free-coding-models Find the fastest free coding model in seconds Track ~170 models across ~15 trusted free or free-limited AI providers in real time Install Free API endpoints to your favorite AI coding tools: OpenCode CLI / Desktop / WebUI, OpenClaw, Crush, Goose, Aider, Kilo CLI, Qwen Code, OpenHands, Amp, Hermes, Continue, Cline, Xcode, Pi, Rovo, Gemini and more... Use Kimi K2, DeepSeek V3, GPT-OSS, Qwen3, MiniMax M2, GLM, Llama 4, Gemma 4, Devstral and more — for free

npm install -g free-coding-models
free-coding-models

create a free account on one of the providers

💡 Why • ⚡ Quick Start • 🟢 Providers • 🚀 Usage • ⌨️ TUI Keys • ✨ Features • 📋 Contributing • ⚖️ Licensing • 📊 Telemetry • 🛡️ Security • 🆓 Other Free AI Resources

_{Made with ❤️ and ☕ by Vanessa Depraute (aka Vava-Nessa)}

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💡 Why this tool?

There are ~170 cataloged free or free-limited coding models across ~15 vetted providers. Which one is fastest right now? Which one is actually stable versus just lucky on the last ping?

This CLI pings them all in parallel, shows live latency, and calculates a live Stability Score (0-100). Average latency alone is misleading if a model randomly spikes to 6 seconds; the stability score measures true reliability by combining p95 latency (30%), jitter/variance (30%), spike rate (20%), and uptime (20%).

It then writes the model you pick directly into your coding tool's config — so you go from "which model?" to "coding" in under 10 seconds.

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⚡ Quick Start

🟢 List of Free AI Providers

Create a free account on one provider below to get started:

~170 coding models across ~15 active providers, ranked by practical free-tier usefulness.

#	Provider	Models	Tier range	Free tier	Env var
1	NVIDIA NIM	42	S+ → C	~40 RPM (no credit card)	NVIDIA_API_KEY
2	Groq	8	S → B	30 RPM, 1K‑14.4K req/day (no credit card)	GROQ_API_KEY
3	Cerebras	4	S+ → B	30 RPM, 1M tokens/day (no credit card)	CEREBRAS_API_KEY
4	Google AI Studio	6	S+ → A	Gemini free quotas vary by model/region	GOOGLE_API_KEY
5	GitHub Models	15	S+ → C	Quota depends on GitHub/Copilot tier	GITHUB_TOKEN
6	Mistral La Plateforme	7	S+ → A	Experiment plan, free evaluation tier	MISTRAL_API_KEY
7	Cloudflare Workers AI	15	S+ → B	10K neurons/day, 300 RPM (no credit card)	CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN + CLOUDFLARE_ACCOUNT_ID
8	OpenRouter	31	S+ → C	50 req/day free, 1K/day with $10 spend	OPENROUTER_API_KEY
9	SambaNova	6	S+ → A-	Small developer quota, useful for light usage	SAMBANOVA_API_KEY
10	OVHcloud AI Endpoints	10	S → B	2 req/min/IP free, 400 RPM with key	OVH_AI_ENDPOINTS_ACCESS_TOKEN
11	Codestral	1	B+	30 RPM, 2K req/day	MISTRAL_API_KEY
12	ZAI	2	S	Free Flash models only	ZAI_API_KEY
13	Scaleway	10	S+ → B	1M free tokens	SCALEWAY_API_KEY
14	Alibaba DashScope	9	S+ → A	1M free tokens/model, Singapore, 90 days	DASHSCOPE_API_KEY
15	Gemini CLI	6	S+ → A	1,000 req/day with personal Google account	CLI tool ♊
16	OpenCode Zen	8	S+ → A	Free with OpenCode account	Zen models ✨

💡 One key is enough. Add more at any time with P inside the TUI.

