Checked October 14, 2026
Which AI APIs are free?
- 1 of 5big labs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, DeepSeek) with a free tier on their own API
- 14models offered free on OpenRouter
- 10,000Neurons of AI compute free every day on Cloudflare Workers AI
Where you can call a model for free
Most useful first.
Google
Free tier- What is free
- A free tier for 8 Gemini models: Gemini 3.8 Flash, Gemini 3.6 Flash, Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite, Gemini 3 Flash Preview, Gemini 2.5 Pro, Gemini 2.5 Flash, and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite.Not free: Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview and Gemini 4 Argon.
- Limits
- Not published. Google shows each account's free-tier limits inside AI Studio.
- Your data
- The provider may use free-tier prompts to improve its products (not on the paid tier).
- Source
- ai.google.dev › pricingai.google.dev › rate-limits
OpenRouter
Free models- What is free
- 14 models offered at no charge; their ids end in :free. The list changes often.
- Limits
- 20 requests a minute and 50 a day; 1,000 a day once you have bought at least $10 of credits.
- Your data
- Your account settings decide whether requests may go to providers that train on them.
- Source
- openrouter.ai › limitsopenrouter.ai › provider-logging
Cloudflare Workers AI
Daily allowance- What is free
- 10,000 Neurons a day at no charge, on both the free and the paid plan. Neurons are Cloudflare's unit of AI compute; how many a request uses depends on the model.
- Limits
- Beyond the daily allowance: $0.011 per 1,000 Neurons, on the paid plan only.
- Your data
- Not stated on the provider's pricing or limits page.
- Source
- developers.cloudflare.com › pricing
Mistral
Free tier- What is free
- A Free mode: create API keys and use the monthly usage it includes.
- Limits
- Not published. Mistral shows them on your account's Limits page.
- Your data
- Not stated on the provider's pricing or limits page.
- Source
- docs.mistral.ai › usage-limits
No free API usage
These labs bill from the first token. Their pricing pages list no free allowance.
| Provider | What their pages say | Source |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | No free allowance. The “Free” usage tier in its rate-limit documentation is a spending cap of $100 a month, not free usage. | developers.openai.com › rate-limits |
| Anthropic | No free allowance. New accounts may start on an “Evaluation” tier with lower limits: a limit, not a credit. | platform.claude.com › rate-limits |
| xAI | No free allowance on its models and pricing page. | docs.x.ai › models |
| DeepSeek | No free allowance on its pricing page. | api-docs.deepseek.com › pricing |
When free is not enough: the cheapest paid models
List prices on each provider's own API, and what 1,000 requests of 1,000 input and 500 output tokens cost.
| Model | Input / output per 1M | 1,000 requests |
|---|---|---|
| GPT-6 LunaOpenAI | $0.10 / $0.50 | $0.35 |
| Claude Haiku 5.5Anthropic | $0.10 / $0.50 | $0.35 |
| GPT-4o MiniOpenAI | $0.15 / $0.60 | $0.45 |
| GPT-5.6 LunaOpenAI | $0.20 / $1.20 | $0.80 |
| DeepSeek V4.1 FlashDeepSeek | $0.30 / $1.20 | $0.90 |
| Gemini 3.1 Flash-LiteGoogle | $0.25 / $1.50 | $1.00 |
Prices for every model, with cache and long-prompt rates, are on the models page. All model prices
Before you build on a free tier
Free tiers change with little notice. Check the provider's page before you depend on one; we re-check this page every week.
Free-tier prompts can be used for training. Do not send personal, customer or confidential data through one.
Limits are set per account and can be lower for new accounts than the figures above.
Questions
Is the OpenAI API free?
No. OpenAI bills API use from the first token. The “Free” tier in its rate-limit documentation is a monthly spending cap, not free usage. ChatGPT's free plan is a separate product and does not include API access.
Is the Claude API free?
No. Anthropic's pricing page lists no free allowance; new accounts start with lower limits, not with free credit.
Which AI API is free?
Among the five big labs, only Google has a free tier on its own API, for its Gemini Flash and Flash-Lite models and Gemini 2.5 Pro. OpenRouter offers 14 models free with daily request limits, Cloudflare Workers AI gives a daily allowance, and Mistral has a Free mode. Checked October 14, 2026.
Checked against each provider's page on October 14, 2026. We re-check every week.