Comparison · facts as of October 14, 2026
ScaleMax vs Requesty
Requesty is an LLM router with a 5% markup on model costs, a free tier for free models and a very large model list. ScaleMax publishes its own rates, sells credit packs payable in rupees by UPI, and adds a native Anthropic Messages endpoint for Claude tools.
ScaleMax wrote this page. Every Requesty fact below comes from the public pages listed under Sources, read on October 14, 2026. Where a page does not say something, the table says “Not stated”. Check the source before deciding — pricing and features change.
Side by side
| ScaleMax | Requesty | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Published per-model rates; credit packs add more usage credit than they cost | Model cost plus 5% (“You pay for what your application spends, plus 5%”) |
| Free tier | $2 trial credit for new users, no card | Free plan: free models only, 200 requests per day |
| Minimum spend | Smallest credit pack (figure below, from the live price list) | No minimum spend stated |
| Payment methods | UPI, cards and net banking in INR (PayU, Cashfree), crypto (Cryptomus) | Not stated on the pricing page |
| Payment fees | No payment processing fee on any method — the checkout total is the charge | Not stated |
| API protocols | OpenAI Chat Completions, OpenAI Responses and native Anthropic Messages (/v1/messages) | One OpenAI-compatible endpoint; Anthropic Messages not mentioned on the pricing page |
| Model catalogue | A curated catalogue of the major model families | 600+ models (Requesty’s own figure) |
| Credit packs | The smallest pack costs $2.50 (₹250) and adds $25 of usage credit; larger packs add up to 11× their price. | Not stated on the cited page |
Where Requesty is stronger
- A very large model list behind one OpenAI-compatible endpoint.
- A free plan for experimenting with free models.
- Simple, published markup: provider cost plus 5%.
Where ScaleMax is stronger
- Pay in rupees with UPI, cards or net banking, with no payment fee.
- Native Anthropic Messages endpoint for Claude Code and Anthropic SDKs.
- Credit packs that add more usage credit than they cost (live figures below).
- Token packs scoped to one model family, for a fixed prepaid allowance.
Which should you choose?
Choose Requesty if
- You want hundreds of models, including free ones, behind one endpoint.
- You prefer a transparent cost-plus-5% model over published rates.
Choose ScaleMax if
- You pay from India and want UPI or rupee checkout.
- You run Claude Code, Codex or other coding agents and want a one-command setup.
- You want a prepaid balance with no payment fee and no subscription.
Switching to ScaleMax
- Create a ScaleMax key and list its models with GET https://api.scalemax.pro/v1/models.
- Point your OpenAI-compatible client at https://api.scalemax.pro/v1 and use the ScaleMax model IDs.
- For Claude Code, set ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://api.scalemax.pro.
client = OpenAI(
base_url="https://api.scalemax.pro/v1",
api_key=os.environ["SCALEMAX_API_KEY"],
)Sources
- Requesty pricing — read October 14, 2026
- ScaleMax refund policy — read October 14, 2026
ScaleMax is not affiliated with OpenRouter, Requesty, Anthropic or OpenAI. Product names are used only to identify the services compared.
ScaleMax vs Requesty: questions
How does Requesty charge?
Requesty’s pricing page says you pay what your application spends plus 5%, with a free plan limited to free models and 200 requests per day (as of 14 October 2026).
Can I pay Requesty in rupees or by UPI?
Requesty’s pricing page does not state its payment methods (as of 14 October 2026). ScaleMax accepts UPI, cards and net banking in INR.
Does ScaleMax have a free tier?
New users can start a trial with $2 of credit and no card. After that, ScaleMax is prepaid with no subscription.
More comparisons and guides
See it on your own prompts
Start with $2 of free trial credit, or buy a prepaid key in rupees or dollars. No subscription.