Compare the best free LLM APIs: Google AI Studio (Gemini), Groq, OpenRouter, HuggingFace, Cloudflare Workers AI, Ollama. Code examples and pricing.
Large Language Models (LLMs) are the backbone of modern AI applications — from chatbots and content generators to code assistants and data extractors. But API access to frontier models like GPT-4o or Claude can get expensive quickly. Fortunately, in 2026 there are several excellent ways to access powerful LLMs for free. This guide reviews the six best free LLM and AI APIs available to developers today.
Not every project has a budget for AI inference costs. Whether you are building a side project, prototyping a startup idea, contributing to open source, or learning about LLMs, free APIs let you experiment without financial risk. Many of these services provide access to models that rival or exceed GPT-4 in capability, including Google's Gemini 2.5, Meta's Llama 4, and Mistral Large.
Common use cases for free LLM APIs include:
| Provider | Free Tier Models | Rate Limit (Free) | API Key Required? | OpenAI-Compatible? | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google AI Studio | Gemini 2.5 Flash, Gemini 2.5 Pro | 15 RPM / 1M tokens/day | Yes | Via adapter | Best free frontier model access |
| Groq | Llama 4 Scout, Gemma 3, Mistral Saba | 30 RPM / 15K tokens/min | Yes | Yes | Fastest inference speed |
| OpenRouter | Various free models rotate | 10 RPM | Yes | Yes | Access to 200+ models via one API |
| HuggingFace | Thousands of open models | Varies by model | Yes | Via TGI | Open-source model experimentation |
| Cloudflare Workers AI | Llama 3.3, Mistral 7B, Qwen | 10K neurons/day free | Yes | Yes | Edge deployment, low latency |
| Ollama | Any GGUF model | Unlimited (local) | No | Yes | Privacy, offline use, full control |
Google AI Studio gives developers free access to Gemini 2.5 Flash and Gemini 2.5 Pro — Google's most capable multimodal models. The free tier is remarkably generous: up to 1 million tokens per day and 15 requests per minute.
Groq uses custom LPU (Language Processing Unit) hardware to deliver the fastest inference speeds in the industry. Their free tier provides access to Llama 4 Scout, Gemma 3, DeepSeek R1, and other open models at speeds exceeding 1,000 tokens per second.
OpenRouter is a unified gateway that routes your requests to the cheapest or fastest provider for any given model. It maintains a rotating selection of completely free models and also passes through paid models at cost.
HuggingFace hosts thousands of open-source models and provides a free Inference API for many of them. It is the go-to platform for experimenting with the latest open models as they are released.
Cloudflare Workers AI runs models at the edge across Cloudflare's global network. The free tier includes 10,000 neurons per day, which is enough for several hundred LLM requests.
Ollama is not a cloud API but a local LLM runtime. It lets you run models like Llama 4 Scout, Gemma 3, Phi-4, Mistral, and DeepSeek on your own hardware. Once installed, you get an OpenAI-compatible API server at localhost:11434.
ollama pull llama4-scoutGroq's API is OpenAI-compatible, so you can use the official openai Python library with just a base URL change. Here is a complete example:
from openai import OpenAI
# Groq free tier - get your key at https://console.groq.com/keys
client = OpenAI(
api_key="your-groq-api-key",
base_url="https://api.groq.com/openai/v1"
)
# Chat completion with Llama 4 Scout (free)
response = client.chat.completions.create(
model="meta-llama/llama-4-scout-17b-16e-instruct",
messages=[
{"role": "system", "content": "You are a helpful coding assistant."},
{"role": "user", "content": "Write a Python function that checks if a string is a valid IPv4 address."}
],
temperature=0.7,
max_tokens=1024
)
print(response.choices[0].message.content)
print(f"\nTokens used: {response.usage.total_tokens}")
print(f"Response time: ~{response.usage.completion_tokens / 1000:.1f}s at 1000 tok/s")
Why Groq for prototyping? At over 1,000 tokens/second, Groq returns responses almost instantly. This makes it ideal for interactive development, testing prompt engineering strategies, and building real-time chat interfaces.
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Sign Up Free →Google AI Studio (Gemini 2.5 Pro) offers the best free frontier model access. For open-source models with the fastest speed, Groq is the top choice. The best option depends on your priorities: model quality, speed, privacy, or variety.
Most free tiers allow commercial use with restrictions. Google AI Studio's free tier may use your data for training. Groq and OpenRouter allow commercial use. Always check each provider's terms of service for your specific use case.
Yes, several. Groq, OpenRouter, and Cloudflare Workers AI all offer OpenAI-compatible APIs with free tiers. Google AI Studio provides Gemini, which is competitive with GPT-4o. For local use, Ollama runs open models with an OpenAI-compatible API endpoint.
Groq is the fastest, delivering over 1,000 tokens per second using custom LPU hardware. For comparison, most cloud GPU providers deliver 50-100 tokens per second.
Yes, Ollama lets you run models like Llama 4 Scout, Gemma 3, and Mistral locally. You need a GPU with at least 8GB VRAM for small models or 24GB+ for larger ones. Once downloaded, usage is completely free and unlimited.
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