TomCat API Review: Pricing & Comparison

⚠️ Note: TomCat API is currently in unverified status — visit the official site first to confirm service availability and current pricing before use.

The positioning of a basic direct-connect relay

TomCat API follows the most basic playbook among mainland relays: stable direct connect + pay-as-you-go.

This isn’t a platform with a strong differentiating feature, but it represents the single most common type in the mainland relay market:

• Provides an OpenAI-compatible API interface
• Relays mainstream AI models (Claude, GPT, Gemini) through mainland nodes
• Bills by actual usage, with no forced monthly fee
• Claims low-latency direct connect, with no proxy configuration needed on the user’s end

For developers who just need something that “works, is stable, and connects directly,” this type of platform is enough.

How to evaluate this kind of basic relay

Faced with a sea of basic relays with similar features, the evaluation framework is simple:

Step 1: Test availability

curl https://api.tomcat-api.com/v1/models \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_key"

If it returns a model list, basic functionality is working.

Step 2: Test latency

import time
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    api_key="your TomCat API key",
    base_url="https://api.tomcat-api.com/v1"
)

start = time.time()
response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gpt-4o-mini",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "hi"}],
    max_tokens=5,
    stream=True
)
for chunk in response:
    if chunk.choices[0].delta.content:
        print(f"TTFT: {time.time()-start:.3f}s")
        break

Step 3: Test stability Send 50 consecutive requests and check whether the error rate stays below 1%.

If it passes all three tests, TomCat API meets basic usage requirements.

Integration example

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    api_key="your TomCat API key",
    base_url="https://api.tomcat-api.com/v1"  # check the official site for the current endpoint
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="claude-opus-4-8",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]
)
print(response.choices[0].message.content)

Usage recommendations

Since TomCat API is in unverified status, we recommend:

1. Visit tomcat-api.com first to confirm the service is online
2. Top up a small amount (¥10-20) to test core functionality
3. Only increase your top-up amount after verification passes

Information verified 2026-07-04. Service status and pricing are subject to real-time information on the TomCat API official site.

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Related reviews

• RunAPI — high-quality, high-speed direct connect: a comparable direct-connect relay with more verification already done
• NodAPI — high-speed multi-model aggregation: a speed-first direct-connect relay
• Boxying — lightweight, clean interface: a similarly basic positioning, with a cleaner interface

Related reviews

• GPTAPI.US: dual China-US zone relay, PayPal + Alipay dual-currency payment, stable direct connect for GPT/Claude/Gemini
• RightCode: coding-focused, top up from ¥1, clear documentation, Sonnet as low as ¥0.9/M
• Cohere API: embeddings + reranking + text generation in one, a go-to for RAG engineers
• Laozhang API: a well-known, established Chinese Claude relay — same price as official, good stability reputation, a solid default pick if you don’t want to deal with pitfalls