aifree.dev

Free AI APIs With No Credit Card in 2026

15 free AI APIs that need no credit card: LLM chat, embeddings, image and speech, with the free limits and what you give up instead (data, phone, use).

Time
10 minutes
You need
An email address or a Google or GitHub account to sign up · For NVIDIA NIM: possibly a phone number for SMS verification · Nothing to pay: a card is only needed later, to raise limits or keep going after a credit runs out
Last checked

Every API below gives you something free without asking for a credit card, a debit card or any other payment method. Each one is a live, verified offer in the aifree.dev catalog, and each vendor's pricing, rate-limit or sign-up page was checked again on 2026-10-21 for two things: that the free part starts without a payment method, and what you give up instead. "No card" rarely means no cost: you pay with your data, a phone number, a non-commercial licence or very low rate limits.

Offers that a recent vendor check found now ask for a card or a paid deposit (Vercel AI Gateway, for example) are left out, and so are free plans whose vendor page does not say whether a card is needed.

LLM chat and text generation

APIFree partWhat it costs you instead
Gemini APIFree tokens on most Flash and Flash-Lite models, Gemini 2.5 Pro and Gemma 4; per-project limits shown in AI StudioFree-tier prompts are "used to improve our products" and may be read by human reviewers (not for users in the EEA, Switzerland and the UK); not available in every country
GroqEvery organization starts on the Free plan; Groq's rate-limit table lists 30 requests a minute and 1,000 a day on gpt-oss-120bLow token caps (8,000 a minute, 200,000 a day on that model); the Developer plan needs a payment method
Mistral AI"API access is enabled by default with no credit card required" in Studio's Free modeThe lowest limits, shown only in the admin panel; Mistral "may use your data" to train models unless you opt out
CohereA trial key on sign-up: 1,000 API calls a month, Chat 20 requests a minuteNot allowed for production or commercial use
NVIDIA NIMFree endpoints for catalog models tagged "Free Endpoint", for NVIDIA Developer Program membersPrototyping only (production needs an NVIDIA AI Enterprise licence); NVIDIA's forums report 40 requests a minute and SMS phone verification at sign-up
OpenRouter:free model variants: 20 requests a minute, 50 a day1,000 a day only after you have bought 10 credits; many free endpoints need the "may train on prompts" setting
Z.aiGLM-4.7-Flash, GLM-4.5-Flash and GLM-4.6V-Flash at $0 for input and outputNo published rate or concurrency limits, so plan for throttling
Inception100 million free tokens per new account, "no payment details required"; 1,000 requests a minuteOne-time grant; paid rates after that

Details and step-by-step key setup: the Gemini API key guide, the Groq API key guide, OpenRouter free models and the free DeepSeek API guide for providers that serve DeepSeek at $0.

Embeddings and reranking

APIFree partWhat it costs you instead
Voyage AI"The first 200 million tokens are free for every account" on the voyage-4 family and rerankersWithout a payment method you are held to 3 requests and 10,000 tokens a minute, so a card is the practical way to use the tokens fast
Jina AI10M tokens per new API key, shared across Embeddings, Reranker and Reader; keys do not expire100 requests and 100,000 tokens a minute on embeddings; one-time balance
Mixedbread$5 one-time credits on the Starter plan, "No card required"; 100 queries a minute3 stores and 3 users; upgrade when the credit runs out

The free embeddings API guide compares the models and context lengths, and the free vector database guide covers where to store the vectors.

Image generation

APIFree partWhat it costs you instead
PollinationsText, image, audio and video generation paid in Pollen, which you "earn ... by contributing, no credit card required"Sign-in with GitHub; Pollen comes from Quests, legacy publishable keys get 1 pollen per IP per hour, and some models need paid Pollen

Most hosted image APIs give a one-time credit or require a card; the free image generation API guide lists the rest with their card rules.

