Free LLM APIs for Developers — API Specs, Endpoints & Rate Limits
Developer API specifications for verified free-tier LLM providers. OpenAI-compatible endpoints, authentication methods, rate limits (RPM/RPD/TPD), streaming support, and verification timestamps — all provenance-labeled.
Last verified: Invalid Date
Free LLM APIs: No Credit Card & No Subscription Required
The following providers grant API access with zero payment verification. No credit card, no subscription, and no billing required — just an API key to start building.
API Compatibility Matrix
Quick comparison of endpoint formats, auth methods, and streaming support across all free-tier providers.
| Provider | API Format | Auth | Streaming | Rate Limits | Verified | Models |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google AI SDK | API Key (no CC) | ✅ SSE | 15 RPM, 1M tokens/day | Permanent Free | 3 verified | |
G Groq | OpenAI Compatible | API Key (no CC) | ✅ SSE | 30 RPM, 14,400 req/day | Permanent Free | 6 verified |
| OpenAI Compatible | API Key (no CC) | ✅ SSE | ~20 RPM, 200 RPD daily quota | Free Tier | 3 verified | |
| OpenAI Compatible | API Key (no CC) | ✅ SSE | 30 RPM, 1M tokens/day | Permanent Free | 3 verified | |
| OpenAI Compatible | API Key (no CC) | ✅ SSE | 1,000 promotional API credits for developers | Trial | 4 verified | |
| Custom HTTP | API Key (no CC) | — | 1 RPS (60 RPM), phone verification required | Unknown | 3 verified | |
| Custom HTTP | API Key (no CC) | — | 10,000 neurons/day free allocation | Unknown | 5 verified | |
| OpenAI Compatible | API Key (no CC) | ✅ SSE | 3 RPM, no credit card required for :free models | Free Aggregator | 35 verified | |
| OpenAI Compatible | API Key (no CC) | ✅ SSE | 1,000 requests/day via Inference API (serverless) | Free Tier | 3 verified | |
| OpenAI Compatible | API Key (no CC) | ✅ SSE | GitHub account required; Copilot limits apply | Trial | 5 verified | |
| OpenAI Compatible | API Key (no CC) | ✅ SSE | Developer trial quota; varies by model | Free Aggregator | 5 verified | |
CH Chutes.aiAggregator | Custom HTTP | API Key (no CC) | — | Free tier with rate limits | Unknown | 3 verified |
MO ModelScopeAggregator | Custom HTTP | API Key (no CC) | — | Free tier with rate limits | Unknown | 3 verified |
OV OVHcloud AI EndpointsAggregator | Custom HTTP | API Key (no CC) | — | Free tier with rate limits | Unknown | 3 verified |
Provider API Specifications
Detailed API specs per provider with documented rate limits, capabilities, and verification status.
Google AI Studio
Google's official AI studio offering Gemini 2.0 Flash, Gemini 2.5 Flash, and Gemma 2 models with generous free quotas.
Verified Offerings
Groq
Ultra-low latency inference via custom LPU chips. Fastest free tier at 330+ tok/s on Llama 3.3 70B.
Verified Offerings
SambaNova Systems
AggregatorReconfigurable dataflow unit (RDU) inference cloud. Sub-second latency on SN40L RDUs with daily free quota.
Verified Offerings
Cerebras
Wafer-scale AI inference on custom CS-3 systems. Fastest free tier at 2,100+ tok/s on Llama 3.3 70B.
Verified Offerings
NVIDIA NIM
NVIDIA inference microservices with 1,000 free promotional API credits. Enterprise-grade GPU-accelerated inference.
Verified Offerings
Mistral AI
European open-source LLM platform with MoE architecture. Free tier requires phone verification.
No verified free offerings for this provider.
Cloudflare Workers AI
Edge AI inference on Cloudflare's global network. 10,000 neurons/day free for text, audio, vision, and embeddings.
No verified free offerings for this provider.
OpenRouter
AggregatorMulti-provider routing layer aggregating 35+ free model endpoints. :free models available with rate limits.
Verified Offerings
Hugging Face
AggregatorOpen-source model hub with serverless Inference API. 1,000 requests/day free on serverless endpoints.
Verified Offerings
GitHub Models
Free AI models via GitHub Models with GitHub account. GPT-4o mini, Llama 3.3, Phi-4 available with Copilot rate limits.
Verified Offerings
Kilo Code / Kilo Gateway
Free AI model gateway routing to frontier models including Qwen 2.5 Coder, DeepSeek Coder, and MiMo V2.5 with zero-cost access.
Verified Offerings
Chutes.ai
AggregatorCommunity-hosted inference with free tiers. Fast deployment for open-source LLMs with competitive rates.
No verified free offerings for this provider.
ModelScope
AggregatorChinese AI model hub with free inference endpoints for text, code, and vision models.
No verified free offerings for this provider.
OVHcloud AI Endpoints
AggregatorEuropean sovereign AI endpoints with free tier. GDPR-compliant inference on OVHcloud infrastructure.
No verified free offerings for this provider.
Quick Start: OpenAI-Compatible Free APIs
The fastest route to free LLM inference is using OpenAI-compatible endpoints. Below are tested curl examples for the most reliable free providers:
Groq (OpenAI-compatible)
curl https://api.groq.com/openai/v1/chat/completions \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $GROQ_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"model": "llama-3.3-70b-versatile",
"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Explain quantum computing in 2 sentences."}],
"stream": true
}'OpenRouter (OpenAI-compatible)
curl https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENROUTER_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"model": "meta-llama/llama-3.3-70b:free",
"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Explain quantum computing in 2 sentences."}],
"stream": true
}'Together.ai (OpenAI-compatible)
curl https://api.together.ai/v1/chat/completions \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOGETHER_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"model": "meta-llama/Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct-Turbo",
"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Explain quantum computing in 2 sentences."}],
"stream": true
}'All providers above support no-credit-card free tiers with varying rate limits. See individual provider sections above for exact quotas, last verified dates, and signup links.
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