Free-offer comparison
Free AI Hosting for Developers
Find out whether the free offer covers deployment time or API inference. A startup grant can require an application even when a self-serve tier does not.
Guide updated Sep 19, 2026 · Offer review and source dates appear below · Methodology
Free-offer ranking
Each row describes the provider’s recorded free offer, which may cover a different product from the category shown here. The table keeps published units separate. “Not confirmed” means we lack evidence for that detail; it does not mean the provider requires a card.
Scroll horizontally to compare every column.
| Rank | Provider | Free-access score | Recorded free offer | Access pattern | Billing/card | Offer note | Full review | Official source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Groq Cloud | 80/100 | Always free | Ongoing free access | No card confirmed | Free tier subject to published rate limits; must wait for quota reset or upgrade when exceeded | Jul 19, 2026 | View documentationAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
| #2 | Inference.net | 75/100 | Gateway requests: 1,000,000 requests per month; Tracing spans: 1,000,000 spans per month | Recurring allowance | Not confirmed | One free seat; underlying model inference is billed separately from Gateway and tracing allowances. | Jul 17, 2026 | View pricingAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
| #3 | Beam Cloud | 75/100 | $30 credit/mo | Recurring allowance | Not confirmed | Credits applied automatically to usage; pay-as-you-go beyond the free credit | Jul 17, 2026 | View pricingAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
| #4 | Google Cloud Speech-to-Text | 75/100 | 60 minutes/mo | Recurring allowance | Not confirmed | The general Google Cloud new-customer credit is separate. | Jul 17, 2026 | View pricingAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
| #5 | Modal | 75/100 | $30 credit/mo | Recurring allowance | Not confirmed | Starter plan includes 3 seats, 100 containers and 10 GPU concurrency; credit resets each month | Jul 17, 2026 | View pricingAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
| #6 | LiveKit | 75/100 | 1K agent session minutes/mo + $2.5 credits | Recurring allowance | Not confirmed | Model inference has a separate $2.50 free credit; the equivalent number of inference minutes varies by model. | Jul 17, 2026 | View pricingAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
| #7 | OpenRouter | 75/100 | 50 requests/day | Recurring allowance | Not confirmed | The free-model allowance is 50 requests per day and 20 requests per minute; choose a model marked free. | Jul 17, 2026 | View pricingAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
| #8 | Weaviate | 70/100 | 1K requests/mo | Recurring allowance | Not confirmed | 1,000 Query Agent request units per month; Ask can consume four units per query. | Jul 17, 2026 | View pricingAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
| #9 | Together AI (Startup Accelerator) | 65/100 | Up to $50K credit | One-time balance | Not confirmed | Not an automatic API signup credit; ordinary API use requires a $5 purchase. | Jul 17, 2026 | View pricingAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
| #10 | Cerebras | 65/100 | $5 credit for 30 days | One-time balance | Verified payment method required for the $5 trial credit. | Free-tier request and token limits vary by model. | Jul 17, 2026 | View pricingAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
| #11 | Google Cloud AI Startup Program | 65/100 | Up to $350K credit | One-time balance | Not confirmed | $350,000 is the maximum advertised program award, not a guaranteed signup credit. | Jul 17, 2026 | View pricingAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
| #12 | Microsoft Azure Founders Hub | 65/100 | $1K credit | One-time balance | Not confirmed | Further credits and program benefits depend on application approval. | Jul 17, 2026 | View documentationAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
| #13 | AWS Activate / Amazon Bedrock | 65/100 | Up to $200K credit | One-time balance | Not confirmed | Founders and Portfolio awards have different eligibility rules and amounts. | Jul 17, 2026 | View pricingAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
| #14 | NLP Cloud | 65/100 | $15 credit | One-time balance | A credit card is required for the Pay-As-You-Go plan that includes the $15 credit. | The separate low-throughput Free plan does not require a card but does not carry the $15 Pay-As-You-Go credit. | Jul 17, 2026 | View pricingAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
| #15 | Scaleway Generative APIs | 60/100 | Free model tokens: 1,000,000 tokens total; Free audio transcription: 60 minutes total | One-time balance | Not confirmed | Usage beyond the allowances is billed; a valid payment method and identity verification may be required for standard rate limits. | Jul 17, 2026 | View documentationAccessed Jul 17, 2026 |
| #16 | Nebius AI | 60/100 | $1 credit for 30 days | One-time balance | Not confirmed | The signup credit expires after 30 days. | Jul 17, 2026 | View documentationAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
| #17 | Hugging Face | 60/100 | $0.1 credits | One-time balance | Not confirmed | The monthly $0.10 credit applies only to Hugging Face-routed Inference Providers requests, not custom provider keys. | Jul 17, 2026 | View documentationAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
| #18 | Fireworks AI | 60/100 | $1 credits | One-time balance | Not confirmed | Without a payment method, service suspends when the $1 starter credit is exhausted. | Jul 17, 2026 | View pricingAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
| #19 | Cerebrium | 55/100 | Always free | Ongoing free access | Not confirmed | Compute usage is billed; current pricing does not confirm a free storage quota. | Jul 17, 2026 | View pricingAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
| #20 | Anyscale | 55/100 | $100 credit | One-time balance | Not confirmed | $100 in one-time starting Anyscale credits. | Jul 17, 2026 | View pricingAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
| #21 | Runpod | 55/100 | $1K credit | One-time balance | Not confirmed | Application is selective, venture backing is strongly preferred, and the program primarily targets new customers. The Growth Tier requires a $50,000 commitment and adds $25,000 bonus credits. | Jul 17, 2026 | Visit provider websiteAccessed Jul 17, 2026 |
| #22 | Nebius AI Startup Program | 35/100 | Free tier | Free offer recorded | Not confirmed | No fixed startup-credit amount is published on the current program page. | Jul 17, 2026 | View pricingAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
| #23 | Vercel AI Gateway | 30/100 | Free tier | Introductory offer | Not confirmed | Vercel pricing and Academy pages conflict on the free credit and model set. | Jul 17, 2026 | View pricingAccessed Jul 17, 2026 |
| #24 | GMI Cloud | 30/100 | Free tier | Introductory offer | Not confirmed | Only selected models have free inference endpoints. | Jul 17, 2026 | Visit provider websiteAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
| #25 | Replicate | 30/100 | Free tier | Free offer recorded | Not confirmed | Models in Try for Free collection can be run without credit for a limited number of runs; after hitting the free use limit you must add billing | Jul 17, 2026 | Visit provider websiteAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
| #26 | NVIDIA NIM | 25/100 | Free tier | Introductory offer | Not confirmed | Developer and downloadable NIM free use is for research, development, and testing; production requires a commercial path. | Jul 17, 2026 | Visit provider websiteAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
| #27 | Baseten | 25/100 | Free tier | Introductory offer | Not confirmed | New-account credits are available, but the current public page does not state an amount. | Jul 17, 2026 | View pricingAccessed Sep 13, 2026 |
Why these providers appear in this order
We score each provider’s recorded free offer: up to 40 points for recurring or durable access, 20 for a confirmed no-card signup, 15 for a stated allowance, 15 for distinct evidence links, and 10 for documented terms. Missing details earn no points. Ties favor longer-lasting access, then more detailed records, then provider name. The score does not measure product quality or whether the free offer covers this category. Read the full method before treating it as a recommendation.
Which providers are included?
We include active directory records tagged for AI hosting platforms. A tag describes a provider’s capability; its recorded free offer may cover only part of that provider’s catalog. Check the model or endpoint in the provider’s terms before building on the allowance.
See the full AI hosting platforms category, including records excluded from this guide.