The Setup (2 minutes)
Most people don't know this: you can use powerful AI models through API for free, right now, with no credit card.
Here's how:
- Go to openrouter.ai
- Sign in with Google or GitHub
- Go to Keys → Create a new API key
- Use it in any OpenAI-compatible client — just change the base URL
curl https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"model": "meta-llama/llama-3.3-70b-instruct:free",
"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]
}'
That's it. No billing setup. No trial countdown.
Free Models Worth Using
These are the models tagged :free on OpenRouter right now:
| Model | What It's Good For |
|---|---|
| Llama 3.3 70B | General purpose, coding, reasoning — best free all-rounder |
| Mixtral 8x7B | Fast responses, good for chat and summarization |
| Gemma 2 9B | Compact, good for classification and short tasks |
| Qwen 2.5 72B | Strong on multilingual and math tasks |
| DeepSeek V3 | Coding-focused, excellent for code generation |
Full list with live status: openrouter.ai/models — filter by "Free" pricing.
Where This Is Actually Useful
- Personal projects that need AI but not a budget
- Prototyping before committing to a paid API
- Self-hosted tools like Open WebUI or LibreChat — just plug in the OpenRouter key
- Learning — experiment with different models without spending
Rate Limits
Free models have rate limits (~20 requests/minute depending on the model). For personal use and development, it's more than enough. If you need more, paid models on OpenRouter are still cheaper than going direct to providers.
No excuses left. If you have a project idea that needs AI, you can start building it right now for €0.