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Free Tier Comparison

Which AI providers can you use for free via API? This guide compares free tiers across all tryAGI SDKs, ranked by generosity — covering LLMs, speech-to-text, image generation, video generation, 3D, and OpenAI-compatible CustomProviders.

Last updated: March 2026

Free tier details change frequently. Check each provider's pricing page for the latest information.

LLM / Text Generation

Comparison

Provider Free Tier CC Required? Key Models SDK
Google Gemini Free tier: 10–15 RPM, 250K TPM, 1.5K req/day No Gemini 2.5 Pro, Flash, Flash-Lite tryAGI.Google.Gemini
Mistral Free Experiment: all models, ~1B tokens/month No (phone required) Mistral Large, Codestral, all models tryAGI.Mistral
Groq Free tier: all models, 30 RPM, 14.4K req/day No Llama 4, Qwen3, Kimi K2, all models via CustomProviders
xAI $25 signup + $150/mo (data sharing opt-in) No Grok 4, Grok 4.1 Fast tryAGI.Xai
DeepSeek 5M free tokens on signup (30-day expiry) No DeepSeek V3.2, R1 via CustomProviders
Cohere 1,000 API calls/month (trial key, all models) No Command R+, Rerank 3.5, Embed 4 tryAGI.Cohere
SambaNova Free tier: 10–30 RPM, persistent No Llama 3.3 70B, Llama 3.1 405B, Qwen 2.5 via CustomProviders
Cerebras 1M tokens/day, 1B TPM No Llama, Qwen (fastest inference) via CustomProviders
HuggingFace Free credits/month (limited) No Thousands of open models tryAGI.HuggingFace
Anthropic $5 signup credits (30-day expiry) Yes Claude Opus/Sonnet/Haiku tryAGI.Anthropic
OpenAI $5 signup credits (3-month expiry) Yes GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, o3 tryAGI.OpenAI
Together AI Signup credits (~$1–5) Yes Llama, DeepSeek, Qwen, 200+ models tryAGI.Together
Ollama Always free (self-hosted) No Any open model (Llama, Mistral, Qwen, etc.) tryAGI.Ollama

Best free LLM APIs

  • Google Gemini — Most generous: free access to Gemini 2.5 Pro/Flash with high rate limits, no CC
  • Mistral — All models free including Mistral Large, ~1B tokens/month (phone verification only)
  • Groq — Blazing fast inference, all models free, generous daily limits
  • xAI — $25 free on signup + up to $150/mo with data sharing
  • Ollama — Unlimited, free forever (self-hosted, requires GPU)

Notes

  • Groq, SambaNova, and Cerebras are accessible via CustomProviders in tryAGI.OpenAI — no separate SDK needed
  • Mistral Experiment requests may be used for training — avoid sending sensitive data
  • Anthropic and OpenAI have small one-time credits that expire; no persistent free tier
  • DeepSeek is extremely cheap even after free credits ($0.14/M input tokens)
  • Cohere trial keys are for non-commercial development only

Speech-to-Text

Comparison

Provider Free Tier CC Required? Languages SDK
Deepgram $200 free credits (no expiry) No 36+ tryAGI.Deepgram
AssemblyAI $50 free credits (~185 hrs) No 99+ tryAGI.AssemblyAI
Gladia 10 hours/month (refreshing) No 100+ Gladia
Speechmatics 8 hours/month (refreshing) No 55+ tryAGI.Speechmatics
Rev AI 5 hours free (one-time) No English + others tryAGI.RevAI
Cartesia 10K–20K credits/month No 15+ Cartesia
ElevenLabs 10K credits/month (~10 min STT) No 29+ tryAGI.ElevenLabs
FishAudio 8K credits/month (~7 min) No 14+ tryAGI.FishAudio

Best free option: Deepgram

Deepgram offers $200 in free credits with no expiry and no credit card — enough for thousands of hours of transcription. Full API access to all models including real-time streaming.

