Free Intelligence · Model access
Free-Tier Tracker
Permanent free AI APIs you can build on today. For each one: models, rate limits, whether it trains on your data, and whether you need a card. Every row was checked Oct 16, 2026 on the provider's own page. If we couldn't check something, it says unverified.
Permanent free tiers
| Provider | Models on the free tier | Rate limits | Trains on your data? | Card needed? | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google AI Studio (Gemini API) | Gemini 3.8 Flash, 3.6 Flash, 3.5 Flash-Lite, 3.1 Flash-Lite, 2.5 Pro/Flash/Flash-Lite, Gemini Embedding 2, Gemma, TTS/Live (free tier). Gemini 4 Argon and 3.1 Pro Preview are paid only. | Per project, per model; shown in AI Studio (not published as a table). Daily quota resets at midnight PT. | Yes: free-tier content is used to improve Google's products (paid tier: no). | No: Free tier needs only an active project; billing is for Tier 1+. | pricing · rate limits checked Oct 16, 2026 |
| Groq | Free plan ($0) on GroqCloud: gpt-oss-120b/20b, qwen3.8-27b, Whisper large-v3 and others. | Org-level, per model; e.g. gpt-oss-120b 30 RPM · 1K RPD · 8K TPM · 200K TPD in Groq's docs table. Your exact limits are on the console Limits page. | No: Groq's terms say it may not train on inputs/outputs without permission; zero data retention available. | No (per Groq's help center); a payment method is only needed to upgrade to Developer. | rate limits · plans · terms · signup FAQ · billing FAQ checked Oct 16, 2026 |
| OpenRouter (:free models) | Model variants with IDs ending in :free (the catalog changes often). | 20 RPM; 50 requests/day, or 1,000/day after buying ≥10 credits (all time). | Depends on the routed provider. Set separate training opt-outs for free and paid models in account settings. | No for the 50/day tier; 10 credits ($) lift the daily cap. | limits · provider logging checked Oct 16, 2026 |
| Cloudflare Workers AI | Llama 3.x/4 Scout, gpt-oss-120b/20b, Qwen3, Gemma 3/4, Mistral Small 3.1, Whisper, FLUX and more. Some models (Kimi K2.6/K2.7, GLM-5.x, DeepSeek V4) need a paid billing method. | 10,000 Neurons/day free on Workers Free and Paid; resets 00:00 UTC. | Not stated on the pricing page (unverified). | No for Workers Free; paid plan needed above 10K Neurons/day. | pricing checked Oct 16, 2026 |
| Mistral (API free mode) | Mistral's API models (Medium 3.5, Small 4, Large 4, Codestral…) within included monthly usage. | Lowest RPS / tokens-per-minute / tokens-per-month tier; exact values on your Limits page. | May train in Free mode; you can opt out (Admin → Privacy). Separate toggle from the Vibe app. | No: API keys work in Free mode without a card. | activate · limits · training checked Oct 16, 2026 |
| NVIDIA NIM (build.nvidia.com) | NVIDIA-hosted NIM endpoints in the API catalog, free for prototyping with NVIDIA Developer Program membership. | Per model, varies with load; check your account on build.nvidia.com. No published table. | Unverified on NVIDIA's own pages. | Unverified. | NIM docs checked Oct 16, 2026 |
Free tiers change without notice. Treat these as a starting point and check the provider's Limits page before you depend on one.
Checked, but not a permanent free tier
| Provider | What we found | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Cerebras | No permanent free tier. New accounts get a $5 trial credit after adding a payment method, and it expires in 30 days. | rate limits & FAQ checked Oct 16, 2026 |
| GitHub Models | Retired July 30, 2026: the playground, catalog, inference API and BYOK are gone. | GitHub docs checked Oct 16, 2026 |
| Hugging Face Inference Providers | Free accounts get no monthly credits (they can buy credits). PRO and Team/Enterprise seats include $2/month. | pricing checked Oct 16, 2026 |
| xAI API | Free Console Playground, but no free API credits currently listed. See Mistral & Grok. | x.ai/api checked Oct 16, 2026 |
Method & credit
The starting list came from Reddit's free-tier threads: r/better_claw: LLMs, permanent free tiers only, r/better_claw: re-testing every free provider, r/better_claw: free LLM API list and r/AI_Agents: reliable free APIs. Thanks to those posters. We couldn't open the threads on Oct 16 (Reddit blocked our reader), so providers named only there aren't listed yet. Every row above comes from the provider's own docs, not the threads.