Where models are free right now
Free API routes we can verify today, mostly OpenRouter's rotating:freeroster. A model that is not listed has no production free API we know of — the frontier commercial models (Claude, GPT, Gemini Pro) almost never do. For those, the honest answer is the cheapest paid route on the model's own page.
Free routes are rate-limited, rotate without notice, and can differ from the paid door in context, tools and caching. Prices and rosters move — always confirm with the provider before depending on one.
| Model | Free door | Context | Last checked | Paid fallback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B | OpenRouter google/gemma-4-26b-a4b-it:free | 262K | 2026-09-25 | OpenRouter $0.090 / $0.300 per 1M |
| Google: Gemma 4 31B | OpenRouter google/gemma-4-31b-it:free | 262K | 2026-09-25 | OpenRouter $0.090 / $0.340 per 1M |
| GLM-5.2 | OpenRouter z-ai/glm-5.2:free | 33K | 2026-09-25 | OpenRouter $0.650 / $2.04 per 1M |
| NVIDIA: Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) | OpenRouter nvidia/nemotron-3-nano-omni-30b-a3b-reasoning:free | 256K | 2026-09-25 | — |
| NVIDIA: Nemotron 3 Super | OpenRouter nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b:free | 262K | 2026-09-25 | OpenRouter $0.080 / $0.450 per 1M |
| NVIDIA: Nemotron 3 Ultra | OpenRouter nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b:free | 1M | 2026-09-25 | OpenRouter $0.600 / $2.40 per 1M |
| NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Content Safety (free) | OpenRouter nvidia/nemotron-3.5-content-safety:free | 128K | 2026-09-25 | OpenRouter $0.200 / $0.200 per 1M |
| NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | OpenRouter nvidia/nemotron-3.5-lightning:free | 1M | 2026-09-25 | OpenRouter $0.080 / $0.200 per 1M |
| Cohere: North Mini Code (free) | OpenRouter cohere/north-mini-code:free | 256K | 2026-09-25 | — |
| Qwen3.8 27B | OpenRouter qwen/qwen3.8-27b:free | 262K | 2026-09-25 | DeepInfra $0.200 / $2.50 per 1M |
| nex-agi/nex-n2.5-mini:free | OpenRouter nex-agi/nex-n2.5-mini:free | 262K | 2026-09-25 | — |
| poolside/laguna-xs-2.1:free | OpenRouter poolside/laguna-xs-2.1:free | 262K | 2026-09-25 | — |
| thinkingmachines/inkling:free | OpenRouter thinkingmachines/inkling:free | 1M | 2026-09-25 | — |
| poolside/laguna-s-2.1:free | OpenRouter poolside/laguna-s-2.1:free | 262K | 2026-09-25 | — |
| thinkingmachines/inkling-small:free | OpenRouter thinkingmachines/inkling-small:free | 1M | 2026-09-25 | — |
| inclusionai/ling-3.0-flash-sante:free | OpenRouter inclusionai/ling-3.0-flash-sante:free | 262K | 2026-09-25 | — |
| dots-studio/dots-3-note-preview:free | OpenRouter dots-studio/dots-3-note-preview:free | 512K | 2026-09-25 | — |
| liquid/lfm-2.5-2.6b:free | OpenRouter liquid/lfm-2.5-2.6b:free | 66K | 2026-09-25 | — |
| inclusionai/ling-3.0-flash-fin:free | OpenRouter inclusionai/ling-3.0-flash-fin:free | 262K | 2026-09-25 | — |
| nex-agi/nex-n2.5-pro:free | OpenRouter nex-agi/nex-n2.5-pro:free | 262K | 2026-09-25 | — |