Free Tool · Cost Decision

Cheapest LLM API Leaderboard

Find low-cost AI API providers by free credits, no-card access signals, OpenAI-compatible setup, rate limits, and China-friendly access before you commit to a stack.

View leaderboard ↓Calculate token costUse one API gateway
90ranked providers
4no-card signals
31OpenAI-compatible notes
35China-friendly options

Scoring is a practical builder score: no-card free API access ranks highest, then credits, free tiers, OpenAI compatibility, and regional access.

Low-cost LLM API ranking

RankProviderFree / cheap signalRate limitSetupAccessScore
#1NVIDIA Build (NIM API)Main profile · 2026-05-11无限制（已取消额度限制）40 RPM（可申请提升到 200 RPM）No-card signal · OpenAI-compatibleChina-direct / Asia-friendly100
#2CerebrasMain profile · 2026-05-111M tokens/day30 RPM / 60K TPM / 1M TPDNo-card signal · OpenAI-compatibleGlobal93
#3Google AI (Gemini)Main profile · 2026-05-11免费 API 无需信用卡15 RPM (Flash)No-card signalChina-direct / Asia-friendly90
#4CohereMain profile · 2026-05-111000 calls/monthTrial rate limitsNo-card signalGlobal83
#501.AI (Yi)Main profile · 2026-05-11¥105 RPMFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleChina-direct / Asia-friendly65
#6Baichuan AIMain profile · 2026-05-11500万 tokens5 RPMFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleChina-direct / Asia-friendly65
#7ChatGLM (Zhipu AI)Main profile · 2026-05-11500万 tokens5 RPMFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleChina-direct / Asia-friendly65
#8Cloudflare Workers AIMain profile · 2026-05-11每天 10000 神经元（永久有效）10000 requests/dayFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleChina-direct / Asia-friendly65
#9DeepSeekMain profile · 2026-05-11$52 RPMFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleChina-direct / Asia-friendly65
#10DGX Cloud Lepton (formerly Lepton AI)Main profile · 2026-05-11$10 free credits10 RPMFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleChina-direct / Asia-friendly65
#11Doubao (ByteDance)Main profile · 2026-05-1150万 tokens5 RPMFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleChina-direct / Asia-friendly65
#12iFlytek SparkMain profile · 2026-05-11200万 tokens5 RPMFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleChina-direct / Asia-friendly65
#13Kimi (Moonshot AI)Main profile · 2026-05-11¥15 + 充 $5 送 $53 RPMFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleChina-direct / Asia-friendly65
#14LM StudioMain profile · 2026-05-11UnlimitedLocalFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleChina-direct / Asia-friendly65
#15MiniMaxMain profile · 2026-05-11¥15VariesFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleChina-direct / Asia-friendly65
#16OllamaMain profile · 2026-05-11UnlimitedLocalFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleChina-direct / Asia-friendly65
#17Qwen (Alibaba)Main profile · 2026-05-117000 万 tokens（新用户一次性）按模型不同Free API credits · OpenAI-compatibleChina-direct / Asia-friendly65
#18SenseNovaMain profile · 2026-05-11公测免费额度待官方控制台确认Free API credits · OpenAI-compatibleChina-direct / Asia-friendly65
#19SiliconFlowMain profile · 2026-05-11¥14VariesFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleChina-direct / Asia-friendly65
#20StepFunMain profile · 2026-05-11¥105 RPMFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleChina-direct / Asia-friendly65
#21Tencent HunyuanMain profile · 2026-05-11100万 tokens5 RPMFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleChina-direct / Asia-friendly65
#22AnyscaleMain profile · 2026-05-11$10 free credits30 RPMFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleGlobal58
#23Fireworks AIMain profile · 2026-05-11$1 free credits600 RPMFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleGlobal58
#24Grok (xAI)Main profile · 2026-05-11$25/月VariesFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleGlobal58
#25GroqMain profile · 2026-05-11Free tier（永久免费）30 RPM / 6000 TPMFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleGlobal58
#26Mistral AIMain profile · 2026-05-11Free tier1 RPMFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleGlobal58
#27Novita AIMain profile · 2026-05-11$0.50 free credits60 RPMFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleGlobal58
#28OctoAIMain profile · 2026-05-11$10 free credits60 RPMFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleGlobal58
#29OpenRouterMain profile · 2026-05-11Free models20 RPMFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleGlobal58
#30SambaNovaMain profile · 2026-05-11Free tier（永久免费）30 RPMFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleGlobal58
#31Together AIMain profile · 2026-05-11$5（注册赠送）Varies by modelFree API credits · OpenAI-compatibleGlobal58
#32Coze (ByteDance)Main profile · 2026-05-11Free tierVariesFree API creditsChina-direct / Asia-friendly55
#33ERNIE Bot (Baidu)Main profile · 2026-05-11Free tier5 RPMFree API creditsChina-direct / Asia-friendly55
#34FireRed-OpenStorylineMain profile · 2026-05-11Unlimited self-hostedLocal/self-hostedFree API creditsChina-direct / Asia-friendly55
#35Hugging FaceMain profile · 2026-05-11Free tierVariesFree API creditsChina-direct / Asia-friendly55
#36Tiangong AIMain profile · 2026-05-11Free tierVariesFree API creditsChina-direct / Asia-friendly55
#37ViduMain profile · 2026-05-11$1N/AFree API creditsChina-direct / Asia-friendly55
#38ElevenLabsMain profile · 2026-05-1110K chars/monthVariesFree API creditsGlobal48
#39fal.aiMain profile · 2026-05-11Promotional creditsN/AFree API creditsGlobal48
#40FLUX (Black Forest Labs)Main profile · 2026-05-11Free via platformsVariesFree API creditsGlobal48

Turn the ranking into a production decision

Find no-card APIs

Filter APIs that look usable before adding payment details.

Estimate monthly cost

Translate token volume into monthly and yearly API cost.

Use fallback routing

Reduce provider lock-in with one OpenAI-compatible gateway.

🎁 Free Resource Pack

Get the Free AI Startup Toolkit

Free API credits list, AI business case studies, payment stack, risk checklist, and a monetization roadmap.

Get it free →
🐑 小羊助手