Free AI credits and perks
API, cloud, and AI tool credits for developers, startups, and students. Every program is checked against its official page, and links go straight to the provider.
Free API credits and tiers 20
Signup credits and standing free tiers for LLM and AI APIs.
Google account and an AI Studio API key; free-tier content may be used to improve Google products
OpenRouter account; applies to :free model variants
GroqCloud account
Mistral account on the Free plan
A verified payment method is required to activate the API
Workers Free or Paid plan
Cohere account; evaluation use only
Hugging Face account; requests routed through Hugging Face
Z.ai API account
Singapore region (international); complete account info; real-time inference only
Scaleway account
New account
New account
Starter plan ($0 base fee)
New customers who have never paid for Google Cloud, Maps or Firebase
New AWS account on the free plan; Amazon Bedrock is available
Phone number, a non-prepaid card and a Microsoft or GitHub account
Per account; not applicable to the Batch API
New pay-as-you-go account
New account; the free tier is limited to 5 new streams per minute
Startup programs 12
Cloud and AI credits for startups, from thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Self-funded, pre-Series B, founded within 10 years; AWS account on a paid plan
Organization ID from an Activate Provider (VC, accelerator or angel); pre-Series B
Not yet equity-funded, founded within 5 years; public website and matching email domain
Equity-funded startup founded within 10 years
AI-first funded startup with a public website
Privately held software startup, not Series C or later
Founded within 10 years, funded in the last 12 months, live product website
Tier depends on funding raised (up to $5M, $5–10M, over $10M)
Raised $250K–$10M and founded within 2 years
Fewer than 25 employees, monetized product, business email
Under 5 years old, under 50 employees, not yet a Scaleway client
Application and approval
For students 7
Free plans and credits for students and researchers.
Verified student via GitHub Education
Verified student aged 13+
College student aged 18+ verified via SheerID; renews at the paid price
Full-time university student with a school email
Student; non-commercial use only
Verified student at an accredited institution
Graduate students, labs and researchers (application)
FAQ
Where can I get free AI API credits?
Standing free tiers exist at Google AI Studio (Gemini), OpenRouter, Groq, Cloudflare Workers AI, and Cohere; one-time credits come from AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, AI21, Fireworks, and others. The list is checked by hand against official pages.
How many credits can a startup get?
The largest programs are Google for Startups Cloud Program (up to $350,000 for AI startups), AWS Activate (up to $200,000 via partners), and Microsoft for Startups (up to $150,000). Terms depend on stage and funding.
Which AI services are free for students?
GitHub Copilot Student, the GitHub Student Developer Pack, Azure for Students, the JetBrains Student Pack, and a year of Google AI for students (claim by 31 December 2026).