Free AI API keys, the options that really exist

A free AI API key really exists. At least four providers let you create a key without a credit card and use it over time within quotas. The rest of the market asks for credits from the start, sometimes softened by a welcome offer. In between, many tutorials muddy things by calling a simple trial credit that expires "free".

As of June 13, 2026, the market splits cleanly. Some providers offer a real free tier, others demand a card. Each one comes with its own limits and best use. Every provider named here also has its own detailed setup guide, one click away. Comparing them side by side first saves you from opening accounts you'll never use.

01Key takeaways

• Four free tiers last over time and work without a credit card. They are Google (Gemini), Groq, Mistral (Experiment plan) and the ":free" models on OpenRouter.
• OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, DeepSeek and Perplexity ask for credits from the first call. DeepSeek makes up for it with tiny prices.
• You pay for a free tier in quotas. Expect requests per minute and per day, waiting queues and sometimes data used to improve the products.
• The right habit is to start free to learn, then move to pay per use once the need becomes clear. Both kinds of keys can sit in the same key ring.
• Exact quota figures change without notice. The official consoles are the reference and the figures here carry their date.

02Free for good, trial credit or card required

Three situations hide behind the word "free". The first is the permanent free tier, a key created with no payment method that you can use indefinitely under quotas. The second is the welcome credit, a small amount offered at sign-up that expires or runs out, after which a card becomes mandatory. The third is pay-per-use billing, which isn't free at all but costs so little for individual use that the line gets blurry.

That distinction drives everything else. Building a work habit on a trial credit sets you up for a bad surprise, while a real free tier covers months of learning. It's the first thing the AI without subscription hub checks for each provider, even before prices. The question is simply whether you start at zero euros or not.

03Free keys with no credit card

Four providers keep the full promise as of this date. You get a key created with no payment method, lasting use under quotas and no hidden expiry date. Each one has its own character and its own audience. The four profiles that follow give you enough to choose, then each provider's dedicated guide takes over for the step-by-step setup.

Google Gemini, the most generous to start with

The Google AI Studio free tier is still the best way in. You get a key in two minutes with a plain Google account and no card, on recent models of the Gemini family. The exact quotas show in the console and vary by model. There's one trade-off to know about, since on the free tier your data can be used to improve Google's products. The setup steps are in creating a free Gemini key.

Groq, speed as a gift

Groq serves open models on its own chips at a speed nobody matches. Its free tier is created by email, with no card. The caps per model show in the console, which leaves room for serious testing and occasional use. For creating the key and the difference with Grok from xAI, follow the full Groq key guide.

Mistral, the European option

The French company offers a free plan called Experiment, activated after an SMS check and with no bank card. It gives access to Mistral's own models with rate limits that are reasonable for exploring. Sign-up, models and the move to paid use are covered in the Mistral key tutorial.

OpenRouter, hundreds of models and one key

The OpenRouter hub lists models tagged ":free" that you can use with a key created with no payment method, under daily caps. The appeal is tasting the variety of the market without opening more accounts. The caps go up after a first credit purchase. The free models on OpenRouter explain the system and its fees.

04Providers that charge from the start

OpenAI offers no free tier on its API. The key requires credits, as detailed in creating an OpenAI key. Anthropic works the same way for Claude, sometimes with a small welcome credit at sign-up depending on the period. The steps for Claude give the current picture. In both cases, a few dollars cover weeks of individual use.

xAI also asks you to load credits before the first call to its Grok models, as the xAI key setup explains. Perplexity bills per use for its Sonar models, which cite their sources. Creating the Perplexity key explains its double billing, with tokens plus a search fee.

DeepSeek is a special case. It offers no free tier, but its prices rank among the lowest on the market, to the point that one euro lasts for months of everyday use. The value for money is measured in the DeepSeek key guide. It's almost free, without the quotas that come with free tiers.

05The comparison table

Free tiers of AI APIs, situation recorded on June 13, 2026, official consoles are the reference

Provider	Lasting free tier	Credit card	Strength
Google (Gemini)	Yes	Not required	The most generous to start with
Groq	Yes	Not required	Record response speed
Mistral	Yes (Experiment plan)	Not required	European company
OpenRouter	Capped ":free" models	Not required	Model variety, one key
OpenAI	No	Required	Benchmark general-purpose models
Anthropic (Claude)	No, variable welcome credit	Required afterward	High-end writing
xAI (Grok)	No	Required	General-purpose at a mid-range price
DeepSeek	No	Required	Tiny pay-per-use prices
Perplexity	No	Required	Answers sourced from the web

The quick reading is simple. To start today without opening your wallet, the top rows are enough. To work seriously tomorrow, the bottom rows cost less than you'd think, since per-token billing turns a generated article into a matter of cents with most of the providers listed. Nothing forces you to pick a side either. Free and paid keys live together in the same tools, each one takes a few minutes to create and you can swap them painlessly when a need changes.

