Compare useful capacity, model access, account requirements, rate limits, and post-allowance behavior. Permanent free tiers stay separate from temporary credits and experiments.
“Free” means little without daily tokens, requests, model access, and reset behavior.
Prototype vs production
Experimental endpoints and rotating models are useful, but clearly labeled as unstable.
Official evidence
Every changing claim links to the provider and carries a verification date.
Clear categories
Different kinds of “free” are not interchangeable
Filter verified offers
Verified offers
Showing 7 of 7; commission never affects ranking.
Free Tier
Hetzner
Verified
Free experimental OpenAI-compatible inference
Hetzner customers can create an API token for a no-cost experimental OpenAI-compatible endpoint serving Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-FP8 with text and image input. Hetzner explicitly says the service is experimental, availability is not guaranteed, and it should not be used for production.
Value
No-cost hosted inference; 3M input/60K output tokens per 60 seconds and 500M input/5M output tokens per 24 hours; 262,144-token context
Who qualifies
Hetzner customers with access to the Experiments platform; create a token from the Inference experiment page
Expiry
not stated; experimental availability may change or stop during high demand
Smartoolbox does not currently earn a commission from this offer.
Free Tier
Nous Portal
Verified
Five currently free hosted models
Nous Portal currently exposes five zero-priced hosted-inference models: poolside/laguna-s-2.1:free, poolside/laguna-xs-2.1:free, stepfun/step-3.7-flash:free, tencent/hy3:free, upstage/solar-pro4:free. The catalog is checked live and can rotate.
Value
5 models at $0 prompt and completion token pricing at collection time
Who qualifies
Nous Portal free-tier and other account holders with model-catalog access
Smartoolbox does not currently earn a commission from this offer.
Free Tier
OpenRouter
Verified
Free-model router and zero-cost model variants
OpenRouter offers a free router plus :free model variants through one API. It is useful for experiments and low-volume apps, but availability, latency, and the selected model can change.
Value
Free requests across a rotating model pool
Who qualifies
OpenRouter account holders; limits depend on whether the account has purchased credits.
Smartoolbox does not currently earn a commission from this offer.
Free Tier
Cloudflare Workers AI
Verified
10,000 Workers AI Neurons free each day
Workers AI includes a daily free allocation on both Free and Paid Workers plans. It covers text, image, speech, embedding, and other open-model tasks, with consumption measured in Neurons.
Value
10,000 Neurons per day
Who qualifies
Cloudflare account holders using Workers AI on the Free or Paid Workers plan.
Smartoolbox does not currently earn a commission from this offer.
Free Tier
NVIDIA
Verified
Free hosted NIM APIs for prototyping
NVIDIA Build provides free serverless model APIs for development and prototyping across its hosted catalog. The official source-pack result says all models on build.nvidia.com are free to prototype with, but production use requires deployment after rate limits are reached.
Value
Free hosted serverless inference for prototyping; exact per-account quota not stated
Who qualifies
Developers who sign in to NVIDIA Build and obtain an API key
Smartoolbox does not currently earn a commission from this offer.
Free Tier
Google Gemini API
Verified
Gemini API free tier for selected models
New Gemini API projects start on a free tier with selected models available at no token charge up to model-specific limits. Not every model or modality has a free tier.
Value
Free input and output on selected models
Who qualifies
Developers with an active Google AI Studio project; regional model availability applies.
Smartoolbox does not currently earn a commission from this offer.
Free Tier
GroqCloud
Verified
Free GroqCloud API tier
GroqCloud offers free API access with model-specific request and token limits. It is fast for prototypes, evaluations, and small demos, but the free limits are not a production guarantee.
Value
Free API key with model-specific daily limits
Who qualifies
Developers who create a GroqCloud account and API key.
Smartoolbox does not currently earn a commission from this offer.
Need a durable comparison?
The maintained guide compares model access, useful capacity, card requirements, data treatment, regions, and what happens when the free allowance ends.
