Free credit
Get up to $2.50 for setting up your account. It pays for open-weight text models.
Free credit is a second balance beside your credit. It pays for open-weight text models, is spent before your credit, and expires. It cannot be sent, sold or withdrawn.
Get free credit
Finish the Setup checklist on Home. Each step adds free credit once, up to $2.50 per account.
| Step | Adds | Done when | Expires after |
|---|---|---|---|
| Link your email | $0.25 | An email or Google account is linked and verified | 30 days |
| Create your first key | $0.25 | You create any API key | 30 days |
| Make your first request | $0.50 | Any request succeeds | 30 days |
| Use a coding tool | $0.50 | Three requests succeed from a coding tool, across two sessions | 30 days |
| Add $5 or more | $1.00 | One purchase or activation adds at least $5 of credit after fees. Buying INFERENCE without activating it does not count. Claiming rewards as credit does not count | 60 days |
Free credit appears within about a minute of finishing a step. Each amount expires counting from the day it was added.
Every step needs a verified email or Google account, so an account signed in with only a wallet gets nothing until it links one. Each email or Google account counts once, and disposable email addresses do not qualify.
The coding tools that count are Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Cline, Kilo Code, Roo Code, Zed, Goose, Crush, Continue, Qwen Code, Factory Droid, Hermes Agent, OpenClaw, Cursor and Aider. Set one up.
What it pays for
Free credit pays for a request when all three hold:
- The model is open-weight and outputs only text.
- The model's highest output price is at most $2 per million tokens, including OpenRouter's 5% platform fee. This checks all endpoints and long-prompt tiers. Models shows the cheapest listed price.
- The request's worst case costs at most $0.05. Deference works it out from your prompt and
max_tokens, so setmax_tokenson larger models. Without it, a model that publishes no output limit does not qualify.
Free credit never pays for image generation, web search or other server tools, web_search_options, plugins, files, images or videos given as a URL, provider routing, or Incognito and Overdrive models.
When a request qualifies, free credit pays first, soonest expiry first, and your credit pays the rest. When it does not, only your credit pays.
Limits until credit is first added
Until credit is first added to it, an account can make 20 requests per minute across all its keys. Adding credit with USDC or INFERENCE, or claiming rewards as credit, lifts the limit. Buying INFERENCE without activating it does not. Each key's own limit of 300 requests per minute still applies.
If the program's monthly budget runs out, the checklist stays and new grants pause until it resets. Free credit you already have keeps working.
Check your free credit
- Home shows your free credit and when it next expires, under Credit details.
- The Account tab of Activity lists each grant as Free credit with its step, and Free credit used and Free credit expired as their own rows.
GET /v1/keyreturnsfree_credit_availableandfree_credit_expires_at. See Key.
Troubleshooting
| You see | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
402 free_ | Only free credit is left and the request does not qualify | Use an open-weight text model, lower max_tokens, or add credit |
429 rate_limited with a free credit message | More than 20 requests in a minute before credit was first added | Wait for the retry-after seconds, or add credit |
| A step is done but nothing was added | The identity is not verified yet, or grants are paused | Check the Link your email step in Setup on Home |
| The balance dropped with no requests | Free credit expired | Spend it before the expiry under Credit details on Home |