OpenRouter free models
Models whose ID ends in :free cost nothing per token and are limited per account: 20 requests per minute, and 50 requests per day until the account has bought $10 of credits in its lifetime, after which the daily limit is 1,000. Limits are global per account; extra accounts or keys do not add capacity, and a negative balance returns 402 even on free models.
Free tier: OpenRouter API, models with the :free suffix
Published on the provider page| Limit | Value | Applies to | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Requests per minute | 20 | Account | Free-model variants, regardless of purchase history |
| Requests per day | 50 | Account | Accounts with under $10 lifetime credit purchases |
| Requests per day | 1,000 | Account | Accounts that have purchased at least $10 of credits at any point |
- What moves you past this tier
- Buying $10 of credits once raises the daily free-model limit from 50 to 1,000; paid models bill per token.
- Card required
- No
- Source
- OpenRouter API limits Read 2026-09-11
Questions
Is OpenRouter free?
Models whose ID ends in :free cost nothing per token. They are rate-limited per account: 20 requests a minute, and 50 requests a day until the account has purchased $10 of credits at any point, after which the daily limit is 1,000. Paid models bill per token from a prepaid balance.
How many free requests does OpenRouter allow per day?
Fifty a day on free models for accounts that have never bought $10 of credits, and 1,000 a day once they have. The 20-requests-a-minute limit applies either way. The limits are enforced per account across every key, so extra accounts or keys do not add capacity.
What happens with a negative OpenRouter balance?
Requests return HTTP 402 Payment Required, even on free models, until the balance is positive again. Keeping a small positive balance is part of using the free variants, and buying $10 of credits once is also what unlocks the 1,000-requests-a-day allowance on them.