:free models by OpenRouter
A single key → dozens of models tagged “:free”. One base URL, OpenAI-compatible.
Access
Free API tier
Free limits
20 RPM · 50-1000 RPD
Modality
text, code
Credit card
Not required
Commercial use
Allowed
Base URL
https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
Last verified
June 2026
How to use :free models
A single key → dozens of models tagged “:free”. One base URL, OpenAI-compatible.
Quickstart
curl https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY" \
-d '{"model":"deepseek/deepseek-chat:free","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"hi"}]}'Frequently asked
Is :free models free?
Yes. OpenRouter offers it as Free API tier with these limits: 20 RPM · 50-1000 RPD. No credit card is required.
Can I use :free models commercially?
Yes, commercial use is allowed. Verify the current license or terms before shipping.
How do I start using :free models?
A single key → dozens of models tagged “:free”. One base URL, OpenAI-compatible.
Related free models
- Kimi K2.6 (Ollama Cloud) · Free tier
- Gemini 2.5 Flash (Google AI Studio) · Generous · no card
- GLM 4.6 (Z.ai) · Self-host free
- @cf/openai/gpt-oss-120b (Cloudflare Workers AI) · 10K neurons/day (shared)
- bytedance-seed/dola-seed-2.0-pro:free (Kilo Code) · ~200 req/hr
- @cf/deepseek-ai/deepseek-r1-distill-qwen-32b (Cloudflare Workers AI) · 10K neurons/day (shared)
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