---
title: "Vercel AI Gateway Free Tier"
slug: "vercel-ai-gateway-free-tier"
provider: "Vercel"
status: "verified"
verifiedAt: "2026-10-12"
listedAt: "2026-09-13"
canonical: "https://aifree.dev/offer/vercel-ai-gateway-free-tier"
---

# Vercel AI Gateway Free Tier

> Every Vercel team gets $5 of AI Gateway credits every 30 days

- Provider: [Vercel](https://aifree.dev/provider/vercel-com)
- What is free: $5
- Status: verified by a person on 2026-10-12
- Credit card: required
- Sign-up: required
- For: Developers
- Claim at: https://vercel.com/signup

## What you get

Every Vercel team gets $5 of credits every 30 days for the AI Gateway's free-tier model subset, starting on the first AI Gateway request, with zero-markup provider list pricing through an OpenAI-compatible endpoint.

## The catch

The team needs a valid payment method before using free credits; the free tier covers only a subset of models with lower rate limits, and buying credits ends the monthly free credit.

## Limits

- $5 of credits every 30 days per team
- Free credits start on your first AI Gateway request
- Free tier covers a subset of models, not the full catalog
- Free tier requests rate limited per model (429 on exceed)
- Zero markup on provider token prices, including BYOK on the paid tier

## Models served free

Published free-tier rate limits; "—" = not published.

| Model | API id | Context (k tokens) | Tool calling | Vision | RPM | RPD | TPM |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| inclusionai/ling-3.1-flash | — | 262 | yes | — | — | — | — |
| poolside/laguna-s-2.1-free | — | 256 | yes | — | — | — | — |
| convaiinnovations/laya | — | 8 | — | — | — | — | — |

## Details

## Overview

[Vercel AI Gateway](https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway) is a managed gateway that routes requests to 200+ models across providers through one OpenAI-compatible endpoint at `https://ai-gateway.vercel.sh/v1/chat/completions`, with zero markup on token prices — you pay the provider's list price. Every Vercel team account includes a free tier with a recurring monthly credit, announced at **$5 of credits every 30 days**, which starts when you make your first AI Gateway request.

## Free Tier Quotas & Limits

- **Monthly included credit:** $5 every 30 days (per the GA announcement) — a recurring credit, not a time-limited trial.
- **Model subset:** the free tier covers a subset of the catalog, not all models. Browse the [free-tier model list](https://vercel.com/ai-gateway/models?freeTier=true) for the current set; other models require purchased AI Gateway Credits.
- **Rate limits:** free-tier requests are rate limited per model with lower limits than the paid tier. Exceeding a limit returns a `429` and the same request can be retried after a short wait.
- Once you purchase AI Gateway Credits, your team moves to the paid tier and the monthly free credit no longer applies.

## Key Free Models

Free-tier-eligible models currently include:

- `inclusionai/ling-3.1-flash` (chat) and `convaiinnovations/laya` (decision/evaluation)
- `inclusionai/ling-3.0-flash-fin`, `inclusionai/ling-3.0-flash-sante`, `inclusionai/ling-3.0-flash-vl` (chat)
- `poolside/laguna-s-2.1-free` (chat)

## How to Get Started

1. Create a [Vercel account](https://vercel.com/signup) — AI Gateway works from any environment, not just Vercel deployments.
2. Add a valid payment method to your team to use free credits.
3. Create an AI Gateway API key from the dashboard and export it as `AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY`.
4. Call a free-tier model via the AI SDK, OpenAI-compatible Chat Completions, Anthropic Messages, or run `npx vercel@latest ai-gateway coding-agents setup` to route a coding agent through the gateway.

## Eligibility

Any Vercel team account. A `403` with `customer_verification_required` means the team must add a payment method before using free credits.

## More

- HTML page: https://aifree.dev/offer/vercel-ai-gateway-free-tier
- Change history: https://aifree.dev/offer/vercel-ai-gateway-free-tier/history
- How it was verified: https://aifree.dev/offer/vercel-ai-gateway-free-tier/verification
- More in [Free AI coding tools](https://aifree.dev/free-ai-coding-tools.md)
- JSON: https://aifree.dev/api/v1/offers/vercel-ai-gateway-free-tier