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API Pricing & Free Tier Matrix

What it is

The API Pricing & Free Tier Matrix is a consolidated reference for the costs and free access policies of major Large Language Model (LLM) providers and AI platforms. It tracks pricing for tokens, developer program benefits, and specific model-level quotas.

Status legend

  • Yes = official free tier/trial access is currently documented.
  • Partial = limited free usage exists (for example, selected models/features).
  • No = no current free trial/tier is documented.
  • Unclear = pricing/billing docs do not clearly confirm a standing free tier.

Canonical pricing matrix (last verified: 2026-06-24)

Provider / Platform Official links Free tier / trial Evidence summary
OpenAI Docs · Pricing No Usage-priced API; current pricing centers GPT-5.5, GPT-5.4, and GPT-5.4 mini.
Anthropic (Claude API) Docs · Pricing Yes New users receive small starter API credits. Current API pricing lists Claude Opus 4.8/4.7/4.6, Sonnet 4.7/4.6, and Haiku 4.6.
Google Gemini Developer API Docs · Pricing Yes Pricing page documents a Free plan with selected free input/output token access; Gemini 3.5 Pro Preview is paid-only, while Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite has free rows. Gemini 4 Maverick preview free for dev accounts.
OpenRouter Docs · Pricing Yes Free plan and free-model routing are documented.
xAI (Grok API) Docs · Pricing Yes Docs mention monthly free requests/credits.
Z.ai (GLM API) Docs · Pricing Yes New users can claim free API token packages.
Alibaba DashScope (Qwen APIs) Docs · Pricing Yes Many models show temporary free quota periods.
Cohere Docs · Pricing Yes Trial API keys are free and rate-limited.
Mistral AI Docs · Pricing Yes Experiment plan supports free API testing.
Together AI Docs · Pricing No Billing docs indicate paid credits are required.
Groq Docs · Pricing Yes Free API plan and model-level limits are documented; exact current limits should be read from the account limits page for production budgeting.
Kiro Docs · Pricing Yes Perpetual free tier (50 credits/mo) + 500 bonus credits.
Fireworks AI Docs · Pricing Yes Public pricing notes starter free credits.
Replicate Docs · Pricing Partial Some models can be run free before billing.
DeepSeek API Docs · Pricing Unclear Granted balances are mentioned, fixed free tier unclear.
Perplexity API Docs · Pricing No Purchased credits and top-up requirements documented.
AI21 Docs · Pricing Yes Pricing page advertises free trial credits.
Abacus.AI Docs · Pricing Yes Free trial and ChatLLM free access documented.
Voyage AI Docs · Pricing Unclear Paid rates are clear; standing free tier not explicit.
Cloudflare Workers AI Docs · Pricing Yes Free plan includes daily usage.
Hugging Face Inference Providers Docs · Pricing Yes Monthly included inference credits by account tier.
Cerebras Inference Docs · Pricing Yes Pricing references free-tier usage/credits.
NVIDIA API Catalog Docs · Pricing Yes Starter credits are referenced publicly.
SambaNova Cloud Docs · Pricing Unclear Public page shows paid plans; no stable free policy.
AWS Bedrock Docs · Pricing No Metered pay-as-you-go pricing.
Amazon Q Docs · Pricing Yes Free tier for individuals/developers is documented.
Azure OpenAI Service Docs · Pricing Unclear Metered service; only account-level cloud credits may apply.
Vertex AI (Gemini via GCP) Docs · Pricing Unclear Metered pricing; no persistent API free-tier statement.
OCI Generative AI Docs · Pricing Unclear Paid rates are public; free tier not clearly documented.
MiniMax Docs · Pricing Yes Coding Plan provides a low-cost entry tier; trial credits available.
Moonshot AI Docs · Pricing Partial Trial credits are typically granted to new developer accounts.

What problem it solves

LLM pricing is notoriously complex, with costs varying by several orders of magnitude between "mini" and "frontier" models. Furthermore, free tiers are often hidden or poorly documented. This matrix allows developers to perform a "budget-first" architectural selection, choosing models that fit their financial constraints and usage patterns.

Where it fits in the stack

This document belongs to the Layer 1: Providers and Layer 2: Models analysis layer. It provides the economic context for the tools documented in docs/tools/providers/ and docs/tools/ai_knowledge/.

Typical use cases

  • Budgeting: Estimating the monthly cost of running a specific agentic workflow (e.g., using GPT-5.5 mini for routine tasks).
  • Free-Tier Hunting: Identifying which providers offer enough free credits to build and test a prototype without a credit card.
  • Provider Switching: Comparing the "Intelligence-per-Dollar" value when deciding whether to migrate from one provider to another (e.g., Anthropic to Google).
  • Quota Management: Checking Rate Per Minute (RPM) and Tokens Per Day (TPD) limits for free tiers to avoid service interruptions.

