Free AI API Tier Comparison
Every major LLM provider offers free access — but they vary wildly. Compare free tiers, see how long credits last, and find the best option for your project.
How Long Will Free Credits Last?
Enter your expected usage to see how long each provider's free tier lasts
Free Credit Lifespan
Detailed Comparison
All free tier options ranked by how long they last at your usage level
| Provider | Free Model | Free Type | Input $/M | Output $/M | Days Until Exhausted | Requests Until Exhausted |
|---|
Best Free Tier by Use Case
Not sure which provider to start with? Match your project to the best free option.
Chatbot / Conversational AI
Need low latency and high daily volume. Google's free tier handles 21K+ requests/day with no cost.
RAG / Document Q&A
Long context windows matter. Gemini 2.5 Pro offers 1M context free. Cohere excels at retrieval.
Code Generation
Quality matters most. Test Claude Sonnet 4 and GPT-4o with $5 credits, then pick the better fit.
Content Generation
High volume, moderate quality. Google's unlimited free tier is the only viable long-term option.
Data Classification
Short inputs, short outputs, high volume. Budget models on Google's free tier work perfectly.
Learning / Education
Experimenting with different models. Use all $5 credits to compare quality, then settle on Google.
Google is the only viable long-term free option
Every other provider's $5 credit runs out within days of real usage. If you're building something you want to run for free for more than a week, Google Gemini is your only choice. The 15 RPM limit is enough for most side projects.
Use $5 credits for quality testing, not production
The smart strategy: use OpenAI, Anthropic, and Mistral credits to test which model produces the best output for your use case. Then commit to one paid provider (or use Google free tier) for production.
Budget models stretch credits 10-50x further
Using GPT-4o mini instead of GPT-4o makes your $5 credit last 10x longer. Using Claude Haiku instead of Opus stretches it 50x. Always start with budget models during evaluation.
Stack free tiers for maximum runway
Sign up for all 6 providers: you get $25 in total credits (5 providers x $5) plus unlimited Google Gemini. That's enough to prototype for months without spending a dollar.
Ready to go beyond free tiers?
APIpulse Pro gives you cost optimization reports, multi-model strategies, and alerts when cheaper alternatives emerge.
Get Pro — $29 one-time