I get this question at least once a week: "Is there a free AI API I can use?" The answer is yes — but with caveats. Every major LLM provider has some kind of free tier, and a few platforms give you genuinely usable free access. The trick is knowing which free tiers are actually useful and which ones are just marketing bait that'll cut you off after 10 API calls.
I spent a week testing every free LLM API I could find. Here's the real picture.
The Quick Summary
Before we get into details: if you want the absolute most free usage, Google's Gemini API has the most generous free tier by far. If you want the best model quality for free, Anthropic's free tier gives you limited access to Claude Sonnet. If you want fast inference for free, Groq is hard to beat.
Now let's break down every option.
Google Gemini API — The King of Free
Google is essentially giving away Gemini API access. The free tier includes:
- 15 RPM (requests per minute) for Gemini 2.5 Pro
- 30 RPM for Gemini 2.0 Flash
- 1,500 requests per day
- 1M token context window included
This is absurdly generous. For a side project or prototype, 1,500 requests per day is plenty. The catch? The free tier has no SLA, latency can spike during peak hours, and Google reserves the right to use your data for model improvement (opt out via their settings).
Get started: Google AI Studio
OpenAI — Limited but Useful
OpenAI gives new accounts $5 in free credits that expire after 3 months. After that, you're on pay-as-you-go. However, they do offer a free tier for GPT-4o-mini through the Assistants API with some restrictions.
- $5 initial credits (new accounts only)
- GPT-4o-mini access at Tier 1 rate limits
- 3 RPM, 200 RPD for free tier
- No access to o1, o3, or GPT-4o on free tier
Honestly, OpenAI's free tier is the worst of the bunch. It's clearly designed to get you hooked and then convert you to paid. Fair enough — they're a business — but if free access is your goal, look elsewhere first.
Docs: OpenAI API docs
Anthropic — Quality Over Quantity
Anthropic gives you $5 in free credits when you sign up, similar to OpenAI. The difference is that you get access to Claude Sonnet 4, which is arguably the best coding model available. The free credits go faster than you'd expect — Sonnet is $3/M input tokens — but for targeted use, it's worth it.
- $5 initial credits
- Access to Claude Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus models
- 5 RPM on free tier
- Credits expire after 30 days
Docs: Anthropic API docs
DeepSeek — Cheap Enough to Be Basically Free
DeepSeek isn't technically free, but at $0.27/M input tokens for DeepSeek V3, it's close enough. A dollar gets you about 3.7 million input tokens. That's roughly 2,800 pages of text. For most hobbyist projects, you'd spend less per month than a cup of coffee.
- No free credits, but pricing is rock-bottom
- DeepSeek V3: $0.27/M input, $1.10/M output
- DeepSeek R1: $0.55/M input (reasoning model)
- 60 RPM from day one — generous limits
If you're building something where every cent matters, DeepSeek is the answer. Just be aware of the data sovereignty considerations (China-hosted).
Docs: DeepSeek Platform
Groq — Blazing Fast, Free Tier
Groq doesn't train their own models — they run open-source models on custom LPU chips that are insanely fast. We're talking sub-200ms time to first token. Their free tier is genuinely useful:
- Free access to Llama 4, Gemma 3, Mistral models
- 30 RPM on free tier
- 14,400 requests per day
- Some models have token-per-minute limits (~6K TPM)
The speed alone makes Groq worth checking out. For real-time applications — chatbots, autocomplete, streaming UIs — Groq's latency is unmatched. The model selection is limited to open-source models, but for many tasks, Llama 4 or Gemma 3 are plenty good.
Get started: Groq Console
Together AI — Open Source Playground
Together AI hosts a huge catalog of open-source models and gives new users $5 in free credits. What I like about Together is the variety — you can test Llama 4, Qwen 3, DeepSeek, Mistral, and dozens of other models through a single API.
- $5 free credits for new accounts
- 100+ open-source models available
- Competitive inference pricing after credits run out
- OpenAI-compatible API
Docs: Together AI docs
Hugging Face Inference API — The Long Tail
Hugging Face offers free inference for thousands of models through their Inference API. The free tier is rate-limited but gives you access to models you won't find anywhere else — specialized, fine-tuned, niche models for every imaginable task.
- Free for most models (rate-limited)
- Thousands of models available
- Great for experimentation and prototyping
- Can be slow — shared GPU infrastructure
Comparison: All Free Tiers at a Glance
My Strategy: Maximize Free Usage
Here's what I actually do for personal projects where I want to minimize cost:
- Start with Google Gemini's free tier for development and prototyping. 1,500 requests/day is enough to build and test pretty much anything.
- Use Groq for anything latency-sensitive. Free, fast, and the Llama 4 models are good enough for most chat-style applications.
- Switch to DeepSeek for production volume. When you need more than free tiers allow, $0.27/M tokens is practically free anyway.
- Keep Anthropic credits for complex coding tasks. Don't waste Claude Sonnet on summarization — use it when you actually need top-tier code generation.
The Caching Trick Nobody Talks About
Here's a pro tip that'll save you a fortune: prompt caching. If you're sending similar prompts repeatedly (same system prompt, same few-shot examples, same document with different questions), a good caching layer can reduce your API calls by 30-50%.
Requesty has built-in prompt caching that works across providers. Combined with their routing (which automatically picks the cheapest capable model), I've seen teams reduce their LLM costs by 80%+ compared to raw OpenAI usage. Their free tier includes caching and access to all models through a single API endpoint.
// Same OpenAI SDK, automatic caching + routing
import OpenAI from "openai";
const client = new OpenAI({
apiKey: "your-requesty-key",
baseURL: "https://router.requesty.ai/v1",
});
// Repeated calls with the same system prompt? Cached automatically.
const response = await client.chat.completions.create({
model: "deepseek/deepseek-chat", // Or use "router" for auto-selection
messages: [
{ role: "system", content: longSystemPrompt }, // Cached after first call
{ role: "user", content: "New question here..." },
],
});When Free Isn't Enough
Free tiers are great for prototyping, side projects, and low-volume apps. But if you're building something that needs to scale, you'll eventually need to pay. The good news is that LLM API prices have dropped 80%+ in the last two years and show no sign of stopping.
When you're ready to scale, read our AI API pricing guide for a detailed breakdown of what you'll actually pay, and check the model comparison tool to find the best price-to-performance ratio for your use case.
A Note on "Unlimited Free AI" Scams
I want to be real about something: if a site promises "unlimited free GPT-4 API access," it's either using stolen API keys, will shut down next month, or is harvesting your data. Legitimate free tiers come from the providers themselves or well-funded platforms with clear business models. Stick to the options listed above and you'll be fine.
For a full list of LLM providers, pricing, and capabilities, browse our model directory. And if you're curious about which models actually perform best, our benchmarks guide breaks down what the numbers mean.