AnyRouter Under Attack: Free Claude API Alternatives

Claude Code has been incredibly popular lately, and many of my friends are using it. Honestly, this thing is amazing - coding, debugging, refactoring projects, it does everything well. But the official pricing is really painful - the Max plan costs $200 per month, which is over 1,400 RMB.

I've been using AnyRouter for a while, and the free quota was pretty generous. But a couple of days ago, I suddenly thought: what if AnyRouter goes down one day? I can't put all my hopes on one platform. So I spent some time digging up other free Claude API alternatives to share with everyone today.

Why Prepare Multiple Backup Options?

Let's talk about the official pricing first - it's ridiculously expensive:

• Claude 4 Opus: $15/million tokens input, $75/million tokens output
• Claude 4 Sonnet: $3/million tokens input, $15/million tokens output
• Claude 3.5 Haiku: $0.80/million tokens input, $4/million tokens output

I calculated that if you use a few thousand tokens daily for coding, it could cost tens of dollars per month. For individual developers like us, that's quite painful. Not to mention the access restrictions for domestic users and the need for overseas phone numbers for registration.

Additionally, free proxy services aren't 100% reliable:

• Servers can go down anytime
• Policy changes can kill services
• Heavy usage leads to throttling
• Free quotas run out, forcing you to wait until the next day

Latest AnyRouter Situation: According to official announcements, AnyRouter has recently encountered serious problems:

• July 15, 2025: Suffered massive attacks and abuse, suspended GitHub account new user registration, Linux Do account registration and existing user login unaffected
• July 15, 2025: Heuristic rules mistakenly banned many legitimate users, found and fixed the issue, provided self-service unban functionality
• July 16, 2025: Due to continued attacks, stopped service for one day, please follow subsequent notifications
• Important Reminder: Official has never authorized group chats, tutorials, or mirror sites. Except for official backup API domains, there are no other AnyRouter mirror sites - beware of scams

Although the platform is still working to recover, stability has been significantly affected.

So preparing multiple backup options is quite necessary. If the main platform has issues, at least there are other choices.

Free Claude API Alternatives

1. Poe by Quora

Website: https://poe.com

This is an AI chat platform launched by Quora. Free users can use Claude 3.5 Sonnet daily, though with usage limits, it's sufficient for light use.

Advantages:

• Big company product, relatively stable
• Clean interface, easy to use
• Supports multiple AI models
• Decent free quota

Disadvantages:

• Free version has usage limits
• Requires VPN
• No API support, web-only

2. Claude.ai Official Free Version

Website: https://claude.ai

Although the official paid version is expensive, the free version is actually usable with daily quotas.

Advantages:

• Official product, most stable
• Full features, best experience
• Supports file upload and analysis
• Reasonable free quota

Disadvantages:

• Difficult domestic access
• Registration requires overseas phone number
• Free version has usage limits
• No API interface provided

3. Perplexity AI

Website: https://perplexity.ai

This is mainly search + AI Q&A, but also uses Claude models behind the scenes, so it can serve as a Claude alternative.

Advantages:

• Combines search functionality with updated information
• Good free quota
• Modern interface
• Supports multiple AI models

Disadvantages:

• Mainly for search scenarios
• Relatively weaker coding capabilities
• Requires VPN

4. Domestic AI Platforms

Doubao (ByteDance)

Website: https://www.doubao.com

Although not Claude, it has decent coding capabilities and is completely free.

Tongyi Qianwen (Alibaba)

Website: https://tongyi.aliyun.com

Alibaba's AI assistant, free to use, with continuously improving coding capabilities.

Wenxin Yiyan (Baidu)

Website: https://yiyan.baidu.com

Baidu's AI product. While overall capabilities are somewhat inferior to Claude, it wins on being free and stable.

Advantages of Domestic Platforms:

• No VPN required
• Simple registration
• Completely free
• Fast access speed

Disadvantages:

• Relatively weaker coding capabilities
• Training data may have restrictions
• Innovation capabilities inferior to Claude

5. Open Source Alternatives

If you have technical capabilities, you can also consider deploying open source models yourself:

Ollama + CodeLlama

Run open source code models locally. While not as effective as Claude, it's completely free and private.

Hugging Face Spaces

Many people have deployed free AI models on Hugging Face that can be used directly.

Usage Recommendations

1. Multi-Platform Combined Use

My current strategy is:

• Primary: AnyRouter (when stable)
• Backup 1: Poe (light usage)
• Backup 2: Claude.ai official free version (important tasks)
• Backup 3: Doubao (domestic access)

This way, even if one platform has issues, it won't affect work.

2. Reasonable Scenario Allocation

Different platforms suit different use cases:

• Code refactoring: Claude.ai official version
• Quick Q&A: Poe or Doubao
• Learning and research: Perplexity AI
• Daily chat: Domestic AI platforms

3. Mind Usage Limits

Each platform has its own usage restrictions, so plan accordingly:

• Use stable platforms for important tasks
• Distribute daily usage across multiple platforms
• Avoid over-dependence on a single platform

Important Considerations

1. Data Security

When using third-party platforms, be careful:

• Don't input sensitive information
• Use official platforms for important code
• Regularly clear chat history

2. Service Stability

Free services are inherently unstable:

• May shut down anytime
• May suddenly start charging
• No service quality guarantee

3. Compliant Usage

• Follow each platform's terms of service
• Don't abuse or spam
• Respect intellectual property

Conclusion

Although Claude's official version is expensive, there are indeed many free alternatives available. My recommendations are:

1. Don't put all eggs in one basket - prepare multiple platforms
2. Choose appropriate platforms based on use cases - different tasks, different tools
3. Stay updated on new platforms - the AI field changes rapidly, better free options might emerge

Finally, remember that free things are often the most expensive. If you're a heavy user and can afford it, I still recommend supporting the official paid version. After all, good tools deserve payment, which ensures service continuity and stability.

Hope this article helps everyone! If you know other useful free Claude alternatives, feel free to share in the comments.

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Disclaimer: All platforms and services mentioned in this article are for reference only. Please verify their legality and security before use. The author takes no responsibility for any issues that may arise from using these services.