How to Get a Kimi API Key for Free (Where It Is Free, 2026)

How to Get a Kimi API Key for Free

Updated 27 October 2026.

In short: Moonshot AI's Kimi API is paid, billed per token with no free tier. Kimi's model Kimi K2.6 is free on NVIDIA's API catalog, after phone verification, and Kimi K3 runs on Perplexity's Agent API, where some new accounts get a one-time $10 credit. The Kimi chat app has its own membership plans, separate from the API.

The Kimi API: pay as you go

Moonshot's pricing page says Kimi model inference is billed pay-as-you-go, with no subscription plan:

Model	Input, per 1M tokens	Output, per 1M tokens
`kimi-k3`	$3.00	$15.00
`kimi-k3.1-pro`	$2.00	$10.00
`kimi-k2.6`	$0.95	$4.00

From 31 October 2026 the K2 models are no longer offered to newly registered Kimi API users, and all K2 models are planned to retire by the end of December 2026.

Where Kimi models are free

Where	Kimi model	Free allowance	What it needs
NVIDIA (build.nvidia.com)	`moonshotai/kimi-k2.6`	Up to 40 requests a minute, no daily limit stated	Phone verification, not offered in every country
Perplexity Agent API	`perplexity/kimi-k3`	A one-time $10 signup credit for some new accounts, 60 days	A Perplexity API account; no card

The full list of free AI APIs, with each limit and source, is on how to get AI API keys for free.

Use a free Kimi model in an app made for OpenAI

In the app, enter the service's key, its base URL and its Kimi model name:

Service	Base URL	Model name
NVIDIA	`https://integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1`	`moonshotai/kimi-k2.6`

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

API key: the password an app uses to call a model. See what is an API key.
Kimi: the model family from Moonshot AI; K3 is the newest, K2.6 the older generation.
Base URL: the address an app sends its requests to.
Token: a piece of a word; the unit models read and write. See tokens and context windows.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Kimi API free?+

No. Moonshot bills Kimi model inference pay-as-you-go: kimi-k3 costs $3 per million input tokens and $15 per million output tokens.

Where can I use Kimi for free?+

Kimi K2.6 is in NVIDIA's free API catalog at build.nvidia.com as moonshotai/kimi-k2.6, after phone verification. Phone verification is not offered in every country.

Can new users still get Kimi K2 models?+

Not on the Kimi API from 31 October 2026, and Moonshot plans to retire all K2 models by the end of December 2026.

What is the NVIDIA base URL for Kimi?+

https://integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1 with the model name moonshotai/kimi-k2.6 and an NVIDIA API key.