openrouter free api reddit - Brave Search

What is / are the best OpenRouter free API models currently?

reddit.com › r › ChatGPTCoding › comments › 1kb5lda › what_is_are_the_best_openrouter_free_api_models

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

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?

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.

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

reddit.com › r/openrouter › is open router free api's really free?

r/openrouter on Reddit: Is open router free api's really free?

August 13, 2025 -

I wanted to know if i use models which have $0/M output and input, if i use there API, will it charge me anything.
Or will it have limits or some kind of things.. i don't understand it clearly

edit:

The below image shows the full details on limit

They are free to use, but not always available

it can be free and limited at the same time. in fact, every free thing/service is inherently limited.

Videos

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OpenRouter: 70+ Free LLM APIs at Your Fingertips (No Credit Card) ...

Ways To Get Free AI API Keys (Unlimited) | Gemini, DeepSeek, Claude ...

How to Use AI Models API for Free | OpenRouter Tutorial - YouTube

November 10, 2025

Open WebUI + N8N - FREE AI Setup Will Change Everything – No ...

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The AI Tool Most Serious Writers Are Using (OpenRouter Review) ...

reddit.com › r/sillytavernai › is openrouter free to use ?

r/SillyTavernAI on Reddit: is openrouter free to use ?

May 28, 2024 -

i dont have much idea about this sub but when i was using perplexity to find out which platforms allow us to use opensource models for free i got a suggestion from this sub of openrouter. I have been using open router its an amazing platform but i want to know if its free or i am using it through some glitch. I have been using alot of the models and i can see in the activity amount of token and their cost but i havent fed any card details or whatever to the openrouter yet i am able to use the models. Is it really free like this?

Yeah, some of the models are free. Phi-3 Medium Instruct , is free, for example.

Yes and no: Docs | OpenRouter

reddit.com › r/openrouter › guys let's share free api platform to other devs? from my side 1)openrouterb , 2)requesty, 3)chutes

r/openrouter on Reddit: Guys let's share free Api platform to other devs? From my side 1)Openrouterb , 2)Requesty, 3)Chutes

July 24, 2025 - 1 anyrouter.top is CN Claude Code proxy. Uptime is not great but its CC for free.

reddit.com › r/sillytavernai › what's the catch with free openrouter models?

r/SillyTavernAI on Reddit: What's the catch with free OpenRouter models?

June 24, 2025 -

Not exactly the most right sub to ask this, but I found that lots of people on here are very helpful, so here's ny question - why is OpenRouter allowing me ONE THOUSAND free mesaages per day, and Chutes is just... providing one of the best models completely for free? Are they quantized? Do they 'scrape' your prompts? There must be something, right?

It's like crack, first hit is free. I've stopped running local models (only 16GB VRAM) completely because Deepseek V3 0324 is so good for RP and impossible to run locally for most people. If Deepseek models are no longer free then I'll probably use my $10 credit to pay for it. Companies will trial run their latest model to collect data before releasing it on their own platform publicly, like some Gemini models. In the end they are just harvesting data.

Chutes and other free providers train on your prompts and it's a way to show growth to investors. Not that different from why you can use ChatGPT for free. From openrouter's side they are just acting as the middle man anyway and if you stick around for free models you are likely to spend on paid ones eventually. Even if you don't, that's still web traffic and user count.

reddit.com › r/roocode › other openrouter-like api providers?

r/RooCode on Reddit: Other OpenRouter-like API providers?

April 28, 2025 -

Are there any API providers who have a similar service with OpenRouter where for the price of $10 you can have a thousand requests per day on their free LLM's?

Also I noticed Cline has offered their own API service but their list of LLM's are actually just like OpenRouter's, so are they under OpenRouter?

Requesty.ai trying it since this morning looks pretty polished compare to open router

There is also chutes.ai but can't figure out what their rate limits are

reddit.com › r/chatgptcoding › eli5: how does openrouter work?

r/ChatGPTCoding on Reddit: ELI5: how does Openrouter work?

