Nano-GPT alternative: prepaid, no subscription, verified models
Nano-GPT next to RelaySwitch, OpenRouter and Chutes on the things the Nano-GPT threads complain about: which model answered, the subscription, payment and roleplay. Rival figures read 2026-11-02 from the linked pages; ours from the live catalog.
Nano-GPT is a pay-as-you-go front end and OpenAI-compatible API for "hundreds" of models (its home page, read 2026-11-02). Its pricing page the same day: billing per token, "no percentage on top", deposits from $0.10 in crypto or $1 by card, and an optional $12 a month Pro plan with 60M input tokens a week on included open-source text models. People look for a Nano-GPT alternative when they want to know which model answered, or want per-token billing without a plan. RelaySwitch is prepaid per token with no subscription, checks every model against a public canary each day, signs a receipt for every request, and takes USDT, USDC, BTC, ETH, SOL or card with no identity check.
- Subscription
- None
- Minimum top-up
- $10
- Uncensored builds
- 148
- Today's model check
- 305 of 339 stable
01Where the complaints come from
Google's first results for "nano-gpt alternative" on 2026-11-02 were r/SillyTavernAI threads: "Any alternative to nano-gpt subscription?" (2026-08-28) and "Nano-GPT or Openrouter: which one should I use" (2026-02-02). Five things come up, each answered here with something you can check.
- "You get quants without you knowing." Nano-GPT's provider docs (read 2026-11-02) say the platform picks the provider if you do nothing, and to use quantization filters to avoid lower-precision routes. Here every model gets the same canary prompt once a day and its answer is compared with the runs before; the verdicts are public on /proof (today 305 of 339 models answered today's canary unchanged). Every request also carries a signed receipt naming the model that answered, with hashes of the request and response, which anyone can check at /statements/verify.
- Subscription confusion. Nano-GPT's Pro plan covers open-source text models up to a weekly allowance; its pricing page lists Claude, GPT, Gemini and Grok, video, web search, some uncensored models and choosing a provider as outside it. Here there is no plan: every model bills per token from one prepaid balance at the price on its page, so the question of what a plan covers never comes up.
- Paying without handing over an identity. Top-ups in USDT, USDC, BTC, ETH, SOL or by card, nothing added, from $10. The account is an email address; no ID, no phone number.
- Roleplay models that stay unfiltered. 148 uncensored and abliterated builds on the uncensored page, 79 of them tagged for roleplay, from $0.00084 for one 2K-in / 300-out turn in the table below. The browser roleplay client runs on the same balance.
- Errors mid-chat. When a host answers 5xx or 429, the request goes to the next host for that model at the same price. A 429 on your own key carries retry-after.
02Nano-GPT vs OpenRouter vs Chutes vs RelaySwitch
| Service | How you pay | Subscription | Per-token pricing shown | Model verification | Uncensored builds | Crypto | KYC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RelaySwitchlive catalog | Prepaid balance from $10, billed per token at the price on the model page; nothing added on the top-up | None | Yes, on every model page and the pricing page, read live (338 chat models) | A public daily canary on every model (305 of 339 models answered today's canary unchanged) and a signed receipt per request | 148 builds, 79 tagged for roleplay, all per token | USDT, USDC, BTC, ETH, SOL | None: an email address |
| Nano-GPTsource, read 2026-11-02 | Prepaid balance, from $0.10 in crypto or $1 by card; no percentage on top of model prices or on deposits | Optional Pro at $12 a month: 60M input tokens a week on included open-source text models and 100 images a day; most closed models billed to the balance | Yes, per model, input and output | The platform picks the provider unless you set one (5% added); quantization filters to avoid lower-precision routes | Yes; some, such as GLM 5.3 Uncensored, are outside Pro | Yes (coins: see its page) | See its page |
| OpenRoutersource, read 2026-11-02 | Prepaid credits at the provider list price, plus 5.5% on credit purchases (8% on Business) | None listed; Free, pay-as-you-go and Enterprise plans | Per model on its model pages, not on the pricing page | Weighted routing across providers by default; a quantizations filter (int4, int8, fp8) | See its page | USDC; card too | See its page |
| Chutessource, read 2026-11-02 | Pay per token from a topped-up account, no minimum, no markup; no free tier | No: monthly plans are no longer sold | Yes, input, output and cached input | Featured models run on confidential TEE compute | See its page | Yes, and TAO and Bittensor alpha tokens; card and bank transfer too | See its page |
Rival cells were read on 2026-11-02 from the linked pricing page, plus Nano-GPT's provider docs and OpenRouter's routing docs; "See its page" means the page read did not say. Our row is computed from the catalog at render.
