How to Get a Free AI API for Coding
Updated 27 October 2026.
In short: Several models made for coding are free to call. Laguna S 2.1 and Laguna XS 2.1 (Poolside), North Mini Code (Cohere) and Flint (Recursive) are free on Kilo AI Gateway with no key and on OpenRouter's free tier. Codestral (Mistral) is free on LLM7.io. Free coding apps such as OpenCode also include free models of their own.
Models made for coding, free today
Each model's own maker describes it as a coding model. Checked on 27 October 2026:
| Model | Made by | Where it is free | Free limit |
|---|---|---|---|
Laguna S 2.1 (poolside/laguna-s-2.1:free) | Poolside, a "coding agent model" | Kilo AI Gateway (no key), OpenRouter | Kilo: 200 requests an hour; OpenRouter: 50 a day |
Laguna XS 2.1 (poolside/laguna-xs-2.1:free) | Poolside | Kilo AI Gateway (no key), OpenRouter | Same as above |
North Mini Code (cohere/north-mini-code:free) | Cohere, its "first agentic coding model" | Kilo AI Gateway (no key), OpenRouter, and a Cohere trial key | Cohere trial: 1,000 calls a month, 20 a minute |
Flint (recursive/flint-v1.0:free) | Recursive, built "for coding agents" | Kilo AI Gateway (no key), OpenRouter | Free models can be busy; on 27 October Flint answered "temporarily rate-limited" |
Codestral (codestral-latest) | Mistral | LLM7.io, and NVIDIA as mistralai/codestral-22b-instruct-v0.1 | LLM7: 100,000 tokens a day |
Laguna S 2.1 and North Mini Code answered with no key on Kilo, and Codestral on a free LLM7 key, in October 2026. Descriptions come from the model pages on OpenRouter.
General models that coding tools use
These are not coding-only models, but coding apps often use them, and each is free somewhere:
| Model | Where it is free |
|---|---|
| gpt-oss-120b | Groq (1,000 requests a day), Cloudflare, Ollama, OVHcloud with no key: see gpt-oss |
| MiniMax M2.7 | LLM7.io, Gonka Broker: see MiniMax |
| Qwen3.8-27B | Groq, OVHcloud with no key: see Qwen |
| DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Experiential Labs, NVIDIA, inside OpenCode: see DeepSeek |
| GLM-5.3 | NVIDIA, Perplexity's signup credit: see GLM |
Free coding apps with free models built in
| App | Free models inside | API key needed |
|---|---|---|
| OpenCode | Its own free models, such as DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Beam | No; it also takes free keys from Gemini, Groq, OpenRouter and others |
| OmniRush | GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Sol within a daily allowance | No; its privacy policy allows training on your prompts and project files |
Steps: how to install OpenCode and how to add free API keys to OpenCode. OmniRush is on how to get free AI plans.
Use a free coding model in a coding tool
Coding tools that take an OpenAI-compatible provider need three settings:
| Setting | Kilo AI Gateway (no key) | OpenRouter |
|---|---|---|
| Base URL | https://ai-gateway.kilo.ai/api/v1 | https://openrouter.ai/api/v1 |
| API key | any text | your free OpenRouter key |
| Model | poolside/laguna-s-2.1:free | poolside/laguna-s-2.1:free |
To put several free keys behind one address on your own computer, the open-source OmniRoute gateway switches to the next key when one runs out.
Words to know
- Coding agent: an AI tool that reads and edits code and runs commands in a project.
:free: the ending that marks a free model's name on OpenRouter and Kilo.- Base URL: the address an app sends its requests to.
- API key: the password an app uses to call a model. See what is an API key.
More free AI API keys
How to get AI API keys for free lists every free tier with its limit and source.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free AI API for coding?+
Yes. Coding models such as Poolside Laguna S 2.1, Cohere North Mini Code and Recursive Flint are free on Kilo AI Gateway with no key and on OpenRouter's free tier; Mistral's Codestral is free on LLM7.io.
Can I use a free coding model without an API key?+
Yes, on Kilo AI Gateway: send requests to https://ai-gateway.kilo.ai/api/v1 with a model such as poolside/laguna-s-2.1:free, up to 200 requests an hour per IP address.
Is Codestral free?+
Codestral is free on LLM7.io as codestral-latest, within 100,000 tokens a day, and NVIDIA lists Codestral 22B in its free API catalog after phone verification.
Which free coding apps include free models?+
OpenCode includes its own free models, such as DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, and OmniRush includes GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Sol within a daily allowance.
More free API key tutorials
- How to get a Gemini API key for free
- How to get a Groq API key for free
- How to get a Cloudflare Workers AI API key for free
- How to get a Cohere API key for free
- How to get an OpenRouter API key for free
- How to get an Experimental Labs API key for free (with the $1 verification)
- How to get a Requesty API key for free
- How to use Kilo Code free models (no API key)
- How to get an LLM7 API key for free
- How to use a free AI API without an API key
- How to get an Ollama API key for free
- How to get a Gonka AI API key for free
- How to get a Perplexity API key for free
- Where Qwen is free
- Where Mistral models are free
- The Grok API, checked on a new account
- Where DeepSeek models are free
- Where GLM models are free
- Where OpenAI models are free
- Every free AI API and its daily limit
By model: DeepSeek · OpenAI (GPT) · Claude · Grok · Perplexity · Mistral · Kimi · Qwen · GLM · MiniMax · Llama · Nemotron · Gemma · gpt-oss
Want to use these APIs in a desktop app? OpenCode is a free, open-source AI coding app for Windows, Mac and Linux. How to add free API keys to OpenCode and pick a model.