Several AI platforms now provide free access to modern language models. This allows developers to test applications integrate AI features and explore model capabilities without paying for API keys or entering credit card details.
The following three platforms publicly offer free usage tiers for a wide range of models including Gemini 2.5 Pro DeepSeek R1 Qwen Llama 3 Mistral and others. The information below summarizes what each platform provides and how developers can begin using their APIs.
1. Google AI Studio
Google AI Studio offers free daily access to its Gemini models. Developers can use the Gemini 2.5 Pro and Gemini Flash series for tasks such as text generation code assistance vision processing and embeddings.
The interface allows users to generate an API key and begin sending requests through standard REST or SDK based methods. The free tier is intended for experimentation and early development work.
Link: Google AI Studio API Key Page
2. OpenRouter
OpenRouter provides a single API endpoint that can route requests to multiple AI models from different providers. This includes access to DeepSeek R1 Qwen Llama 3 Mistral and several other models. Many of these models include limited free usage for testing and evaluation.
The platform is useful for comparing models or building systems that require switching between different model families without modifying core application code.
Link: OpenRouter Models Directory
3. Groq Cloud
Groq Cloud offers extremely fast inference through its custom hardware architecture. It provides free access to Groq optimised versions of Llama 3 and Mixtral models. These models are suitable for applications that require low latency responses such as chat systems and interactive tools.
Users can generate an API key from the Groq console and begin sending requests through their supported client libraries.
Link: Groq Console API Key Page
Additional Information
All three platforms may update their free usage policies over time. Developers should review the documentation for rate limits usage quotas and model availability before integrating the APIs into production systems.
These resources provide a practical starting point for understanding and comparing current AI model capabilities without financial commitments.