06What paid use really costs, so you can compare

The word "paid" sounds scary until you put numbers on it. Take the content creator's standard unit, a 1,500-word article, which is about 2,500 output tokens. On DeepSeek's V4.1-Flash model, generating it costs about a third of a cent at October 2026 peak rates. On a mid-range model like OpenAI's GPT-5.4-mini or Anthropic's Claude Haiku 4.5, it comes to around one cent. Even the most expensive star models on the market, GPT-6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1, keep the article at around fifteen cents.

Put another way, the line that matters runs between paying for real usage and paying for an inflated credit pack, far more than between free and paid. An API key bills the tokens you use at the provider's price. Some platforms resell the same action dozens of times more expensively as their own credits. The free tier is a way in. The key paid per use remains by far the cheapest next step.

These orders of magnitude date from the day of the comparison. Each dedicated key guide repeats its provider's full official price list, checked on the same date. That gives you what you need to redo the math on your own volumes before you choose.

07Which key for which use

If you're a beginner who wants to learn without risk, take the free Gemini key, the simplest and most generous, with the caveat about data use. If you want instant answers for live tasks, pick Groq, whose speed changes the experience. If you care about a European company, go with Mistral and its Experiment plan. If you want to compare many models before choosing, try the free models on the OpenRouter hub.

If you already produce content regularly, a general-purpose model paid per use takes over. OpenAI or Anthropic suit demanding writing, DeepSeek handles large volumes at a low price and Perplexity serves content that needs sourced facts. The ideal key ring combines two or three of them, with free keys for everyday tasks and paid ones for what gets published.

One key ring works well for many freelancers. It holds a free Gemini key for drafts, prompt tests and throwaway tasks, a paid general-purpose key for texts meant for publication and a Groq key as backup when speed matters. The whole setup costs a few euros a month for the paid part and nothing for the rest. There's no commitment to cancel if a provider disappoints you.

08The traps of free tiers

Quotas are the most visible trap. Requests per minute, requests per day and tokens per minute all cap free use as soon as it becomes regular. That's harmless for learning but a deal-breaker for production. The typical experience is a queue of articles that stops halfway because the daily quota has run out.

Volatility catches people out too. Providers rework their free tiers without notice, upward as well as downward, so a figure published in an article ages within weeks. Trust the official consoles on the day you sign up. Never rely on screenshots from tutorials, our own pages included.

Then come the data terms. Some free tiers reserve the right to use your requests to improve their models, while the paid offers from the same companies rule that out. For public drafts, the stakes stay low. For client content, read the relevant line before you paste the key. Whatever the provider, the key security habits apply to free and paid keys alike.

The sneakiest trap is structural. It's turning a free tier into the single point of failure of a whole business. A provider that tightens its quotas or closes its free offer overnight takes down all the production that relied on it. The fix is one habit, keeping a second key ready in your key ring, free or paid, so that switching takes a minute instead of a day of panic.

09Using a free key in OpenTahr

Every key in the comparison plugs in the same way. Take a minute to create your OpenTahr account and paste the key in the settings. It stays in your browser and the tools use it wherever you select it. A free AI API key plus a free tool means the full workshop starts at zero euros, with no in-house credits and no margin on your actions.

When a quota starts to slow you down, the paid key in the same key ring takes over without changing your habits. For each provider in the table, the index of all key guides leads to the matching walkthrough, from the account to the first text. You add the second key the same way you added the first one.

10Frequently asked questions

Which AI API is free without a credit card?

Four lasting options exist as of this date. They are Google AI Studio for the Gemini models, Groq for speed on open models, Mistral's Experiment plan and the ":free" models on OpenRouter. Each one is created with no payment method and runs under quotas shown in the provider's console.

Is the OpenAI API free?

It isn't. The OpenAI key requires you to load credits before use, with no permanent free tier. The real spending stays modest, since a few dollars cover weeks for a content creator. The feeling that it's free comes from the consumer version of ChatGPT, which is a separate product from the API.

Do free tiers have limits?

All of them do. Expect requests per minute and per day, tokens per minute and sometimes waiting queues at busy hours. Free tiers are calibrated for exploring and occasional help, never for continuous production. The exact values change often, so the provider's console is the reference on the day you open it.

Is my data used on a free tier?

It depends on the provider. Some free tiers allow requests to be used to improve their products, which paid offers generally exclude. The exact policy appears in the terms of each console. For sensitive content, prefer a paid offer billed per use.

When should you move from free to paid?

Move the first time a quota stops you in the middle of your work. The switch costs less than people fear, because per-token billing comes to cents for individual use. Your way of working stays the same and only the key pasted into the tool changes. Many people keep both keys active side by side, each in its own role. They never think about it again.

Transparency note. The status of the free tiers was verified on June 13, 2026 on the official consoles and documentation of each provider named. Quotas and conditions change without notice, so your console is the reference. None of the providers named pays us.

11Sources

1. Google AI Studio, official portal of the Gemini free tier
2. Groq, official documentation of limits per plan
3. Mistral, official plans page (including Experiment)
4. OpenRouter, official model catalog (including ":free")