🧹 Audit cleanup: iFlow was removed because it shut down on April 17, 2026. Together AI, Perplexity API, DeepInfra, Replicate, Fireworks, Hyperbolic, Hugging Face, SiliconFlow, Chutes AI, and Rovo were removed from the active free catalog because they are paid, trial-credit only, too tiny to be useful, unclear as a stable free API, or tool-specific rather than a generally usable free provider.

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Tier scale

Tier	SWE-bench	Best for
S+	≥ 70%	Complex refactors, real-world GitHub issues
S	60–70%	Most coding tasks, strong general use
A+/A	40–60%	Solid alternatives, targeted programming
A-/B+	30–40%	Smaller tasks, constrained infra
B/C	< 30%	Code completion, edge/minimal setups

① Install and run:

npm install -g free-coding-models
free-coding-models

On first run, you'll be prompted to enter your API key(s). You can skip providers and add more later with P.

Use ⚡️ Command Palette! with Ctrl+P.

Need to fix contrast because your terminal theme is fighting the TUI? Press G at any time to cycle Auto → Dark → Light. The switch recolors the full interface live: table, Settings, Help, Smart Recommend, Feedback, and Changelog.

② Pick a model and launch your tool:

↑↓ navigate   →   Enter to launch

The model you select is automatically written into your tool's config (📦 OpenCode, 🦞 OpenClaw, 💘 Crush, etc.) and the tool opens immediately. Done.

If the active CLI tool is missing, FCM now catches it before launch, offers a tiny Yes/No install prompt, installs the tool with its official global command, then resumes the same model launch automatically.

💡 You can also run free-coding-models --goose --tier S to pre-filter to S-tier models for Goose before the TUI even opens.

🚀 Usage

Common scenarios

# "I want the most reliable model right now"
free-coding-models --fiable

# "I want to configure Goose with an S-tier model"
free-coding-models --goose --tier S

# "I want NVIDIA's top models only"
free-coding-models --origin nvidia --tier S

# "I want the local web dashboard"
free-coding-models --web

# "I want one local endpoint that fails over between free models"
free-coding-models --daemon-bg
free-coding-models --daemon-status

# "Start with an elite-focused preset, then adjust filters live"
free-coding-models --premium

# "I want to script this — give me JSON"
free-coding-models --tier S --json | jq -r '.[0].modelId'

# "I want to configure OpenClaw with Groq's fastest model"
free-coding-models --openclaw --origin groq

When launching the web dashboard, free-coding-models prefers http://localhost:3333. If that port is already used by another app, it now auto-picks the next free local port and prints the exact URL to open.

Smart Model Router

The FCM Router is a local OpenAI-compatible daemon that keeps running after the TUI closes. Point your coding tool at one localhost endpoint and let FCM route each request to the best available model in your active set.

# Start the router in the background
free-coding-models --daemon-bg

# Check the active port, set, model count, uptime, and request totals
free-coding-models --daemon-status

# Stop it cleanly
free-coding-models --daemon-stop

# Auto-discover and live-probe models into a named set
free-coding-models --sync-set
free-coding-models --sync-set my-coding-set

Configure tools with:

Field	Value
Base URL	http://localhost:19280/v1
Model	fcm
API key	fcm-local

The daemon auto-creates a fast-coding set from your configured providers on first start. It stores router settings in ~/.free-coding-models.json, writes lifecycle logs to ~/.free-coding-models-daemon.log, and tracks token metadata in ~/.free-coding-models-tokens.json.

