2026 API Audit: 28 of 49 Providers Offer Genuine Free Tiers
Ecstatic-Use-1353 · reddit · 2026-09-02
An audit of 49 AI API providers as of September 2026 reveals that 28 offer genuine, recurring free tiers, excluding trials or services requiring payment cards. The list covers LLMs, search, voice, embeddings, and RAG tools. Notable highlights include Vikasit AI (2M tokens/day) and SimpleLLM (1,000 requests/day). Conversely, Cerebras has moved to a paid trial, and GitHub Models was discontinued. A detailed comparison table is provided.
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