I need help. Im trying to experiment whats the best model out of these options for people who doesn't want to pay, like me.

qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b:free
moonshotai/kimi-k2:free
z-ai/glm-4.5-air:free
openai/gpt-oss-20b:free
deepseek/deepseek-r1-0528-qwen3-8b:free

Don’t forget to share your experience with these models in the comments—thanks!

I don't even know what a proxy is, how do I use it? I was reading comments and yes you can use other proxies, or IA, whatever... One of them talked about OpenRouter and Hermes ai LOLLL

I don't know how to use it (OpenRouter) or well, incorporate it to Janitor Ai. someone explain me from 0 😭?

Here are my results:

First up: I did ignore the providers chutes and venice since they hit me a lot with the 429 error (like actually ignore them in your open router settings so they won't be used). Others do that too, just not that much: so here are the alternatives.

I also skipped google since I only wanted to share models that worked for me.

Some models didn't work until I turned the temperature down so: Make sure to try them with the temperature being at 1 max.

I personally paid the 10 bucks to get 1000 messages.

My criteria for trying it out: -no chutes or venice -can do NSFW stuff (so open ai was out) -is free -doesn't do the "thinking" before replying -I used the same prompt and same character for every model.

The models tagged with a "(!)" will be tried out further and get updated if I don't forget.

Deepseek:

deepseek/deepseek-chat-v3.1:free (!)

--> kinda funny, kinda weird, kinda love it, kinda hate it --> works fast, no 429 errors --> weird buggs --> keeps re-missgendering me every few messages --> writes short messages every now and then --> Doesn’t use the persona as much as wished ---> I think it will be become better, since it's a pretty new model

deepseek/deepseek-r1-distill-llama-70b:free

--> works without much error --> fast enough --> cuts of messages --> writes japanese occasionally --> kinda chaotic energy --> good persona understanding ---> kinda liked it, kinda hated it?

Openrouter Models:

openrouter/sonoma-dusk-alpha (!)

--> fast, funny --> no errors so far --> makes sense in replies, gets subtle stuff --> good persona understanding --> REPLIES SO DAMN WELL TO OOC'S I did all my testing with OOC's damn ---> really liked this one

openrouter/sonoma-sky-alpha

--> does a lot of thinking in character --> fast, no errors --> didn't get the time period we play in (said a "new song" for that era was ancient and used new slang) --> kinda unhinged, but too gen-z --> kinda good ooc understanding --> good persona understanding --> did an amazing job at the NSFW scene tho👀 ---> could be fun, not my vibe tho

Qwen:

qwen/qwen3-4b:free

--> fast --> needs a little nudge not to repeat users actions --> very chaotic, basically makes no sense? -> kinda feels like they aren’t really replying to my input --> me nu likey, could be fixed with generation settings tho... but I'm too lazy

qwen/qwen3-coder:free (!)

--> didn't think it would work, it does --> not good with lyrics, but is any model? --> fast, long messages --> pleasently surprised --> very chaotic, kinda love it (you called him a burger facist!! - HE WAS!!) --> responds well to OOCs --> very good Persona usage, I'm fucking impressed?? ---> kinda got boring fast since it always said the same thing kinda ({{char}} always fidgeting the same way in every message etc.)

Meta:

meta-llama/llama-3.3-70b-instruct:free (!)

--> unhinged asf?!?!?! --> used the correct Pronouns from persona immediately (didn’t look for that with the others, but it was nice) --> OOC understanding: nice --> Persona understanding: good ---> would recommend trying out

meta-llama/llama-4-maverick:free (!)

--> fast, no errors --> did not get my subtle hint in the first message -> second re-roll was good tho --> OOC understanding: listens to it --> Persona understanding: very brief, but enough ---> can be tried out further

meta-llama/llama-4-scout:free (!)

--> fast, no errors --> resonable replies --> OOC understanding: needs to be specific but works --> persona understanding: fair enough ---> also try out further

meta-llama/llama-3.3-8b-instruct:free

--> hmm.. didn't really reply to my message --> immediately spoke for user --> OOC understanding: listens to it --> Persona understanding: uses it. ---> Wasn't my vibe personally

Others:

mistralai/mistral-7b-instruct:free

--> fast as fuck boi --> pretty weird, maybe playing around with the context size could help --> OOC understanding: eh, 50/50, needs to be very precised --> Persona understanding: very good --> NSFW: "member" ----> could be fun

cognitivecomputations/dolphin-mistral-24b-venice-edition:free

--> very very fast --> needs VERY specific prompts --> throws in the occasional different languaged word --> kinda weird? --> the character suddenly started calling people "brah"... ew. --> too chaotic IMO --> writes veeeery long messages, need to toggle that down for that (starts losing track once it gets too long) --> generally would need to play aroud with the settings for this one --> forgot to try out the OOC and persona understanding with this one. ---> could be good? Maybe?

According to Openrouter's FAQ, If you have purchased at least 10 credits, the free models will be limited to 1000 requests per day. It says "purchased at least 10 credits," not have at least 10 credits on my account. So, if that 10 credits expire after a year, or if I used some of it, do I still get the 1000 free limit? Have anyone tried? Because that would clearly be superior to Chutes' $5 for 200.