ChatGPT and Claude supported countries (October 2026): OpenAI and Anthropic lists compared, and what unsupported means

How to check whether your country is supported

1. Open the official list for the product you use. ChatGPT: OpenAI Help Center, ChatGPT Supported Countries. OpenAI API: API supported countries and territories. Claude apps, Claude Code and the Claude API: Anthropic Supported Regions Policy.
2. Look for your country by name. Spellings differ: OpenAI writes "Turkey", Anthropic "Türkiye (Turkey)"; both list Ukraine only with exceptions.
3. Check where you physically are, not where you signed up. Anthropic's policy applies to people "while physically located" in an unsupported region; OpenAI's travel article warns that logging in may fail while you are in an unsupported region.
4. For a company, also check headquarters and ownership. Anthropic excludes entities incorporated or headquartered in an unsupported region and entities majority-owned or controlled from one.
5. For OpenAI, check your payment method too. OpenAI says a payment method from outside its supported countries results in being blocked.

Comparison table: selected countries

Every cell below is computed from the two official lists as read on October 20, 2026. "OpenAI" covers ChatGPT and the API (the two lists are identical); "Anthropic" covers Claude.ai, Claude Code, Cowork, the API and Claude through cloud platforms and authorized resellers.

• Ukraine: OpenAI lists "Ukraine (with certain exceptions)" without naming the exceptions; Anthropic excludes the Crimea, Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia regions.
• Territories: Anthropic says territories and dependencies of listed countries are supported (its example is Puerto Rico). OpenAI names 20 overseas territories individually and does not name Puerto Rico; its page does not say how unnamed territories are treated.
• Not on either list: Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Russia, Belarus, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela. Neither list names Mainland China under any spelling.

How the lists differ

ChatGPT list vs API list (OpenAI)

On October 20, 2026 the ChatGPT page and the API page had the same 208 entries in the same order, and the older API help article carries the same list. Both carry the warning: "Accessing or offering access to our services outside of the countries and territories listed below may result in your account being blocked or suspended." The words "offering access" matter for developers: an app that serves end users in unsupported places can put the developer's own account at risk.

OpenAI vs Anthropic

• Scope. Anthropic's single policy covers its apps, the API and developer platform, Claude on cloud platforms and authorized resellers. OpenAI publishes the list for ChatGPT and for the API separately, with identical contents.
• Who is covered. Anthropic's policy goes beyond location: it also excludes entities headquartered or incorporated in unsupported regions and entities majority-owned or controlled from them (an ownership rule first announced on September 4, 2025 at more than 50%). OpenAI's list pages talk about access from a location; its terms add a trade-controls clause on U.S.-embargoed countries.
• Real differences. Myanmar, Afghanistan, Yemen are on OpenAI's list and not on Anthropic's. The other 20 names that only OpenAI lists are overseas territories (Greenland, Réunion, Bermuda and others), which Anthropic covers through its territories rule.
• Older Anthropic copies. The Claude developer docs page (175 entries) and the help-center article dated March 16, 2026 (177 entries) are shorter than the legal policy and miss, for example, Ethiopia, Libya and Sudan. The consumer and commercial terms incorporate the Supported Regions Policy itself.

How the lists have changed

• OpenAI: archived copies of the ChatGPT page from March 20, 2025 and October 23, 2025 show 188 entries; the copy from February 10, 2026 shows 208. The 20 additions are overseas territories, not new countries. Nothing was added or removed between February 10, 2026 and October 20, 2026.
• Anthropic: archived copies from June and September 18, 2026 show two identical lists (API and Claude.ai) of 184 entries. By October 4, 2026 the Democratic Republic of the Congo had been added (185). By October 11, 2026 the page had become a single Supported Regions Policy with the location, headquarters and ownership rules. Anthropic announced on October 8, 2026 that the updated policy text takes effect on November 12, 2026.
• API enforcement history: in June 2024 OpenAI told developers it would take additional steps to block API traffic from unsupported regions from July 9, 2024 (media reports and a Vercel customer notice).

What "not supported" means in practice

• OpenAI accounts: "Accessing or offering access to our services outside of the countries and territories listed below may result in your account being blocked or suspended."
• OpenAI payments: "Using payment methods outside of our list of supported countries will result in you being blocked from using our services."
• OpenAI API: requests from an unsupported location return 403 - Country, region, or territory not supported (code unsupported_country_region_territory).
• OpenAI terms: the services may not be used in or for the benefit of a U.S. embargoed country or territory; OpenAI may suspend or terminate access for a breach, to comply with the law or to prevent risk, and appeals go through OpenAI support.
• Anthropic: "Any country or region not listed is unsupported." The consumer terms require compliance with the Supported Regions Policy, allow suspension or termination without notice for a breach, and give no refund when a subscription is terminated for a violation.
• Anthropic apps: unsupported locations see "App unavailable"; Claude Code shows App unavailable in region.

What people report (community, not official)

These are patterns from public developer threads and media, not statements of policy.

• Edge and serverless routing: in 2024 developers reported OpenAI warnings because part of their traffic was served from data centres in Hong Kong or mainland China, even though the company itself was elsewhere. Vercel told customers that functions in its Hong Kong region would be affected by the July 2024 block.
• Mis-geolocated IP addresses: developers in supported countries (a US data centre in 2024, Seoul in 2025) reported the 403 error after infrastructure changes. In the Seoul thread an OpenAI support account asked for the IP address to check whether it was geolocated incorrectly.
• Intermittent errors: some threads describe random region errors on unchanged deployments, without a public explanation.
• End users count against the developer: one 2024 developer thread describes end users reaching an app through proxies from unsupported places and the developer fearing an API suspension as a result. OpenAI's wording ("accessing or offering access") covers both sides, and routing traffic to look as if it comes from elsewhere does not make the use supported.

Travelling or moving

• Travelling to an unsupported place: OpenAI says you "may have trouble logging in", and Anthropic's policy covers use while physically located in an unsupported region. Plan on not using either service there; neither page we read offers a short-trip exception.
• Back home and still getting errors: OpenAI suggests clearing cache and cookies, trying another browser or an incognito window, then contacting support. Anthropic asks you to contact support if you believe the "App unavailable" message is wrong.
• Moving to a supported country: the lists are about where access is offered, so a move into a listed country is covered by the same lists. For OpenAI, make sure your payment method is from a supported country too.
• Moving to an unsupported country: OpenAI says it will help cancel subscriptions you can no longer use; export your data first; the related article on restrictions and bans covers the official export steps.

How to stay within the rules

• Use ChatGPT and Claude only while you are physically in a listed country, and pay with a payment method from a supported country.
• Do not try to make your connection look as if it comes from somewhere else. The providers' rules are about where you are, and use from an unsupported location can lead to suspension.
• Companies: check incorporation, headquarters and majority ownership against Anthropic's policy before rolling Claude out, including for subsidiaries.
• Developers: if your product calls the OpenAI or Claude API on behalf of users, keep it available only where the providers allow, and check which regions your serverless or edge functions run in.
• Buying through a third party does not change these rules. ClaudeMax is an independent service, not OpenAI or Anthropic, and the providers' regional rules apply to every account whoever paid for it.
• If you think a block is a mistake, use the official routes: OpenAI support or Claude support.

Quick reference: places named in this article

Not on either list: Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Russia, Belarus, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela. On OpenAI's list only: Myanmar, Afghanistan, Yemen. Russia and Belarus, Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau were absent from every archived copy we checked (OpenAI since March 2025, Anthropic since June 2026).