Before buying a phone number, prepaid card or “ready-made account”, establish what you want to use: the chat website, a coding client or an API inside your own software. They can have different accounts, entitlements and bills. Paying for one does not automatically enable the others.
What the published access rules establish
As checked on 2 October 2026, Hong Kong is absent from OpenAI’s API-supported locations and Anthropic’s Claude.ai/API lists. OpenAI’s API list is specifically an API policy; it should not be used as a substitute for checking a ChatGPT workspace’s own availability. A successful page load or payment is not proof of approved access.
Choose the right account route
| What you need | What to verify |
|---|---|
| Codex with a subscription | OpenAI authentication distinguishes ChatGPT sign-in from API-key use. Confirm the right workspace and entitlement before purchasing. |
| Claude Code with a plan | Anthropic’s setup guide covers Pro/Max sign-in. An API key can instead cause API charges. |
| An API for your app | Check the API’s country policy, organization access, billing and spending limits separately. |
| An employer’s tool | Ask IT which provider, workspace and data policy apply to your location and role. |
If you are eligible, set it up in this order
- Create your own account through the official service and keep control of the email and recovery methods.
- Follow the actual verification prompt; do not buy a number just because an old tutorial says every account needs one.
- Choose the intended billing route and run a small task. Check which account recorded the usage before enabling longer jobs.
- If access fails, save the exact error and ask the provider or workspace administrator. Do not pay a reseller to guess at the cause.