Speech-to-text and text-to-speech

APIFree partWhat it costs you instead
Deepgram$200 credit, "No credit card required", no expiration; shared by speech-to-text, text-to-speech and voice agentsOne-time; 50 REST and 150 streaming requests at once
AssemblyAI"$50 in free credits on signup, no credit card required"5 new streams a minute on the free tier; free accounts may get different default models
Speechmatics"$100 in free credits, no card required", valid 12 months2 real-time sessions at once; access pauses when the credit runs out

Hours of audio per credit and the refilling options (Groq Whisper, Cartesia) are in the free speech-to-text API guide; voices and characters in the free text-to-speech API guide.

How to choose

  • Something that never runs out: Gemini, Groq, Mistral, Z.ai or OpenRouter's :free models. They refill under rate limits instead of spending down a balance.
  • Private or client data: avoid free tiers that train on prompts (Gemini outside the EEA/UK/CH, Mistral without the opt-out, OpenRouter endpoints that log). Groq does not retain inputs by default.
  • A commercial product: Cohere trial keys and NVIDIA NIM's free endpoints are for prototyping only. Read the terms before you ship.
  • The most free volume at once: Voyage AI's 200M embedding tokens, Inception's 100M tokens and Deepgram's $200 credit.

Find more

The catalog has more free APIs with no card than fit here. The free AI with no credit card chart ranks every verified offer without a card, apps included, or filter the APIs yourself: free API credits with no card, free-tier APIs with no card and audio tools with no card. Each offer page shows when it was last verified and what changed.

Offers in this guide

Understand it

A few minutes of play-along, no sign-up.

Frequently asked questions

Which free AI API needs no credit card?
Gemini, Groq, Mistral, Cohere, OpenRouter and Z.ai all give rate-limited LLM access without a payment method; Inception gives 100M free tokens. For speech, Deepgram ($200), AssemblyAI ($50) and Speechmatics ($100) give credits with no card.
Is the Gemini API free without a credit card?
Yes. The Gemini API free tier needs no billing setup; you only add billing in AI Studio to move to a paid tier. Free-tier prompts may be used to improve Google products, except for users in the EEA, Switzerland and the UK.
What is the catch with no-card free APIs?
Usually one of: your prompts are used for training or review, low rate limits, a one-time credit, non-commercial use only, or phone verification. Voyage AI, for example, limits accounts without a payment method to 3 requests a minute.
Why is ElevenLabs not on the list?
Its pricing page does not say whether the free plan needs a card, and the free plan has no commercial licence. It is covered in the free text-to-speech API guide.

Sources

Steps and limits were checked against these official pages.

More guides

Never miss new offers and news

New tools, credits, and AI news are added regularly. Pick how you want to hear about them.

Telegram channel
Join @aifree_dev and get new free AI offers and news right in your Telegram feed.
Join the channel
Browser notifications
Turn on push notifications and get an alert on this device whenever something new is posted. No account needed.
Email newsletter
A weekly digest of new, changed and expiring free AI offers. Double opt-in, one-click unsubscribe.

Unsubscribe anytime. Privacy

Frequently asked questions

What is aifree.dev?

aifree.dev helps everyone access AI through a curated directory of free AI tools, API credits, free tiers, and startup programs for coding, image, voice, video, and students - verified regularly.

How are offers presented?

Each offer includes its access details, free models when available, and expiration information when provided. Limited-time deals stay visible so they are easy to compare.

Do education and startup programs need verification?

Yes. Providers usually ask students to verify their status with a school email, student ID, or a program like the GitHub Student Pack, and ask startups to verify company details such as age, funding, or website. Check each offer’s claim page for the exact requirements.

What kinds of free AI offers are listed?

Free tiers and free trials from AI providers, free API credits, startup and student programs, and free tools for coding, image generation, voice, and video.

How can I suggest a tool or report a broken link?

Use the submit form: paste the offer page URL and a short note. A person checks every submission before anything is listed. Broken links and changed terms go through the same form.

+

Know a good one?

Tell us about an AI tool worth knowing. Found a broken link? We want to hear that too.

Submit an offer