Free tier
Free has a ceiling — knowing where it is means no surprise invoice
What is a free tier
A free tier is a usage allowance that costs nothing. Most major model providers offer one — a number of requests, tokens, or compute hours per month that you can use without a payment method or a bill.
The case for free tiers is straightforward: they let you build and test without commitment. You can prototype a product, evaluate a model, run experiments, and get to something working before you spend anything. For developers starting out, or teams evaluating options, this is genuinely valuable.
The ceiling you need to know
Free tiers are designed to be outgrown.
The limits are real. Rate limits on free tiers are typically 10–100× lower than paid tiers. The models available on free tiers are often smaller or older. Context windows may be reduced. Response times are usually slower. And the moment your application gets real traffic — not test traffic, real users — free tier limits trip within hours.
None of this is hidden. The limits are published. The issue is that developers often discover the ceiling at the wrong moment: during a demo, after a launch, when users are actually there.
How to use this well
Free tiers are for learning, prototyping, and evaluating. Build your proof of concept on a free tier. Test your integration. Confirm the model fits your use case.
Then calculate your production cost before you launch. The [per 1M tokens](/glossary/per-million-tokens) page has the thirty-second calculation. Run it against your expected volume. Know your number before real traffic arrives.
The transition from free to paid is not painful if you plan it. It is only painful when it is a surprise.
Among the 30 models on sourc.dev, free tier availability varies significantly. Check the capability flag on each entity page for current status. Verified March 2026.
Verified March 2026 · Source: Provider pricing pages