LLM & AI model APIs, inference and agent platforms
18 providers and 466 verified findings for this front, as of 2026-10-22.
Comparison table
| Provider | Best offer | Audience | Findings H / M / L | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | Claude Startups program (free Claude Team year + $1,000 API credit, Oct 2026 expansion) | other, startup | 13 / 4 / 1 | claude.com |
| AWS (Amazon Web Services) | AWS Free plan (new-account credits: $100 base + up to $100 earned, 6-month window) | startup, free-for-all, student | 68 / 18 / 4 | aws.amazon.com |
| Baseten | Starter credit for every new Baseten workspace (~$30, no application needed) | startup | 1 / 2 / 0 | baseten.co |
| Cerebras Inference Free Trial | Free Trial: one-time $5 credit for new accounts | free-for-all | 2 / 1 / 1 | cerebras.ai |
| Cloudflare | Workers AI free tier: 10,000 free Neurons/day (no signup offer needed) | free-for-all, startup | 23 / 5 / 0 | developers.cloudflare.com |
| Cohere Trial API key | Cohere Trial API key (free tier, self-serve) | free-for-all | 3 / 1 / 0 | cohere.com |
| GitHub | GitHub Copilot Free (perpetual free tier, no credit card) | free-for-all, student | 40 / 82 / 0 | github.com |
| Google Cloud | Google Cloud Free Trial — $300 welcome credit (90 days) | startup, free-for-all, student | 51 / 13 / 1 | docs.cloud.google.com |
| Google Gemini API | Gemini API Free Tier (Google AI Studio) | free-for-all | 5 / 1 / 0 | ai.google.dev |
| GroqCloud Free Plan | GroqCloud Free Plan (ongoing free tier) | free-for-all | 1 / 2 / 0 | console.groq.com |
| Hugging Face | Inference Providers free account: NO monthly credits (as of Oct 2026) | free-for-all | 10 / 2 / 3 | huggingface.co |
| Microsoft Azure | Azure Free Account — $200 credit + 12 months of free services | startup, student, free-for-all | 49 / 14 / 4 | azure.microsoft.com |
| Mistral AI Studio | Free mode API (default, no card required) | free-for-all | 3 / 2 / 0 | docs.mistral.ai |
| NVIDIA | Free rate-limited NIM hosted inference (NVIDIA Developer Program) | free-for-all, startup | 7 / 9 / 0 | build.nvidia.com |
| OpenAI | No free API tier / no signup credits (API is pay-as-you-go) | other | 2 / 5 / 0 | community.openai.com |
| OpenRouter Free Models | Free tier: ':free' model variants and openrouter/free Free Models Router | free-for-all | 2 / 2 / 1 | openrouter.ai |
| Replicate 'Try for Free' collection | Replicate 'Try for Free' free runs (no-credit-card free tier) | free-for-all | 2 / 0 / 2 | replicate.com |
| xAI Grok API | xAI API: no free tier, no trial credits (confirmed non-existent) | other | 1 / 2 / 1 | docs.x.ai |
Other service fronts
- Startup cloud-credit programs (VC / accelerator funded)
- Managed databases & data platforms
- Frontend hosting, PaaS & app deployment
- VPS, bare-metal & dedicated servers
- Dev tools, IDEs, Git & CI/CD
- GPU, ML training & notebooks
- Observability, monitoring, uptime & CDN
- Auth, security, product analytics & feature flags
- Email, SMS, push & chat APIs
- API marketplaces, free public APIs, search & CMS
- Payments & fintech dev tools
- University & education-only programs (.edu / student email)
- Self-hosted open-source alternatives that replace paid SaaS
- Extras: gap-fill finds and providers outside the 14 fronts