Free AI models: 80 with an API tier you can test without a card

Prices from official vendor price lists · October 2026
80 models with a genuine free API allowance — enough to build and test without a card on file. Output prices run from $0.059 to $12 per 1M tokens across the 72 models with a paid per-token price; 57 ship open weights.
Free tier
Services found: 80
#AI modelCapabilitiesAPI $/1M (in / out)Context windowPrice / moOutput $/1MOverviewVisit site
21

DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus

DeepSeek
Text & chatStructured JSON outputPrompt caching
$0.27 / $1163.8K tokensAPI only1View
22

Mistral Medium 3.5

Mistral AI
Text & chatVisionReasoning
$1.5 / $7.5256K tokensAPI only7.5View
23

Mistral Small 4

Mistral AI
Text & chatVisionReasoning
$0.15 / $0.6256K tokensAPI only0.6View
24

Qwen3 Coder Next

Qwen
Text & chatCodingReasoning
$0.12 / $0.8262.1K tokensAPI only0.8View
25

Mistral Large 3 2512

Mistral AI
Text & chatVisionReasoning
$0.5 / $1.5262.1K tokensAPI only1.5View
26

Devstral 2 2512

Mistral AI
Text & chatCodingStructured JSON output
$0.4 / $2262.1K tokensAPI only2View
27

Ministral 3 14B 2512

Mistral AI
Text & chatVisionReasoning
$0.2 / $0.2262.1K tokensAPI only0.2View
28

Ministral 3 8B 2512

Mistral AI
Text & chatVisionReasoning
$0.15 / $0.15262.1K tokensAPI only0.15View
29

Ministral 3 3B 2512

Mistral AI
Text & chatVisionReasoning
$0.1 / $0.1131.1K tokensAPI only0.1View
30

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite

Google
Text & chatVisionAudio
$0.25 / $1.51.05M tokensAPI only1.5View
31

Nano Banana 2

Google
VisionImage generationStructured JSON output
API onlyView
32

Nano Banana 2 Lite

Google
VisionImage generationStructured JSON output
API onlyView
33

Nano Banana Pro

Google
VisionImage generationStructured JSON output
$2 / $12API only12View
34

Gemini Omni Flash

Google
Text & chatVisionAudio
$1.5 / $9API only9View
35

Gemini 3.5 Transcribe

Google
AudioAdjustable thinkingSpeech-to-text
API onlyView
36

Gemini 3.5 Transcribe Live

Google
AudioAdjustable thinkingSpeech-to-text
API onlyView
37

DeepSeek V4 Pro

DeepSeek
Text & chatReasoningAdjustable thinking
1M tokensAPI onlyView
38

DeepSeek V4 Flash

DeepSeek
Text & chatVisionReasoning
1M tokensAPI onlyView
39

Codestral

Mistral AI
Text & chatCodingStructured JSON output
$0.3 / $0.9128K tokensAPI only0.9View
40

Devstral 2

Mistral AI
Text & chatCodingStructured JSON output
256K tokensAPI onlyView

Browse by need

Reasoning models169 modelsCoding assistants17 modelsVision and images156 modelsLong context 1M+82 modelsFree tier available80 modelsOpen weights88 models

Eighty-six models here offer a real free allowance on the API - enough to build and test without a card on file. Google, Alibaba, DeepSeek, Mistral and Z.ai are the vendors to start with; GLM 5.3, GLM 5.3 Flash and Gemini 3.8 Flash lead the list.

Free tiers are rate-limited rather than unlimited, usually expressed in requests per minute and tokens per day. Alibaba Model Studio grants roughly a million tokens per model on a 90-day window; Google publishes limits inside AI Studio rather than in its docs. Treat the free tier as a development budget, not a production plan.

Development budgetEnough to build and evaluate, never enough to serve production.
Limits are per minuteRate caps bite before token caps do.
Quality is identicalFree tiers run the same weights, not a weaker variant.

Models with this capability

The 80 models below all support this capability. Prices are input and output per 1M tokens from the vendor official price list; for dirhams multiply by 3.6725. Tap a card to open the model page.

GLM 5.3
#1
Z.ai
in $1.4out $4.41.31M tokens
GLM 5.3 Flash
#2
Z.ai
in $0.075out $0.251.31M tokens
Gemini 3.8 Flash
#3
Google DeepMind
in $0.75out $3.751.05M tokens
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
#4
Alibaba (Qwen)
in $2out $61M tokens
Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B
#5
Alibaba (Qwen)
in $2out $61.05M tokens
Gemini 3.7 Flash
#6
Google DeepMind
in $0.75out $3.751.05M tokens
DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813
#7
DeepSeek
in $1.0494out $3.14821.05M tokens
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731
#8
DeepSeek
in $0.065out $0.181.31M tokens

How to choose

  • Verify the limit shape — requests per minute, tokens per day, or a fixed grant.
  • Check expiry: some allowances run on a 90-day window rather than monthly.
  • Test the model you would actually pay for, not only the cheapest free one.
  • Watch data terms — a few free tiers train on your traffic.

Common mistakes

Benchmarking on the free tier aloneRate limits distort latency measurements.
Shipping on free quotaThe first traffic spike takes the feature down.

Who this suits

PrototypesProving the idea before any procurement conversation.
Students and researchersReal model access without a budget.
EvaluationComparing several vendors on identical prompts at zero cost.

Related filters

Open weights88 models you can download and self-host
Low latency73 small, fast models for volume
Text & chat228 models for text generation and chat
MultilingualAll 239 models work beyond English
All 239 modelsThe full rating with filters and prices

Frequently asked questions

Which vendors offer a free API tier?

Google, Alibaba, DeepSeek, Mistral and Z.ai. GLM 5.3, GLM 5.3 Flash and Gemini 3.8 Flash are the usual starting points.

What are the limits?

Requests per minute and tokens per day rather than a headline figure. Alibaba grants roughly 1M tokens per model on a 90-day window.

Can I run production on a free tier?

No. Treat it as a development budget — paid rates on the same models start at $0.18 per 1M output tokens.

Which free tier is most generous?

Alibaba grants roughly a million tokens per model on a 90-day window; Google publishes limits inside AI Studio.

Is a card required?

Not for the tiers listed here — that is the point of the filter.

Frequently searched

By capabilityReasoningCodingVisionLong context 1M+Free tierOpen weightsLow latencyRealtime voiceImage generation
By vendorAnthropic (13)OpenAI (30)Google DeepMind (17)xAI (8)Meta (6)DeepSeek (9)Mistral AI (11)Alibaba (Qwen) (34)Z.ai (12)Moonshot AI (5)
Popular modelsClaude Fable 5.1GPT-6 AstraClaude Opus 5Claude Fable 5GPT-5.6 SolGLM 5.3Grok 4.6Kimi K3GPT-5.6 Terra
By deliveryBatch APIPrompt cachingPriority tierFrontier tierProprietary APITool callingStructured JSONWeb searchMultilingual

Ratings 0

Avg. score 0

Rate this page

Help us improve