September 10, 2024 -

https://openrouter.ai/

How does it work? Is it spammy/legit? I only ask because with all my recent comments about my workflow and tools I use, I have been getting unsolicited DMs, inviting me to "join, we have room". Just seems spammy to me.

My bill this month for ChatGPT Pro + API, Claude Sonnet + API, and Cursor will probably be over $60 easy. I'm okay with that.

BUT if this OpenRouter service is cheaper? why not, right?

I just don't get it.

ELI5?

Still i don’t understand why someone would pay a fee on the api. All major ai providers offer api access. Why should I pay someone in the middle ?

It’s legit. You pay a fee when you buy credits, otherwise it costs as much as using the various APIs directly

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.

Find elsewhere

Google Bing Mojeek

reddit.com › r/openrouter › free limit api key more than 200 request

r/openrouter on Reddit: Free limit api key more than 200 request

January 1, 2025 -

Free limit gives 200 requests per day, and i need around 400, so i have to create new account and get another api key. My question is they check IP or something so i can freely add another key and wrap in a try catch if first one fails aka gets limit? I'm using on a dummy non profitable app.

Can’t say, but you will probably be rate limited often. The try catch with multiple API key could work, but again you won’t get good performance from that I am afraid

Do you have any problem using 2 api keys?

reddit.com › r/roocode › what are some free openrouter models and their specific use cases you recommend during development?

r/RooCode on Reddit: What are some FREE Openrouter models and their specific use cases you recommend during development?

July 23, 2025 -

The goal is to leverage free models on openrouter to reduce the usage costs of paid models.

It's not that many of them. Kimi k2 and deepseek are top free models Check out the privacy policy though.

deepseek:r1-0528 is very good for planning, so I use it in an "architect mode." For the actual "code mode," you can use kimi k2, which is great, especially in agentic coders when you give it a specified plan. I know it's not a free OpenRouter model, but if you use the Google Gemini API, gemini-2.5-pro is a good choice for an orchestrator or planner, and it has 100 free requests per day. note: I tested qwen 3 coder in agentic coding its not that good and doesnt follow instructions or the plan that well so i think kimi k2 is better.

reddit.com › r/roocode › recommend free models on openrouter

r/RooCode on Reddit: Recommend Free models on OpenRouter

June 16, 2025 -

Please recommend some free models on openrouter. They may not be as good as frontier models but they should some basic tasks like document editing or bug fixes etc.

deepseek r1 528 and deepseek v3 are the two I use primary and have been pretty happy with.

Qwen 2.5 coder 32b instruct:free Devstral small:free Deepseek R1 0528:free

reddit.com › r/chub_ai › openrouter free models

r/Chub_AI on Reddit: OpenRouter free models

March 2, 2025 -

Does openrouter have a limit for free models? If so, is there a way that I can get around it besides making a new account or using the other models?

It depends on the model, I think deepseek chat is 200 messages per day. Only way around it is ekther use a different OR account or select a different free model since msg counts wont carry over between models. Alternatively you can use a free model eith unlimited use, though these are udually less smart.

https://openrouter.ai/docs/api-reference/limits Per Openrouter: There are a few rate limits that apply to certain types of requests, regardless of account status: Free limit*: If you are using a free model variant (with an ID ending in :free), then you will be limited to 20 requests per minute and 200 requests per day.*

reddit.com › r/chatgptcoding › which apis do you use for free - best free options for coding

r/ChatGPTCoding on Reddit: Which APIs do you use for FREE - Best free options for CODING

June 6, 2025 -

Hi Guys,

let's grow this thread.

Here we should accumulate all good and recommend options and the thread should serve as a reliable source for getting surprising good FREE API Options shown.

I'll start!:

I recommend using the Openrouter API Key with the unlimited and not rate limited Deepseek/Deepseek R1 0528 - free model.

It's intelligent, strong reasoning and it's good at coding but sometimes it sucks a bit.
I Roocode there is a High Reasoning mode maybe it makes things better.

In Windsurf you can use SWE-1 for free which is a good and reliable option for tool use and coding but it misses something apart from the big guns.

In TRAE you can get nearly unlimited access to Claude 4 Sonnet and other Highend Models for just 3$ a month! Thats my option right now.