Notes

  • Deepgram stands out with $200 free credits that never expire — the most generous STT free tier by far
  • AssemblyAI gives $50 free (~185 hours of Universal model) — excellent for audio intelligence features (sentiment, summarization)
  • Gladia and Speechmatics offer refreshing monthly hours — good for ongoing development
  • ElevenLabs and FishAudio are primarily TTS platforms; their STT free tiers are limited
  • Cartesia is primarily TTS; STT (Ink) is billed per second of audio from the same credit pool

Image Generation

Comparison

Provider Free Tier Free API? CC Required? Key Models SDK
Google Gemini 500 images/day Yes No Gemini 2.5 Flash Image tryAGI.Google.Gemini
StabilityAI Non-commercial free + 25–200 signup credits Yes No SD 3.5, Stable Image Core/Ultra tryAGI.StabilityAI
Leonardo.AI 150 tokens/day (web) + $5 one-time API credit Yes No Phoenix, Kino XL tryAGI.Leonardo
Replicate Limited free runs (select models) Yes No FLUX Schnell, Stable Diffusion tryAGI.Replicate
Fal.ai Signup credits (~$10 with promos) Yes No FLUX, SD, 1000+ models tryAGI.Fal
Recraft 30 credits/day + 35 on signup Web only No Recraft V3, V3 SVG tryAGI.Recraft
Ideogram 10 prompts/day (~40 images, web) Unclear No Ideogram v3, v2a tryAGI.Ideogram
Photoroom 10 API calls/month Yes No BG removal, AI backgrounds tryAGI.Photoroom
BlackForestLabs None No Yes FLUX.2 Pro, FLUX 1.1 Pro BlackForestLabs

Best free option: Google Gemini

Google Gemini offers 500 images per day via API with no credit card — by far the most generous free image generation API. The model (Gemini 2.5 Flash Image, aka "Nano Banana") produces high-quality 1024x1024 images. Daily quota resets at midnight PT.

Quick Start — Google Gemini Image Generation

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using tryAGI.Google.Gemini;

var apiKey = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("GOOGLE_API_KEY")
    ?? throw new InvalidOperationException("Set GOOGLE_API_KEY");

using var client = new GeminiClient(apiKey);

var response = await client.Models.GenerateContent(
    model: "gemini-2.5-flash-preview-native-audio-dialog",
    text: "Generate an image of a futuristic city skyline at sunset",
    responseModalities: [
        GenerateContentRequestResponseModalitie.IMAGE,
        GenerateContentRequestResponseModalitie.TEXT,
    ]);

Notes

  • Google Gemini is the clear winner — 500 img/day with full API access, no strings attached
  • StabilityAI offers free non-commercial API use (rate-limited) plus signup credits
  • Leonardo.AI gives a $5 one-time API credit on signup — good for testing
  • Fal.ai is a meta-platform hosting 1000+ models (FLUX, SD, etc.) — use promo codes for extra free credits
  • Recraft and Ideogram have generous web free tiers but limited/no free API access
  • BlackForestLabs has no free tier but FLUX Schnell is open-source and can be self-hosted

Video Generation

Comparison

Provider Free Tier Free API? CC Required? Key Capabilities SDK
KlingAI 66 credits/day (~6 clips) No (enterprise only) No Text/image-to-video, lip sync tryAGI.KlingAI
Hedra 300–400 credits/month (~50s 720p) No ($24/mo min) No Character video, lip sync tryAGI.Hedra
Luma 500 credits/month (draft quality) No (separate billing) Unclear Dream Machine tryAGI.Luma
Runway 125 credits (one-time, never replenishes) No ($12/mo min) No Gen-3, Gen-4 tryAGI.Runway
HeyGen 3 videos/month, 3 min max, 720p No ($5 min API purchase) No AI avatars, lip sync, voice tryAGI.HeyGen
D-ID 14-day trial: 3 min video Yes (trial) No Talking head, 100+ avatars tryAGI.DId
Tavus 3 min gen + 3 min conversational Yes No Personalized video, digital twins tryAGI.Tavus
Shotstack 20 credits (20 min video) Yes No Programmatic video editing tryAGI.Shotstack
Synthesia 3–10 min/month, 9 avatars No ($89/mo min) No Enterprise AI avatars, 160+ langs tryAGI.Synthesia
Descript 60 min processing + 100 AI credits Yes (limited) No AI video/audio editing tryAGI.Descript

Video generation: no provider offers generous free API access

Unlike image generation, no video provider has a truly generous free API tier. Most offer free web credits but lock API access behind paid plans. The best options for API testing are D-ID (14-day trial with API), Tavus (3 min free with API), and Shotstack (20 credits with API).

