, and after-sales support is left with an intermediary you may no longer be able to reach.

Any flow that asks you for an official password, an SMS code, or a complete login cookie should not be treated as a legitimate way to open a plan.

Shared or pooled official accounts

Sharing an account means giving the same official account to more than one person. That usually violates official terms, and it creates practical problems: conversation history and uploaded files are visible to each other, passwords or codes circulate among several people, and if one person violates the terms or starts a refund, everyone else may lose access too. This article does not explain how to share an account. It only recommends: when you need stable use, use your own official account, or switch to an independent third-party product that does not require signing in to an official account.

How to avoid sites that want an official password

Before you open a page that “helps you start an official membership,” you can judge quickly with these points:

1. What credentials does it ask for? A legitimate third-party product should let you register on its own site, not ask for an official ChatGPT, Claude, or Grok password.
2. Does the domain look official? Domains that imitate chatgpt.com, claude.ai, or grok.com, or that change only one or two letters, are worth leaving immediately. Official and fake sites that differ by a single letter are not rare.
3. Can you read the terms and refund rules in public? A page with no company entity, privacy policy, refund notes, or contact method is hard to hold accountable later.
4. Who is the payee? The payment page should make clear which institution receives the money, rather than a personal transfer or a collection code of unclear origin.
5. Are the promises excessive? For example, “guaranteed never to be banned,” “this is an original official account,” or “conversations are definitely not stored.” Those claims cannot be verified, and they often conflict with the actual terms.

For a fuller set of comparison items, see How to choose a safer third-party AI aggregator or mirror.

What Trymodel is, and what it is not

Trymodel is an independent AI workspace: you use ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and other models in one interface, and you can switch during a conversation. The terms and conditions state that the platform is operated by TUCANTELA SL, and that it is not affiliated with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, or similar model providers, and does not claim their endorsement or approval.

According to the pricing page (plan prices in this English version follow the list checked on 14 November 2026):

• Plan copy claims access to 25 or more models, with switching during a conversation. That is summary wording, not a model count for that day; the catalog that day is in New AI models: which to use.
• USD checkout is paid with cards and Alipay. WeChat Pay is available when you check out in Chinese yuan on the Simplified Chinese site.
• Weekly, monthly, and yearly passes can all be purchased as a one-time payment that does not renew automatically when it ends; monthly and yearly passes also offer “auto-renewal (cards only).” A quarterly pass was not shown.
• The site footer also states that mentions of third-party trademarks and models do not imply affiliation, endorsement, or a cooperative relationship.

What it solves is “one entry point, a published list price, and switching among models,” not “opening official Plus / Claude Pro for you.” Your Trymodel account, credits, history, and after-sales support belong to Trymodel. They do not sync to an official account, and you cannot bring official memory, plugins, projects, or Claude Code here in the other direction.

Prices, whether a charge renews automatically, and what happens when usage runs out are in Trymodel pricing and billing. Whether it is safe to upload files to this kind of platform is in Is it safe to upload files or PDFs to an AI?. For task-based comparisons, see the pages already on the site: ChatGPT vs Claude, ChatGPT vs Gemini, and Claude vs Gemini. If you are deciding whether to run several official subscriptions at once, see One subscription for multiple AI models and Do I need both ChatGPT Plus and Claude Pro?.

Who it is for

• Your main need is conversation, writing, translation, Q&A, and comparing different models, not the complete workspace inside an official product.
• You want to pay with a card or Alipay, and you do not want to prepare a foreign card for three official subscriptions separately. WeChat Pay is available when you check out in yuan on the Simplified Chinese site.
• You can accept that “this is a third-party interface,” and you will check important outputs yourself.
• You are willing to try a smaller amount first, then decide whether to renew. The pricing page that day still offered a weekly pass at $3.99 / 7 days (one-time payment, no automatic charge when it ends).

Who it is not for

• People who must use official Claude Code, an official API key, or an official developer console. A third-party web page cannot replace that toolchain.
• People who rely on official memory, custom instructions, official project spaces, or official file connectors. Those capabilities stay in the official account and do not migrate here.
• People who need an invoice, an enterprise agreement, or a data-processing addendum issued directly by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or xAI. Trymodel’s bills and terms cover only its own service.
• People who cannot accept conversations passing through a third-party operator’s servers. Unless you connect directly with an official client, requests usually go to the platform operator first, then to the model provider.
• People who plan to upload confidential contracts, ID documents, secrets, or regulated data directly. Trymodel’s own terms also note: do not submit confidential, regulated, or highly sensitive information without authorization.