Model Intelligence-per-Dollar Value (2026 Triage)

Based on community analysis (June 2026), models are categorized by their efficiency relative to cost: - Top Intelligence: GPT-5.5, Gemini 3.5 Pro, Claude 4.8 Opus. - Best Value: DeepSeek V4, MiniMax-V3, Gemini 3.5 Flash. - Balanced: Claude 4.8 Sonnet, GPT-5.4, Llama 4 Maverick.

Strengths

  • Consolidated: Aggregates data from over 30 providers in a single view.
  • Agent-Optimized: Specifically highlights "mini" models and high-speed providers ideal for autonomous agents.
  • Evidence-Based: Includes direct links to official documentation for every claim.
  • Automated: Uses scripts to maintain a "Capability Capacity Summary" of known free tokens.

Limitations

  • High Volatility: Prices and free-tier availability can change weekly.
  • Regional Variation: Some free tiers or pricing models may not be available in all jurisdictions.
  • Tier Complexity: Many providers use opaque "usage tiers" (Tier 1-5) that affect limits beyond simple price-per-token.

When to use it

  • Use it during the design phase of an AI application to select a model based on cost-efficiency.
  • Use it when you hit a rate limit and need to find an alternative provider with higher free-tier capacity.
  • Use it to verify if a "free trial" mentioned in a tutorial is still currently active.

When not to use it

  • Do not use it as a legally binding price list; always verify with the provider's official dashboard before committing to large-scale spend.
  • Do not use it for consumer-facing chat app pricing (e.g., ChatGPT Plus vs. Claude Pro) unless it specifically mentions API benefits.

Getting started

  1. Identify your primary requirement (e.g., "Coding", "Fast", or "Budget").
  2. Consult the Capability Capacity Summary to see which models currently offer the best free-tier value.
  3. Use the Canonical pricing matrix to jump to the official pricing and documentation for your chosen provider.
  4. Check the Model-level quota tracker for specific RPM/TPD limits.

Developer Program Plans

These are the core subscription plans for developers that bundle AI access, cloud credits, and other professional benefits.

Program / Plan Cost AI Access & Quotas Cloud Credits & Benefits
Google Developer Program — Standard Free 10 Firebase Studio workspaces; Gemini Code Assist (Basic); Gemini CLI (60 RPM / 1000 RPD) Monthly Google Skills credits (via GEAR); community access; private previews.
Google Developer Program — Premium $24.99/mo or $299/yr 30 Firebase Studio workspaces; Gemini Code Assist (Higher); Gemini CLI (120 RPM / 1500 RPD) $45/mo ($550/yr) GenAI/Cloud credit; $500 bonus credit upon certification; 1 Cloud cert voucher; expert consultation.
Google Developer Program — Enterprise Preview Gemini Code Assist Enterprise; Gemini CLI (120 RPM / 2000 RPD) $150/mo Google Cloud credit; centralized purchasing; developer sandboxes.

Model-level quota tracker (expanded list)

This section is grouped by provider with compact four-column tables for narrower screens.

Capability tags: CODE VERIFY REASON LONGCTX FAST BUDGET OPEN

Capability Capacity Summary (auto-generated)

These summaries are generated from the model rows on this page using scripts/update_api_pricing_capability_summary.py. Only rows with a numeric daily token cap are included in the capacity math.

Leaderboard By Capability (known daily token caps)

Capability Top models Highest known daily cap Known models
Coding n/a n/a 0
Verification n/a n/a 0
Reasoning n/a n/a 0
Long-context n/a n/a 0
Low-latency n/a n/a 0
Budget/free-value n/a n/a 0
Open-model ecosystem n/a n/a 0

80% Shortlist (known-cap coverage)

Capability Models to reach >=80% of known capacity Coverage Total known daily cap
Coding n/a n/a n/a
Verification n/a n/a n/a
Reasoning n/a n/a n/a
Long-context n/a n/a n/a
Low-latency n/a n/a n/a
Budget/free-value n/a n/a n/a
Open-model ecosystem n/a n/a n/a

Fast Recommendation (80% rule, known-cap data)

Goal Recommended free-first models Why this set
Coding n/a No numeric daily-cap data available for this capability.
Verification n/a No numeric daily-cap data available for this capability.
Reasoning n/a No numeric daily-cap data available for this capability.

CLI examples

The following CLI tools can be used to monitor quotas and billing in a June 2026 environment.

# Google Cloud: List project quotas for Gemini APIs
gcloud alpha compute quotas list --service=generativeai.googleapis.com

# OpenRouter: Check current account balance and usage via curl
curl -X GET "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/auth/key" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENROUTER_API_KEY"

API examples

Most modern providers support usage monitoring directly via their SDKs or Model Context Protocol (MCP 3.0) interfaces.

Monitoring Gemini Quotas (Python)

import google.generativeai as genai

# MCP 3.0 compatible quota discovery
client = genai.Client(api_key="YOUR_KEY")
quotas = client.get_quotas()
for model in quotas:
    print(f"Model: {model.name}, RPM: {model.rpm_limit}")

Sources / References

Contribution Metadata

  • Last reviewed: 2026-06-24
  • Confidence: high