Free LLM API models (17)

How to use a free model (3 steps)

1. 1. Get an API key. Create a free OpenRouter account — no credit card needed for free models.
2. 2. Point your request at OpenRouter. The base URL is https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions (OpenAI-compatible — any existing SDK works, just change the base URL and key).
3. 3. Pick a model ID from the table above. Example with curl:

   curl https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "model": "thinkingmachines/inkling-small:free",
       "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
     }'

Rate limits: ~50 requests/day without credits, 1,000/day after buying any amount of credits once.

When should you use free models?

• Prototyping — validate your app before spending a cent
• High-volume classification/extraction — where quality bar is low
• Learning & experiments — zero-risk API practice

When you outgrow free tiers, check the cost calculator to find the cheapest paid model for your workload — often just a few dollars a month.