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59API FAQ: referrals, withdrawals and Claude Code API relay

Why referrals and withdrawals come up first

Most developers meet 59API through a link from a colleague, then ask the same practical questions: how much do I actually earn, when can I take the money out, and do I have to spend anything before I start? Those are fair questions, and the answers are refreshingly simple. 59API is an independent third-party AI API relay built around one account, one API key and one API host at https://api.59api.com, serving Claude, GPT, Gemini, DeepSeek and other models.

The billing model is prepaid. You top up a balance, and each request is charged according to the real token usage of that request. There is no monthly fee, and your balance never expires. Monthly and weekly cards are optional rather than required, which means the referral programme sits comfortably alongside either style of usage. If you invite people, you earn a percentage of what they pay. If you would rather keep working, you can move that commission straight into API balance and start spending it on requests.

In this guide, we walk through the referral percentages, the two ways to cash out, the top-up options, and the shortest path to your first Claude Code request through 59API. Everything below comes straight from the current 59API rules, so you can check the mechanics before you share a link with anyone.

How much commission do referrals actually earn?

The 59API referral programme pays 15% commission on what people you invite pay, covering both top-ups and cards. On top of that, you earn 5% on what their invitees pay. That second tier is the part people tend to miss: the programme is not a single-step bonus. It rewards you for the people your invitees bring in as well, so a referral network that grows keeps paying at two levels.

To make the mechanics concrete, imagine a colleague signs up because of your link and adds funds. Their payment counts toward your 15%. If that colleague later invites a friend, and the friend pays, that payment counts toward your 5%. The percentage applies to what is actually paid, whether the payment is a wallet top-up or a card purchase.

Top-ups themselves are flexible in size. Available amounts are ¥10, ¥50, ¥100, ¥200, ¥500 and ¥1000, and you can pay by WeChat Pay or bank card. Invoices are available, which is handy if you are covering a team expense rather than your own hobby project. Because top-ups start at ¥10, there is no large entry commitment required before your own account is usable, and because commission accrues on payments rather than on sign-ups, the reward tracks real activity.

How do you withdraw, or move commission into your balance?

When your commission reaches ¥50, you have two choices, and both are handled from inside 59API.

• Withdraw to Alipay. Once the balance of commission you have earned reaches ¥50, you can withdraw it to your Alipay account.
• Move it to API balance. You can also transfer commission into your 59API API balance and spend it on requests immediately.

The second option is the one that makes the referral programme feel like part of the product rather than a side payment. Since 59API charges per request by real token usage and the balance never expires, commission you move across becomes working credit straight away. You can use it on whichever model family your current project needs, whether that is Claude through Claude Code, GPT through an OpenAI-compatible client, or another supported model.

It is worth keeping the two paths separate in your head. Alipay withdrawal turns commission into real money in your own payment account. Moving to API balance keeps it inside the ecosystem, where it is metered against token usage with no monthly fee attached. Plenty of developers do both: withdraw a portion when it makes sense, and roll the rest into balance for the next sprint. Either way, the threshold is the same and the choice is yours.

What your commission can pay for

Because commission lands as API balance or as a cash withdrawal, it is worth knowing what a request actually costs. 59API prices are per 1 million tokens, billed in CNY, with USD figures shown at ¥7.2 = $1.

A few current rates give a sense of scale. GPT-6.1 Sol is $0.1847 (¥1.33) for input and $0.9264 (¥6.67) for output per 1 million tokens. Claude Sonnet 5.5 is $1.11 (¥8) for input and $5.56 (¥40) for output. DeepSeek V4 Pro is $1.25 (¥9) for input and $3.75 (¥27) for output. MiniMax M3 is $0.1389 (¥1) for input and $0.5556 (¥4) for output. Cache reads are priced separately for each model.

To put that in context, one worked example from 59API: 3M input plus 0.5M output tokens on Claude Sonnet 5.5, without cache, costs $6.11 (¥44) on 59API, which is about 56% of the official list price reference of about ¥79.2. For GPT-6.1 Sol, 5M input plus 1M output tokens without cache costs $1.85 (¥13.32) on 59API, about 9% of the official list price reference of about ¥144. These are per-request figures, so a referral balance can be measured against real workloads rather than abstract quotas.

Getting your first Claude Code request running on 59API

Whether you are spending your own top-up or commission you moved into balance, the connection is the same. 59API gives you one account and one API key, and everything routes through the single host https://api.59api.com.

For Claude Code or Claude Desktop, set ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://api.59api.com and ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN=YOUR_59API_KEY. Claude models work only through the genuine Claude Code or Claude Desktop client, version 2.1.285 or newer, never through the OpenAI SDK, cURL or other clients.

If your workflow runs on GPT, DeepSeek or another non-Claude, non-Gemini model, use base_url https://api.59api.com/v1 and chat endpoint https://api.59api.com/v1/chat/completions. That path covers Codex, OpenAI SDKs, cURL and OpenAI-compatible clients such as Cursor, Cherry Studio, Cline and OpenCode. Gemini models are a separate case: they use Google's native protocol through Gemini CLI with GOOGLE_GEMINI_BASE_URL=https://api.59api.com and GEMINI_API_KEY=YOUR_59API_KEY, and they do not work on /v1/chat/completions.

Top up, copy your key, set the two variables, and send a request. Once you see real token usage on your balance, you know exactly what the next request will cost and how quickly your referral commission grows.

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