Guide
Free AI API Credits in 2026: Which Platforms Give Free Tokens?
April 16, 2026 · 5 min read
Starting an AI project? You don't need to spend money upfront. Most AI API providers offer free credits or trial tiers. Here's a comparison of what you can get for free in 2026.
Free Tier Comparison
| Platform | Free Offer | Models Included | Card Required? |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIPower | 10 free API calls | All 16 models | No |
| OpenAI | $5 credit (expires 3 months) | GPT-4o, GPT-4o Mini | Yes |
| Anthropic | $5 credit | Claude 3.5 | Yes |
| Google AI | Free tier (rate limited) | Gemini Flash | Yes (billing setup) |
| DeepSeek | 10M free tokens | DeepSeek V3/R1 | Needs CN phone |
Why AIPower's Free Tier Stands Out
- No credit card required — just email signup
- All 16 models included — test GPT-5, Claude, DeepSeek, Qwen all at once
- 100 calls is plenty — enough to evaluate model quality for your use case
- No expiration — your free calls don't expire
Maximizing Free Credits
- Use GLM-4 Flash ($0.01/M) for development and testing — nearly free even after credits run out
- Use
model="auto-cheap"to always route to the cheapest model - Reserve expensive models (Claude Opus, GPT-5) for production tasks
- Test with short prompts first, then scale up token usage
Start free at aipower.me — no credit card, instant API key.
GET STARTED WITH AIPOWER
16 AI models. One API. OpenAI SDK compatible.
Who should use AIPower?
- • Developers needing both Chinese and Western AI models
- • Chinese teams that can't access OpenAI / Anthropic directly
- • Startups wanting multi-model redundancy through one API
- • Anyone tired of paying grey-market intermediary premiums
3 steps to first API call
- Sign up — email only, 10 free trial calls, no card
- Copy your API key from the dashboard
- Change
base_urlin your OpenAI SDK → done
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(
base_url="https://api.aipower.me/v1", # ← only change
api_key="sk-your-aipower-key",
)
response = client.chat.completions.create(
model="auto-cheap", # or anthropic/claude-opus, deepseek/deepseek-chat, openai/gpt-5, etc.
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}],
)
print(response.choices[0].message.content)+100 bonus calls on first $5 top-up · WeChat Pay + Alipay + card accepted · docs · security