AI & LLM Deals for Developers

$25K Claude API credits — open to all early-stage startups, priority rate limits included

Anthropic Startup Program offers up to $25,000 in Claude API credits for early-stage startups. Open to any startup with or without VC backing. Provides priority rate limits, community access, and resources. VC-backed companies or accelerator alumni may qualify for additional benefits.

$5K-$50K OpenAI API credits — access GPT-4/5 for qualifying startups through application

OpenAI offers startup credits ranging from $5,000 to $50,000+ for qualifying startups. Access to GPT-4, GPT-5, and other cutting-edge models. Requires application and typically targets venture-backed or high-potential startups. Credits can be used for API access and model experimentation.

2,000 free completions + 50 chat messages/month — industry-standard AI coding assistant, no credit card needed

AI code completion and chat assistant. Free tier includes 2,000 code completions per month and 50 chat messages per month. Supports VS Code, JetBrains, Neovim, and other IDEs. No credit card required.

10K free neurons/day on Cloudflare's global edge — ~200 LLM requests daily with no credit card

Global edge inference platform with 10,000 free neurons per day (resets daily — ~200 LLM requests). 50+ open-source models including Llama 3.3, Mistral Small, Qwen, Stable Diffusion XL, Whisper. No credit card needed. Runs on 300+ global data centers.

$200 free credits for speech AI — real-time transcription and TTS without upfront cost

Real-time speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and audio intelligence API with $200 free credits.

$20 free credits on signup + $10/mo ongoing — neural search API for AI agents, sub-180ms latency, no subscription

AI-native search API with neural embeddings for company, people, and code search. New accounts get $20 in free credits (~2,800 searches) plus $10 in free credits every month. No subscription required. Sub-180ms instant search and deep-research endpoints available.

$5 credits + permanent free tier at ~200K tok/day — fastest inference on open models, no CC required

Fastest inference for open models using custom RDU hardware. $5 free credits (~30M tokens on Llama 8B) plus an ongoing rate-limited free tier (~200K tokens/day, ~40 requests/day) that continues after credits expire. No credit card needed. Models include DeepSeek V3.1, Llama 3.3 70B, MiniMax M2.7, Gemma 4.

$5 free credits = several million tokens — access 50+ open models including Llama 3.3 70B

Together AI offers $5 in free credits on signup. Access to 50+ open-source models including Llama 3.3 70B, Mixtral 8x7B, and many others. At Together AI's pricing, $5 covers several million tokens. No credit card required for the free credits.

Free frontier model APIs with just a GitHub account — GPT-4o, DeepSeek-R1, Llama 3.3 at zero cost

Free rate-limited API access to 40+ frontier models including GPT-4o, GPT-5, DeepSeek-R1, Llama 3.3 70B, and Mistral. Requires only a GitHub account. OpenAI-compatible endpoint at https://models.github.ai. Prototyping only per ToS.

$50 free speech-to-text credits — transcribe ~185 hours of audio for free

Speech-to-text API with high accuracy, speaker diarization, and content moderation. $50 free credits on signup.

Fastest LLM inference at 30 RPM free — no credit card, 240 tok/s on Llama 3

Ultra-fast LLM inference API with free tier supporting 30 requests/min and 14,400 requests/day. No credit card required.

1B free tokens/month on Mistral models — no credit card, open-weight models

Open-source LLM API with generous free Experiment tier offering 1 billion tokens/month. No credit card required.

1K free API credits/mo with no credit card — production search/extract/crawl API built for AI agents, 180ms p50

Web access layer for AI agents. Search, extract, crawl, and deep-research endpoints. 1,000 free API credits per month, no credit card required. Trusted by 2M+ developers and used by JetBrains, IBM WatsonX, and Databricks.

Free 14-day access to MiniMax frontier models — M3 for long-horizon agentic tasks, M2.7 for fast coding, Speech 2.8 for TTS, Music 3.0 for music gen. No card needed.

MiniMax Week: M3 (frontier reasoning), M2.7 (agentic coding), Speech 2.8 (TTS/voice cloning), and Music 3.0 (music gen) are all free for 14 days via GMI Cloud API or OpenRouter. No credit card required. Campaign runs Aug 24 – Sep 6, 2026. H3 video model is paid, not included.

$25-$175/mo free Grok API credits — access cutting-edge LLM for free

Grok API from xAI with $25 free credits for new users and up to $150/month via data sharing program.