If you need official capabilities and multi-model comparison at the same time, a more common approach is: keep the official account for work that only the official product can do, and use an independent platform for everyday comparison and for payments you can complete here. You do not have to force the two paths into one.

How to compare “separate official plans” and “one third-party entry point”

There is no single answer that fits everyone. You can work it out with these questions:

1. How many model families do you actually use each month, or do you really use only one?
2. Do you already have a usable official payment method? If you do, official direct subscription is usually closer to the complete product.
3. Do you rely on official memory, Claude Code, team permissions, or an official invoice? If any one of those is a hard requirement, you should not rely only on a third party.
4. After three official personal subscriptions are stacked, is the cost clearly higher than the capabilities you actually use? If you only switch models occasionally, one entry point may be less friction.
5. Can you accept an extra hop on the data path (first to the operator, then to the model vendor)?

Trymodel’s specific prices follow the pricing page on the day you buy. The English page checked on 14 November 2026 showed a weekly pass at $3.99 / 7 days, a monthly pass at $14.99 / 30 days, a yearly pass at $99.99 / 365 days, and credit packs at $4.99 / $12.49 / $25.99 / $49.49 (45,000 / 117,000 / 237,000 / 447,000 credits). A quarterly pass was not shown. The Simplified Chinese site shows and charges the yuan list instead. Details are in Trymodel pricing and billing.

You can also start from the chat page to learn the interface, then decide whether to pay. The terms state that creating an account does not by itself create a payment obligation.

FAQ

I do not have a foreign bank card. How can I use ChatGPT or Claude?

Official websites currently do not accept WeChat or Alipay as a direct payment. Legitimate directions are mainly: subscribe on the official site with a credit or debit card the official vendor supports; or use an independent third-party product that does not require signing in to your official account, and that you can pay for with a card or Alipay (the Simplified Chinese site charges yuan, and WeChat Pay may also be available there). Do not treat “hand over the official password and let someone else open it” as a normal option.

Can WeChat or Alipay be paid directly to OpenAI?

According to OpenAI’s official billing notes on 11 November 2026, no. The general official web methods are credit and debit cards, plus local methods in a few countries; the list has no WeChat Pay, no Alipay, and no Chinese yuan.

Hasn’t Grok already started accepting Alipay?

Official payment notes already list Alipay as one of the optional methods on The X Subscription web checkout, but the documentation emphasizes that the checkout page is authoritative, and not every account or region will see it. UnionPay was reported by media as appearing in some web checkouts, but the official payment-methods page checked that day did not list UnionPay separately, and earlier coverage also said there had been no formal official announcement and that it might still be a limited rollout. Do not write this as already fully open.

Why can’t I treat a third-party platform as an official account?

Because the account, the bill, the history, memory, and after-sales support are not in the same system. Even if a third-party platform connects models of the same name, it does not provide official Claude Code, official memory sync, or official customer support. In its terms, Trymodel also states clearly that it is not affiliated and has not been endorsed.

How can I tell whether a site will want my official password?

Look at where it asks you to register, who you pay, whether the terms are public, and whether it asks for a ChatGPT / Claude / Grok password or verification code. If it wants official credentials, exclude it immediately. A more detailed checklist is in How to choose a safer third-party entry point.

Can one official subscription give me access to all of these model families at once?

No. ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok are products of different companies, and official memberships are not interchangeable. If what you need is “one entry point to switch among multiple models,” you need an aggregator-style product, not one vendor’s official subscription. Opening several official subscriptions, and switching inside one third-party platform, also differ in cost and in the boundary of what you get; start with Trymodel pricing and billing.

Is it safe to upload a PDF or code on a third-party platform?

Do not assume it is safe. The file enters that platform’s servers, and may then be sent on to the model provider. After deletion, it may not disappear from every backup immediately. Details are in Is it safe to upload files or PDFs to an AI?.

FAQPage structured data

When this page is published, the following questions and answers can be turned into FAQPage JSON-LD (the content must stay consistent with the body; if prices or payment methods change, update both):

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      }
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    {
      "@type": "Question",
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Facts were checked on 11 November 2026 (Asia/Shanghai). Trymodel plan prices in this English version follow the list checked on 14 November 2026. Official payment methods, service regions, and prices may change; use each official site and the pricing page on the day you check.