Free API Access Highlights

  • D-ID — Only 14-day trial, but includes full API access with 3 min of video and 100+ stock avatars
  • Tavus — API-first platform, free tier includes API access (3 min video generation + 3 min conversational)
  • Shotstack — Developer-focused video editing API, 20 free credits on signup
  • KlingAI — Most generous web free tier (66 credits/day!) but API is enterprise-only ($4,200/3 months)

Notes

  • KlingAI and Hedra have decent web free tiers for manual experimentation
  • Runway free credits are one-time and never refresh — use them wisely
  • Fal.ai (listed under Image) also hosts video models (Kling, Hailuo) accessible through one API
  • Most providers separate web and API billing — free web credits do NOT grant API access

3D Generation

Comparison

Provider Free Tier Free API? CC Required? Key Capabilities SDK
Tripo 300/mo (web) + 2,000 one-time API credits Yes No Text-to-3D, image-to-3D, mesh tryAGI.Tripo
Meshcapade 2,500 credits/month, 10s video limit Limited No Photo-to-avatar, motion capture Meshcapade
Meshy 100 credits/month (web, no download for v6) No ($16/mo min) No Text/image-to-3D, AI texturing Meshy

Best free option: Tripo

Tripo gives 2,000 free API credits on signup (one-time) plus 300 web credits/month. Full API access with no credit card required. Game Hub Developer program offers an additional 5,000 free credits.

Notes

  • Tripo has the best free API offering for 3D generation — 2,000 credits is enough for substantial testing
  • Meshcapade is generous with web credits (2,500/mo) but narrowly focused on human avatars/motion
  • Meshy has free web generation but API requires a paid Pro plan ($16/mo)

Search / RAG / Embeddings

Comparison

Provider Free Tier CC Required? Type SDK
Jina 10M free tokens (shared across all APIs) No Embeddings, Reader, Reranker tryAGI.Jina
Serper 2,500 free queries (one-time) No Google SERP data Serper
Tavily 1,000 credits/month (refreshing) No AI search + extract tryAGI.Tavily
Exa 1,000 credits (~2K searches) No Semantic web search Exa
BraveSearch $5/mo credits (~1K queries) Yes Web search tryAGI.BraveSearch

Best free option: Jina

Jina gives 10 million free tokens on signup, shared across embedding, reader, reranking, and classification APIs — no CC required. At 100 RPM free tier, that's plenty for development.

Notes

  • Jina tokens are shared across all APIs (embeddings, reader, reranker, classifier) — great value
  • Tavily is the most popular AI search API with 1,000 refreshing monthly credits — standard for AI agent development
  • Serper gives 2,500 one-time queries to Google's SERP data — good for prototyping
  • Exa offers semantic search with ~2,000 free searches including content extraction
  • BraveSearch removed its free tier in 2026 — now requires CC with $5/mo credits

OpenAI-Compatible CustomProviders

Many providers with free tiers are accessible via CustomProviders in tryAGI.OpenAI — one NuGet package, one API shape, full IChatClient + IEmbeddingGenerator support.

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dotnet add package tryAGI.OpenAI
Provider Factory Method Free Tier CC Required?
Groq CustomProviders.Groq(key) All models free, 30 RPM, 14.4K req/day No
SambaNova CustomProviders.SambaNova(key) Persistent free, 10–30 RPM (up to 405B) No
Cerebras CustomProviders.Cerebras(key) 1M tokens/day, fastest inference No
DeepSeek CustomProviders.DeepSeek(key) 5M tokens on signup (30-day) No
xAI CustomProviders.XAi(key) $25 signup + $150/mo data sharing No
OpenRouter CustomProviders.OpenRouter(key) Free models (Llama, Gemma, etc.) No
GitHub Models CustomProviders.GitHubModels(token) Free tier: 50 req/day (GPT-4o), rate-limited No
Fireworks CustomProviders.Fireworks(key) 10 RPM free (no CC), 6K RPM with CC No
Nebius CustomProviders.Nebius(key) $1 free credits, 60+ models No
Perplexity CustomProviders.Perplexity(key) 5 Pro searches/day (web); API is paid Yes
Ollama CustomProviders.Ollama() Always free (local, no key needed) No
LM Studio CustomProviders.LmStudio() Always free (local, no key needed) No