And... there is a tool which can import your OpenAI-Session Cookie and can work as a local reverse proxy to make the requests from your Plus Subscription work as API request in your Coding IDE ..thats sick right?

RooCode + Gemini Flash 2.5 doesn't really let me down much for coding. Usually takes just a bit more requests and every now and then needing to look up a module that's not working to find a working version (looking at you moviepy >.>). Orchestrator mode also doesn't work well with flash 2.5 from my tests. Although recently I've just been using it more so as a tool in automated scripts. It makes as a very powerful summarizing tool + report generator. Much more thorough reports than its older 2.0 flash model.

OpenAI and Google give you some free usage if you’re willing to share data with them You can use Github Copilot with Roo Code, even the free tier Google’s Jules is free Claude Code with a Pro sub is a steal OpenAI Codex is pretty good and now on Plus too

reddit.com › r/janitorai_official › some free api models you might wanna try out 🙂

[Mature Content] r/JanitorAI_Official on Reddit: Some Free API Models You Might Wanna Try Out 🙂

August 20, 2025 -

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 hope both sides of your pillow stay cold at night I hope you always find the long side of the blanket I hope your beverages are always at perfect temperature I hope you always put the USB drive correctly

I screenshotted before it gets deleted if anyone needs it

reddit.com › r/sillytavernai › why does people use openrouter so much?

r/SillyTavernAI on Reddit: Why does people use OpenRouter so much?

January 24, 2025 -

Title, i've seen many people using things like DeepSeek, Chat GPT, Gemini and even Claude through OpenRouter instead of the main Api and it made me really curious, why is that? Is there some sort of extra benefit that i'm not aware of? Because as far as i can see, it even causes it to cost more, so, what's up with that?

Being able to switch between multiple models easily and only having one portal to make payments through is my main reason.

Another big aspect is many large models especially new ones may get released on a free use basis for a time. The wizard 8x22b was super popular as a cheap option and often at times free option for a long time. Deepseek V3 0324 is currently free to use on openrouter as well. Open router is home to some super cheap models as well as more a discount bargin store for newer large models, yes out of the right time it will be more expensive than the api's however sometimes it gets knocked down or even opened up for free usage.

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, and activity logs.

reddit.com › r/localllama › code completation with openrouter api

r/LocalLLaMA on Reddit: Code completation with Openrouter API

November 12, 2024 -

I am using CodeGPT (https://github.com/carlrobertoh/CodeGPT) via Custom OpenAI with Openrouter.

With some models like deepseeker or Qwen 2.5 Coder I never get code completion but only sentences like this:
It looks like you're working on a Python function that interacts with an OPC-UA server and performs some operations

With GPT 3.5 Turbo on the other hand it works correctly, the problem is that these models do not support FIM via openrouter API?

Am I doing anything else wrong?

Github issue: https://github.com/carlrobertoh/CodeGPT/issues/759

Unfortunately, in most cases, the models supported by OpenRouter are only accessible via the `/v1/chat/completions` endpoint, which means it cannot be used for code completion. This is due to the request format, with the exception of the `gpt-3.5-turbo-instruct`, which can be accessed via the legacy `/v1/completions` endpoint by setting the correct `prefix` and `suffix` params. Fortunately, you have a few other options to get this working: The easiest option is likely to use our native `llama.cpp` local integration. The plugin comes with a pre-packaged `llama.cpp` backend along with a user friendly interface that allows you to download and run the models without needing any other 3rd party clients, such as Ollama or Open WebUI. Each model is already bound to an appropriate FIM template, so you don't have to worry about constructing the prompt yourself. Simply choose and download the model (each model is downloaded directly from HuggingFace with a nice loading progress indicator). Once the model is downloaded, start the server and you're good to go! However, please note that the `llama.cpp` integration can only be used with UNIX-based systems and the logic for building and running the server is not yet supported on Windows machines. If you're using Windows, then you'll likely find Ollama to be your best friend. The extension can recognize the models you have already downloaded. For other models provided by cloud providers, you can use the `Custom OpenAI` provider. This option is highly configurable for various needs, including on-premise models hosted within your company. Let's say you want to use the the newest `Qwen2.5 Coder 32B` model. One option is to use it with the Fireworks API from `/v1/completions` endpoint, which supports raw input, allowing us to send the pre-built FIM prompt. - Select the Custom OpenAI provider and use the Fireworks preset template - Fill in your API key obtained from their account page - Choose the proper FIM template (CodeQwen 2.5) from the Code Completion section - Replace the `model` body parameter value with `accounts/fireworks/models/qwen2p5-coder-32b-instruct` - Click apply The same model can also be used for other features, such as regular chats, by simply replacing the model value in the Chat Completions tab. We have many existing preset configurations in place. For instance, to use the Codestral model, simply select the Mistral AI template, enter the API key, and click apply. The values are already pre-filled, so the additional steps from the previous example are unnecessary.