Free TEE-secured inference for 100+ open LLMs — no subscription, pay-per-token, GPU from $1.80/hr for private deploys

Open-source decentralized serverless AI compute. Free TEE (Trusted Execution Environment) inference for 100+ open models including Kimi K2.6, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Qwen 3.8, and GLM 5.1. Pay-per-token with no subscription required. Plus plan $10/mo with 6% off PAYG rates.

1M free tokens on EU-hosted models — GDPR-compliant inference with Qwen 3.5 and Mistral Medium

Scaleway's European cloud generative AI API offers 1 million free one-time tokens plus 60 minutes of free audio transcription. Access to 17 models including Qwen 3.5 397B, Mistral Medium 3.5, Gemma 4, and Llama 3.3. GDPR-compliant with EU data centers. Credit card and phone verification required.

10K free characters/month for TTS — generate professional voiceovers at no cost

AI voice synthesis and text-to-speech API with 10,000 free characters per month and 29 languages.

Free Gemini Flash with 1M token context — build AI apps at zero cost

Google's multimodal AI API with free tier for Flash models featuring a 1M token context window.

$0.10/mo free inference credits — token-level pricing on thousands of open models from HuggingFace

HuggingFace's official inference API with $0.10/month in free credits. Access to thousands of open-source models via serverless inference (limited to models under 10GB; some popular larger models also supported).

$1 free inference credit — test DeepSeek and Llama models at near-zero cost, no CC needed

LLM inference API with $1 free credit on signup. Access to DeepSeek V3, Llama 3.3 70B, DeepSeek-R1, and Qwen models. No credit card needed.

Test Claude via AWS Bedrock using $200 free credits — no Anthropic account needed, works with onboarding tasks

AWS Bedrock provides free access to Claude models using AWS's $200 free credits for new users. The credits work across 200+ AWS services including Bedrock. One of the onboarding tasks specifically involves running a model in the Bedrock playground, making it easy to test Claude without an Anthropic account.

$2K+ Gradium voice AI credits — build voice agents with NLU and real-time voice processing

Gradium offers $2,000+ in voice AI platform credits for qualifying startups. Build and deploy voice agents with natural language understanding, text-to-speech, and real-time voice processing. Includes access to Gradium's voice AI API and agent building tools. Application required.

$1 free + $25 survey credit — decent trial for testing open model inference

LLM inference API with $1 free credit on signup and $25 additional credit for completing an email survey. Various open-source models available.

$30/mo free GPU credits (with CC) — open-source, fast cold starts, wide GPU selection

Open-source serverless GPU platform. $30/month free credits (requires credit card; $1 without). Supports T4, A10G, A100, H100, RTX 4090. Sub-second cold starts, Python SDK.

6 months Claude Max free ($1,200 value) — for OSS maintainers with 5K+ stars or 1M+ downloads

Claude for Open Source program gives qualifying open source maintainers 6 months of Claude Max 20x for free (total value $1,200). 10,000 total spots available. Eligibility requires demonstrated maintainer status on a meaningful OSS project with 5,000+ stars or 1M+ npm downloads/month.

$30/mo free GPU credits (with CC) — run A100 or H100 inference, per-second billing, no idle cost

Serverless GPU platform for AI/ML workloads. $30/month free compute credits (requires credit card; $1 without). Per-second billing, no idle costs. 10 GPU concurrency on free tier.

1M free tokens per model on Qwen — test Alibaba's latest LLMs including Qwen 3.5/3.6

Alibaba Cloud's Model Studio offering 1 million free tokens per model. Access to Qwen family models including Qwen 3.5 and Qwen 3.6. International account and credit card required.

Up to 1B free tokens on Arcee AI — domain-adapted LLMs and model merging for specialized AI apps

Arcee AI's Trinity Builders program offers up to 1 billion free tokens for qualifying developers and startups. Access to Arcee's domain-adapted LLMs and model merging technology. Build specialized AI applications using distilled and merged open-source models. Application required.

1M free tokens/day at 2,100 tok/s — fastest LLM inference available on cutting-edge hardware

Cerebras provides ultra-fast LLM inference using Wafer-Scale Engine hardware. Free tier includes 1 million tokens per day at 2,100 tokens/second speed. Access to cutting-edge models optimized for Cerebras hardware. No credit card required.

