Is OpenRouter still free?
Yes, with limits Partly. OpenRouter had a free tier with notable restrictions on the vendor's public page on 2026-10-05.
Model variants whose ID ends in :free can be called at no cost, limited to 20 requests per minute and 50 requests per day until at least 10 credits have been purchased.
Free tier limits and listed figures
| Item | Value on the vendor page |
|---|---|
| Free model requests | 20 per minute |
| Free model requests per day (fewer than 10 credits purchased) | 50 |
| Free model requests per day (at least 10 credits purchased) | 1,000 |
Card and commercial use
- Credit card required
- not stated by the vendor
- Commercial use allowed
- not stated by the vendor
Gotchas
- The daily free limit rises from 50 to 1,000 requests only after purchasing at least 10 credits
- Docs: a negative credit balance can cause 402 errors, "including for free models"
- Making more accounts or API keys does not raise the limits; capacity is governed globally
Recent change
No recent change is noted on the vendor page that was read.
Alternatives to compare
- Is Google Gemini API still free? Yes, with limits
- Is Cloudflare Workers AI still free? Yes
- Is Cohere API still free? Yes, with limits
More in this category: AI and LLM APIs.
Source
Vendor page read by software on 2026-10-05, written out as text so you can copy it into your browser:
https://openrouter.ai/docs/api-reference/limits