03What a roleplay turn costs here
Three uncensored builds and three flagships, priced per million tokens from the live catalog, with the cost of one 2K-in / 300-out turn: a character card and recent history in, a reply out.
| Model | Input / M | Output / M | One 2K-in / 300-out turn |
|---|---|---|---|
| GLM-5.3 Uncensoredglm-5.3-uncensored | $0.291 | $0.873 | $0.00084 |
| Gemma 4 31B Fabledgemma-4-31b-fabled | $0.35 | $1.575 | $0.0012 |
| Cydonia 24B v4.3cydonia-24b-v4.3 | $0.484 | $0.60 | $0.0011 |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6claude-sonnet-4-6 | $1.80 | $9.00 | $0.0063 |
| DeepSeek V3.2deepseek-v3.2 | $1.08 | $1.6801 | $0.0027 |
| Gemini 3.1 Pro Previewgemini-3.1-pro-preview | $1.20 | $7.20 | $0.0046 |
Read from the catalog at render. Long chats send more history per turn; the cost scales with the input.
The uncensored builds are on the uncensored page with every price; the full list and the developer list prices are on pricing.
04Switching from Nano-GPT
Two values change in the chat app: the base URL becomes https://api.relayswitch.io/v1 and the key becomes your sk-relay- key. Model ids are the ids on each model page. JanitorAI wants the full chat completions URL; SillyTavern, RisuAI and Chub take the base URL ending in /v1.
# SillyTavern: API Connections > Chat Completion > Custom (OpenAI-compatible)Custom Endpoint (Base URL) https://api.relayswitch.io/v1Custom API Key sk-relay-... # JanitorAI: API Settings > Proxy > Add ConfigurationProxy URL https://api.relayswitch.io/v1/chat/completionsAPI Key sk-relay-... # RisuAI: Settings > Chat Bot > Model > Custom API, Format "OpenAI Compatible"URL https://api.relayswitch.io/v1Key/Password sk-relay-... # Chub: Secrets > OpenAI > Reverse ProxyOpenAI Reverse Proxy URL https://api.relayswitch.io/v1Reverse Proxy Key sk-relay-...Step by step, with each app's exact field names: SillyTavern, JanitorAI, RisuAI and Chub.
Questions
- What is Nano-GPT?
- A pay-as-you-go site and OpenAI-compatible API that puts "ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and hundreds more AI models in one place", in its own words on its home page (read 2026-11-02). It bills per token from a prepaid balance with no percentage added, and sells an optional $12 a month Pro plan that covers open-source text models up to a weekly token allowance.
- Is Nano-GPT better than OpenRouter?
- They differ on fees more than on models. On 2026-11-02 Nano-GPT's pricing page said it adds no percentage to model prices or deposits and offers a $12 a month plan for open-source models; OpenRouter's said it bills at each provider's list price and takes 5.5% when you buy credits. Both pick a provider for you unless you pin one, and both document a quantization filter. RelaySwitch is a third option: prepaid per token, no subscription, every model on a public daily check.
- Is nano GPT good?
- For many people, yes: low minimum deposits, crypto, a wide list and a plan that makes open-source chat a flat cost. The complaints in the r/SillyTavernAI threads Google ranks for this search are about which route answers (lower-precision quantized providers), errors and the plan's limits. Nano-GPT's own docs say the platform picks the provider by default and to use quantization filters to avoid lower-precision routes, so set them if output quality matters.
- Which Nano-GPT model is best for roleplay?
- Nano-GPT publishes no roleplay pick we could cite on 2026-11-02; the threads name whatever is new that month. Here the catalog tags 79 uncensored builds for roleplay, and the table on this page prices GLM-5.3 Uncensored, Gemma 4 31B Fabled, Cydonia 24B v4.3 per chat turn. The flagships in the same table follow their developers' usage policies.
- Does RelaySwitch have a subscription?
- No. A prepaid balance from $10, billed per token at the price on each model page. No monthly fee, no weekly allowance, no plan that covers some models and not others. The balance is USD and does not expire.
- Can I pay with crypto?
- Yes: USDT, USDC, BTC, ETH, SOL, or card, to the same USD balance, with nothing added and no identity check. The account is an email address.
Prepaid per token, no subscription
From $10 in Card, USDT, USDC, BTC, ETH, SOL. No KYC.