$1 free inference credits — test fast open model API at near-zero cost

Fast LLM inference API with $1 free credits on signup. Access to various open-source models including Llama, Mistral, and Qwen. Optimized for low-latency inference.

1.5M free tokens/day on Gemini Flash — no credit card, perfect for prototyping

Google AI Studio provides free access to Gemini Flash models with 1.5 million free tokens per day. No credit card required. Includes access to various Gemini models with generous daily limits. Perfect for development, testing, and prototyping.

$0.50 free inference credits valid for 1 year — minimal but enough for a quick API test

LLM inference API with $0.50 free credits valid for 1 year. Access to various open-source models. Minimal but usable for a quick API test.

Free access to 30+ LLMs via one API — compare GPT-4, Claude, Gemini from a single endpoint

Unified API for 30+ LLMs including free models with 20 requests per minute rate limit.

$2K–$150K AI startup credits — only useful for registered companies with funding

AI cloud platform for ML training and inference. AI Explorer: $2K cloud + $2K inference credits. AI Builder/Scaler: up to $150K (requires VC backing, legal entity, logo exchange). Not available to individuals.

$10 free Jamba API credits for 3 months — test 256K-context models at no cost

Jamba family LLM API (Jamba Large 398B, Jamba Mini 52B, Jamba 3B) all with 256K context window. $10 free credits valid for 3 months. No permanent free tier — credit card required after trial.

$30 free GPU credits for model deployment — test custom LLM inference on A100s/H100s

GPU model deployment platform. $30 one-time free credits for deploying custom models or using the Model Library. Pay-per-minute GPU billing (T4: $0.63/hr, A100: $4.00/hr, H100: $6.50/hr). Credit card required after credits are exhausted.

$15 free NLP API credits — test various open models with a generous trial (phone verification needed)

NLP API platform offering $15 free credits on signup. Access to various open-source models for text generation, embeddings, and classification. Phone number verification required.

1K-5K free inference credits on NVIDIA hardware — test A100/H100 inference for free (phone verification often broken)

Free LLM inference API with 1,000-5,000 inference credits. Access to 160+ models with ~50 free endpoints including Nemotron, Llama, Qwen, and DeepSeek. 40 requests per minute. Self-host available free on up to 16 GPUs. Phone verification required — system is frequently reported as broken.

$300-$3,900 Pruna AI compute credits — model compression and optimization for efficient AI deployment

Pruna AI offers $300 to $3,900 in compute credits through their Build program. Optimize and deploy AI models with Pruna's compression and acceleration tools. Supports pruning, quantization, distillation, and hardware-aware optimization. Application required, credits depend on project scope.

$10 free Solar API credits for 3 months — test Korean AI lab's LLM for free

Solar Pro/Mini LLM API from Upstage (Korean AI lab). $10 free credits valid for 3 months. No permanent free tier.

Run 100+ LLMs locally for free — fully offline, no rate limits, OpenAI-compatible API

Run large language models locally with a simple CLI and API. Supports 100+ models including Llama 3, Mistral, Gemma, Phi, and Qwen. OpenAI-compatible API endpoint. No cloud dependency, no rate limits, fully offline. Mac, Linux, and Windows. MIT licensed.

$5/mo free AI gateway credits — unified billing and observability, but many models blocked on free tier

AI gateway with unified billing and observability across providers. $5/month free credits for a restricted subset of models. Many premium models (Gemini 3, Claude Opus, DeepSeek, Grok) are blocked on the free tier. Best for Vercel ecosystem users.

1 month free VocalBridge Developer plan ($49 value) � 1,000 voice minutes, 5 agents, use code VBHACKMONTH

Voice AI platform for building voice agents with 1,000 voice minutes, 5 agents, and 10 calls/day. 1-month free trial of the Developer plan ($49/mo) using code VBHACKMONTH from the DeepLearning.AI Voice AI Hackathon. Credit card required.

1,000 free API calls/month for embeddings and RAG — no credit card required

Enterprise LLM API for embedding, RAG, classification, and text generation. Free trial with 1,000 calls/month.

Free NVIDIA Inception membership — unlocks GPU credits and partner discounts for AI startups

NVIDIA Inception program provides free membership with access to GPU credits, discounts, and technical support. Unlocks higher tiers at partner platforms like Nebius and CoreWeave. Includes investor intros, go-to-market support, and access to NVIDIA AI expertise.