Free LLM API Keys & Rate Limits
Compare free tiers from Groq, Google Gemini, Cerebras, OpenRouter, and Hugging Face. No credit card required for most providers.
Google AI Studio
| Model | Free Rate Limit | Max tok/s | Context | Notes | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini 2.5 Flash | 15 RPM, 1M tokens/day | 150 | 1M tokens | Best free tier for long-context tasks | Get Free Key → |
| Gemini 2.0 Flash | 15 RPM, 1M tokens/day | 130 | 1M tokens | — | Get Free Key → |
Groq
| Model | Free Rate Limit | Max tok/s | Context | Notes | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Llama 3.3 70B | 30 RPM, 14,400 req/day | 330 | 128K tokens | Fastest free inference via LPU | Get Free Key → |
| Mixtral 8x7B | 30 RPM, 14,400 req/day | 500 | 32K tokens | — | Get Free Key → |
| Gemma 2 9B | 30 RPM, 14,400 req/day | 550 | 8K tokens | — | Get Free Key → |
Cerebras
| Model | Free Rate Limit | Max tok/s | Context | Notes | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Llama 3.3 70B | 30 RPM, 1M tokens/day | 2,100 | 8K tokens | Fastest inference hardware globally | Get Free Key → |
OpenRouter
| Model | Free Rate Limit | Max tok/s | Context | Notes | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek R1 (free) | 20 RPM | 45 | 164K tokens | :free model — no credit card required | Get Free Key → |
| Llama 3.1 8B (free) | 20 RPM | 90 | 128K tokens | :free model | Get Free Key → |
| Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B (free) | 20 RPM | 60 | 32K tokens | :free model | Get Free Key → |
Hugging Face
| Model | Free Rate Limit | Max tok/s | Context | Notes | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Llama 3.1 8B Instruct | 1,000 req/day | 30 | 8K tokens | Serverless Inference API | Get Free Key → |
| Mistral 7B Instruct | 1,000 req/day | 25 | 8K tokens | Serverless Inference API | Get Free Key → |
Inference Speed Comparison (Free Tier)
Frequently Asked Questions
Which free LLM API is the fastest?
Cerebras offers the fastest free inference at ~2,100 tokens/sec on Llama 3.3 70B via their custom wafer-scale hardware. Groq is second at ~330 tokens/sec using LPU accelerators.
Can I use free LLM APIs for production?
Free tiers are designed for development and experimentation. Rate limits (typically 20-30 RPM) are too restrictive for production workloads. For production, consider paid API plans or self-hosting on cloud GPUs.
Do free LLM APIs require a credit card?
Most free tiers do not require a credit card. Groq, Google AI Studio, Cerebras, and Hugging Face offer free access with just an email or GitHub account. OpenRouter's :free models are also credit-card-free.
What is the best free API for coding assistance?
OpenRouter's free Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B is the best free option for code generation with 32K context. Groq's Llama 3.3 70B is a strong general-purpose alternative with much higher throughput.
How does Groq achieve such fast inference speeds?
Groq uses custom LPU (Language Processing Unit) chips designed for deterministic, low-latency inference. Unlike GPUs, LPUs eliminate memory bottlenecks by using SRAM-only architecture, enabling 300+ tokens/sec on 70B models.
What are the rate limits for Google Gemini free tier?
Google AI Studio's free tier for Gemini 2.5 Flash allows 15 requests per minute and up to 1 million tokens per day. This is one of the most generous free tiers available for LLM API access.