I think you nailed it with the FIM compatibility. I’ve found the free Codestral API from mistral to be really good.

reddit.com › r/openrouter › to the people that use free models, why don't you just use gemini api's free tier?

r/openrouter on Reddit: To the people that use free models, why don't you just use Gemini API's free tier?

October 12, 2025 -

Google AI Studio offers a generous free tier. You can also use that API key on OpenRouter if you need other models.

My unprofessional guess is the heavy nsfw filter on Gemini. ;-)

It's heavily censored. The RP people need those dragons and elves nekkid and murderous. Also I think Google bans them because they're less favorably disposed towards that sort of thing and they use a lot of bandwidth.

reddit.com › r/llmdevs › openrouter experience

r/LLMDevs on Reddit: OpenRouter experience

February 11, 2025 -

I am curious about openrouter. Is it just for distributing your api calls to the current cheapest provider? Or are there other useful aspects? Also uses it the normal OpenAi API structure, because I’ve already build a fairly big app and rewriting the api integration would take a bit. Also how reliable is it?

Basic idea is this: When you call a certain LLM model with their API, it finds the most fastest API provider for the cheapest price possible at that moment in time. For example, if you want DeepSeek R1, it'll check which API status is good and pass your call to that API. This means that you don't have to sign up for 20 different API providers for keys nor write custom code in 20 different API requirements. For this reason, they charge you 5% on top of the chosen API provider's price. Downsides include: Costs 5% more May select an expensive API provider when cheaper API providers are down (instead of just throwing an error or being slow). Most API providers are using OpenAI's API language now so it's kinda easy to do what OpenRouter does, yourself.

I love it. I used to be signed up to multiple providers and the list was growing. But now most of my usage is just with openrouter. I think the +5% cost is worth the freedom and flexibliity, with simpler config. I still use gemini because its beta/free models are unreliable on openrouter due to google's rate limiting. (I could upload the gemini key to openrouter as another way to solve this.)

reddit.com › r/openrouter › so i just burned through all 50 of my free requests for the day.

r/openrouter on Reddit: So I just burned through all 50 of my free requests for the day.

August 18, 2025 -

I got three replies.

Three.

All 47 other requests got errors, or load hangs for upwards of 20 minutes that I had to cancel and try again.

And I'm expected to pay money for this?

TLDR: Free tier doesn't mean quality. The free tier comes with the caveats that aren't clear in documentation but it's present during usage. The free models are either heavily quantised or poorly optimized that frequently develop requests errors due to lower priority work compared to paid requests/tokens. That being said, as suggested here, $10 deposit will offer you 1000 requests per day. It's a deposit that will offer you a higher ceiling for margin of errors without burning actual account. It still comes with the Free tier caveat. Unless you go with the paid models, it's a different quality. That being said, you are using something for free, and it doesn’t always come with the level of gourmet you'd expect from a paid work. Ultimately, servers costs money, and you're only just getting the tasting at zero cost.

To me it sounds like you were forcing for a model that was being rate limited due to high demand. If one model doesn't work, either fucking switch to another model, or wait until the demand lessens again. Open router doesn't run the models they host them. Openrouter is a middleman between hundreds of service providers and millions of users. If there is a problem, switch to another provider or model. If you try to brute force a problem you can't brute force don't come bitching here.