As recorded at collection: ChatGPT Plus, paid just over 130 yuan

This is a review from someone who got tired of keeping track of the daily free usage and paid directly for ChatGPT Plus. After weighing an API relay service (a third-party service that provides the official API on your behalf) against a Plus subscription, they decided to first check whether the Plus usage allowance would be sufficient. They completed the payment for just over 130 yuan using a US-region Apple account and an Apple Gift Card.

First, create a new US-region Apple account using a Google email address. It can also be verified with a mainland China mobile phone number. Log in with that account in the App Store and change the address to one in a region with no tax. There are several sites that create such addresses for you. Switch Alipay's payment region to San Francisco and purchase an Apple gift card, and the redemption code will arrive by email. After using the code in the App Store to top up the balance, download the ChatGPT app for iPhone and subscribe to Plus in the app using Apple payment.

This method requires a US-region Apple account, an address in a region with no tax, and Alipay with its payment region changed. I plan to monitor my Plus usage going forward and, if it is insufficient, look into intermediary API services separately. The ccs mentioned alongside it actually took quite a while, and I eventually switched to the official subscription.