Free models and APIs on Vercel AI Gateway in 2026

Explore zero-priced promotional language models on Vercel AI Gateway. API access requires a payment card, even for free models.

3 modelsup to 1M contextbest: Nemotron 3.5 LightningUpdated: October 24, 2026 at 06:40 AM UTC

Vercel AI Gateway

Online at the last check

A payment card must be on file even for zero-price models.

Base URL: https://ai-gateway.vercel.sh/v1
Compatibility: OpenAI Chat Completions
Card: Required
Limits: A valid payment card must be on file even for zero-price models. Free promotions may change; availability is refreshed from the Models API.

#	Model ↕	AA Index ↕	Context ↕	Size ↕	Limit
1	Nemotron 3.5 Lightning `nvidia/nemotron-3.5-lightning-free`	12.9	1M	Mid-size	A valid payment card must be on file even for zero-price models. Free promotions may change; availability is refreshed from the Models API.	Open
2	Laguna S 2.1 `poolside/laguna-s-2.1-free`	—	256K	Small	A valid payment card must be on file even for zero-price models. Free promotions may change; availability is refreshed from the Models API.	Open
3	Beam 1.0 `reflection/beam`	—	1M	Small	A valid payment card must be on file even for zero-price models. Free promotions may change; availability is refreshed from the Models API.	Open
4	Beam 1.0 `reflection/beam-free`	—	1M	Small	A valid payment card must be on file even for zero-price models. Free promotions may change; availability is refreshed from the Models API.	Open

Benchmarks: Artificial Analysis (October 24, 2026). A dash means the model is not on their leaderboard; we never estimate scores ourselves.

Is Vercel AI Gateway free?

A payment card must be on file even for zero-price models. 4 models are currently free.

Is Vercel AI Gateway compatible with the OpenAI API?

Yes — use the base URL https://ai-gateway.vercel.sh/v1 with any OpenAI-compatible client or SDK.

Does Vercel AI Gateway require a card?

Yes, the provider requires a card even for free models.