Best free CustomProviders

  • Groq — All models, generous limits, blazing fast LPU inference
  • SambaNova — Persistent free tier with Llama 3.1 405B (!), no expiry
  • Cerebras — 1M tokens/day, world's fastest inference chip
  • OpenRouter — Several free models available (Llama, Gemma), no CC

Quick Start — Groq via CustomProviders

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using OpenAI;
using Microsoft.Extensions.AI;

var apiKey = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("GROQ_API_KEY")
    ?? throw new InvalidOperationException("Set GROQ_API_KEY");

var client = CustomProviders.Groq(apiKey);
IChatClient chatClient = client.AsChatClient("llama-3.3-70b-versatile");

var response = await chatClient.GetResponseAsync("Explain quantum computing briefly.");
Console.WriteLine(response);

Summary — Best Free APIs by Category

Category Provider What You Get Free
LLM / Text Google Gemini Free tier with 2.5 Pro/Flash, 250K TPM, no CC
LLM / Text Mistral All models free, ~1B tokens/month, no CC
LLM / Text Groq (CustomProviders) All models free, 30 RPM, fastest inference, no CC
Speech-to-Text Deepgram $200 free credits, no expiry, no CC
Speech-to-Text AssemblyAI $50 free credits (~185 hrs), no CC
Search / RAG Jina 10M free tokens across all APIs, no CC
Search / RAG Tavily 1,000 credits/month refreshing, no CC
Image Generation Google Gemini 500 images/day, full API, no CC
Video Generation D-ID / Tavus / Shotstack Limited free API trials (3–20 min)
3D Generation Tripo 2,000 one-time API credits, no CC

Fal.ai as a meta-platform

Fal.ai hosts 1000+ models across image, video, and 3D generation from many providers. With a single API key and free signup credits, you can access FLUX, Stable Diffusion, Kling video models, and more — making it a convenient one-stop-shop for testing multiple generative media APIs.

Getting Free API Keys

Direct links to sign up and get an API key for each provider — no credit card required unless noted.

LLM / Text Generation

Provider Signup Link Env Variable
Google Gemini aistudio.google.com GOOGLE_API_KEY
Mistral console.mistral.ai MISTRAL_API_KEY
Groq console.groq.com GROQ_API_KEY
xAI console.x.ai XAI_API_KEY
DeepSeek platform.deepseek.com DEEPSEEK_API_KEY
Cohere dashboard.cohere.com COHERE_API_KEY
SambaNova cloud.sambanova.ai SAMBANOVA_API_KEY
Cerebras cloud.cerebras.ai CEREBRAS_API_KEY
HuggingFace huggingface.co/settings/tokens HUGGINGFACE_API_KEY
Anthropic console.anthropic.com (CC required) ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
OpenAI platform.openai.com (CC required) OPENAI_API_KEY

Speech-to-Text

Provider Signup Link Env Variable
Deepgram console.deepgram.com DEEPGRAM_API_KEY
AssemblyAI assemblyai.com ASSEMBLYAI_API_KEY
Gladia app.gladia.io GLADIA_API_KEY
Speechmatics portal.speechmatics.com SPEECHMATICS_API_KEY

Search / RAG / Embeddings

Provider Signup Link Env Variable
Jina jina.ai/api-dashboard JINA_API_KEY
Tavily app.tavily.com TAVILY_API_KEY
Serper serper.dev SERPER_API_KEY
Exa dashboard.exa.ai EXA_API_KEY

Image / Video / 3D Generation

Provider Signup Link Env Variable
Google Gemini (images) aistudio.google.com GOOGLE_API_KEY
StabilityAI platform.stability.ai STABILITY_API_KEY
Leonardo.AI app.leonardo.ai LEONARDO_API_KEY
Fal.ai fal.ai/dashboard FAL_KEY
Replicate replicate.com REPLICATE_API_TOKEN
Tripo (3D) platform.tripo3d.ai TRIPO_API_KEY