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
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
Reddit
reddit.com › r/chatgptcoding › what is / are the best openrouter free api models currently?
r/ChatGPTCoding on Reddit: What is / are the best OpenRouter free API models currently?
April 30, 2025 -
If I want to use them for free in RooCode and get as close to Claude 3.7 as possible?
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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.
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R1 or Gemini flash are the closest. Neither of them get close to 3.5 or 3.7 or gemini 2.5 pro tbh If you’re using roo, use the google api to get free gemini 2.5, its limited but better than most openrouter free options
is openrouter free to use ?
Yeah, some of the models are free. Phi-3 Medium Instruct , is free, for example. More on reddit.com
Is open router free api's really free?
They are free to use, but not always available More on reddit.com
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
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
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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.
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 ...
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.
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.