I'm using Cline and currently using Gemini 2.5 Pro Exp for plan mode, and gemini 2.0 flash Exp for act mode. Doesn't cost anything as long as you have $10 credit in OpenRouter, add your own Gemini API key in OpenRouter Integration page, and you use plan mode slowly (1 request per minute). Close to Claude 3.7? Can't tell, but it works well for me to develop small WordPress plugins. I would recommend using DeepSeek R1 and DeepSeek V3, but it keeps getting errors in both Roocode and Cline. Answer from awipra on reddit.com
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OpenRouter
openrouter.ai › deepseek › deepseek-r1:free
R1 - API, Providers, Stats | OpenRouter
DeepSeek R1 is here: Performance on par with [OpenAI o1](/openai/o1), but open-sourced and with fully open reasoning tokens. It's 671B parameters in size, with 37B active in an inference pass. Run R1 with API
Discussions

is openrouter free to use ?
Yeah, some of the models are free. Phi-3 Medium Instruct , is free, for example. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/SillyTavernAI
9
2
May 28, 2024
Is open router free api's really free?
They are free to use, but not always available More on reddit.com
🌐 r/openrouter
22
10
August 13, 2025
Recommend Free models on OpenRouter
deepseek r1 528 and deepseek v3 are the two I use primary and have been pretty happy with. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/RooCode
29
34
June 16, 2025
What is / are the best OpenRouter free API models currently?
I'm using Cline and currently using Gemini 2.5 Pro Exp for plan mode, and gemini 2.0 flash Exp for act mode. Doesn't cost anything as long as you have $10 credit in OpenRouter, add your own Gemini API key in OpenRouter Integration page, and you use plan mode slowly (1 request per minute). Close to Claude 3.7? Can't tell, but it works well for me to develop small WordPress plugins. I would recommend using DeepSeek R1 and DeepSeek V3, but it keeps getting errors in both Roocode and Cline. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/ChatGPTCoding
10
9
April 30, 2025
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Puter
developer.puter.com › tutorials › free-unlimited-openrouter-api
Free, Unlimited OpenRouter API
2 days ago - This tutorial will show you how to use Puter.js to access OpenRouter's extensive collection of AI models for free, without any API keys or backend setup.
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OpenRouter
openrouter.ai › google › gemma-3-27b-it:free › api
Google: Gemma 3 27B (free) – Run with an API | OpenRouter
March 12, 2025 - Sample code and API for Google: Gemma 3 27B (free) - Gemma 3 introduces multimodality, supporting vision-language input and text outputs. It handles context windows up to 128k tokens, understands over 140 languages, and offers improved math, reasoning, and chat capabilities, including structured outputs and function calling.
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OpenRouter
openrouter.ai › docs › api › reference › authentication
API Authentication | OpenRouter OAuth and API Keys | OpenRouter | Documentation
Our API authenticates requests using Bearer tokens. This allows you to use curl or the OpenAI SDK directly with OpenRouter.
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OpenRouter
openrouter.ai › qwen › qwen3-coder:free
Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B (free) - API, Providers, Stats | OpenRouter
Completion tokens reflect total output length. Create API key · OpenRouter provides an OpenAI-compatible completion API to 400+ models & providers that you can call directly, or using the OpenAI SDK.
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OpenRouter
openrouter.ai › moonshotai › kimi-k2:free
Kimi K2 0711 (free) - API, Providers, Stats | OpenRouter
July 11, 2025 - Completion tokens reflect total output length. Create API key · OpenRouter provides an OpenAI-compatible completion API to 400+ models & providers that you can call directly, or using the OpenAI SDK.
Find elsewhere
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OpenRouter
openrouter.ai › mistralai › mistral-7b-instruct:free
Mistral 7B Instruct (free) - API, Providers, Stats | OpenRouter
A high-performing, industry-standard 7.3B parameter model, with optimizations for speed and context length. Run Mistral 7B Instruct (free) with API
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OpenRouter
openrouter.ai › qwen › qwq-32b:free › api
Qwen: QwQ 32B – Run with an API
March 5, 2025 - OpenRouter provides an OpenAI-compatible completion API to 400+ models & providers that you can call directly, or using the OpenAI SDK.
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OpenRouter
openrouter.ai › openrouter › cypher-alpha:free
Cypher Alpha - API, Providers, Stats
July 1, 2025 - This is a cloaked model provided to the community to gather feedback. It's an all-purpose model supporting real-world, long-context tasks including code generation · Note: All prompts and completions for this model are logged by the provider and may be used to improve the model and other products ...
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OpenRouter
openrouter.ai
OpenRouter
250k+ apps using OpenRouter with 4.2M+ users globallyView all ... Create an account to get started. You can set up an org for your team later. ... Credits can be used with any model or provider. ... Create an API key and start making requests.
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OpenRouter
openrouter.ai › pricing
Pricing - OpenRouter | OpenRouter
Free‑tier usage of popular models can be subject to rate limiting by the provider, especially during peak times. Failed attempts still count toward your daily quota. Can I separate environments (dev/staging/production)? Yes. Create separate API keys per environment with their own caps, alerts, ...
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Medium
gaikarkshitij.medium.com › using-llm-apis-for-free-with-openrouter-ai-2025-edition-2c2c677c64bf
🚀 Using LLM APIs for Free with OpenRouter.ai (2025 Edition) | by Kshitij Gaikar | Medium
April 15, 2025 - OpenRouter.ai serves as a unified ... OpenAI, Google, Meta, and more. Its standout feature is a free tier that allows experimentation with LLMs without upfront costs....
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DataCamp
datacamp.com › tutorial › openrouter
OpenRouter: A Guide With Practical Examples | DataCamp
August 14, 2025 - You’ll also need an OpenRouter account and API key. Head to openrouter.ai to create a free account — you’ll get a small credit allowance to test things out.
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Apidog
apidog.com › blog › free-ai-models
Best Free AI Models You Can Use on OpenRouter
April 11, 2025 - However, OpenRouter—a unified API gateway connecting users to hundreds of AI models—offers an impressive selection of free, high-quality models that deliver powerful capabilities without cost barriers.
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OpenRouter
openrouter.ai › z-ai › glm-4.5-air:free
GLM 4.5 Air (free) - API, Providers, Stats | OpenRouter
GLM-4.5-Air is the lightweight variant of our latest flagship model family, also purpose-built for agent-centric applications. Run GLM 4.5 Air (free) with API
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OpenRouter
openrouter.ai › venice › uncensored:free
Uncensored (free) - API, Providers, Stats | OpenRouter
July 9, 2025 - Venice Uncensored Dolphin Mistral 24B Venice Edition is a fine-tuned variant of Mistral-Small-24B-Instruct-2501, developed by dphn.ai in collaboration with Venice. Run Uncensored (free) with API
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OpenRouter
openrouter.ai › google › gemma-3-27b-it:free
Gemma 3 27B (free) - API, Providers, Stats | OpenRouter
March 12, 2025 - Completion tokens reflect total output length. Create API key · OpenRouter provides an OpenAI-compatible completion API to 400+ models & providers that you can call directly, or using the OpenAI SDK.