Router endpoints:

Endpoint	Purpose
POST /v1/chat/completions	Route through the active set
POST /v1/sets/:name/chat/completions	Route through a named set
GET /v1/models	Return virtual models (fcm, fcm:set-name)
GET /health	Daemon status JSON
GET /stats	Routing, health, request log, and token stats
GET /stream/events	Live SSE events for dashboard updates
POST /daemon/probe-mode	Set probe mode with `{ "probeMode": "eco"

Routing behavior:

• Priority order works immediately on cold start, then probes refine health scores over time.
• Transient failures (429, 500, 502, 503, timeouts) fail over to the next model.
• Authentication problems (401, 403, missing keys) are marked separately so bad credentials do not poison the circuit breaker; after one provider returns an auth error, the router skips the rest of that provider for the current request.
• Upstream HTML maintenance pages and malformed successful JSON are treated as retryable provider failures instead of being forwarded to your coding tool.
• Quota and rate-limit failures include retry headers in the final router 503 payload when providers expose them.
• If a coding tool disconnects mid-request, the daemon aborts the upstream request without counting it as a provider failure.
• Streaming requests retry before the first byte; after partial output starts, the daemon records the failure and lets the current stream finish as safely as possible.

Tool launcher flags

Flag	Launches
--opencode	📦 OpenCode CLI
--opencode-desktop	📦 OpenCode Desktop
--opencode-web	📦 OpenCode WebUI
--openclaw	🦞 OpenClaw
--crush	💘 Crush
--goose	🪿 Goose
--aider	🛠 Aider
--kilo	⚡️ Kilo CLI
--qwen	🐉 Qwen Code
--openhands	🤲 OpenHands
--amp	⚡ Amp
--hermes	🔮 Hermes
--continue	▶️ Continue CLI
--cline	🧠 Cline
--xcode	🛠️ Xcode Intelligence
--pi	π Pi
--rovo	🦘 Rovo Dev CLI
--gemini	♊ Gemini CLI

Press Z in the TUI to cycle between tools without restarting.

CLI-Only Tools

🦘 Rovo Dev CLI

• Provider: Atlassian Rovo
• Install: Installation Guide
• Free tier: conditional Atlassian/Rovo allowance, not a general free API provider
• Catalog status: not included in the active free-provider table because access depends on Rovo availability for your account/site
• Launch: free-coding-models --rovo or press Z until Rovo mode
• Features: Jira/Confluence integration, MCP server support

♊ Gemini CLI

• Provider: Google Gemini
• Install: npm install -g @google/gemini-cli
• Free tier: 1,000 requests/day (personal Google account, no credit card)
• Models: Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview, Gemini 3 Flash Preview, Gemini 2.5 Pro, Gemini 2.5 Flash
• Launch: free-coding-models --gemini or press Z until Gemini mode
• Features: OpenAI-compatible API support, MCP server support, Google Search grounding

Note: When launching these tools via Z key or command palette, if the current mode doesn't match the tool, you'll see a confirmation alert asking to switch to the correct tool before launching.

OpenCode Zen Free Models

OpenCode Zen is a hosted AI gateway offering 8 free coding models exclusively through OpenCode CLI and OpenCode Desktop. These models are not available through other tools.

Model	Tier	SWE-bench	Context
Big Pickle	S+	72.0%	200k
MiniMax M2.5 Free	S+	80.2%	200k
Nemotron 3 Super Free	A+	52.0%	1M
GPT 5 Nano	S	65.0%	400k
HY3 Preview Free	A+	-	128k
Ling 2.6 Flash Free	S	-	128k
Trinity Large Preview Free	S	-	128k
Trinity Mini Preview Free	A	-	128k

To use Zen models: sign up at opencode.ai/auth and enter your Zen API key via P (Settings). Zen models appear in the main table and auto-switch to OpenCode CLI on launch.

Tool Compatibility

When a tool mode is active (via Z), models incompatible with that tool are highlighted with a dark red background so you can instantly see which models work with your current tool.

Model Type	Compatible Tools
Regular (NVIDIA, Groq, etc.)	All tools except 🦘 Rovo and ♊ Gemini
Rovo	🦘 Rovo Dev CLI only
Gemini	♊ Gemini CLI only
OpenCode Zen	📦 OpenCode CLI and 📦 OpenCode Desktop only

→ Full flags reference

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⌨️ TUI Keys

Keyboard

Key	Action
↑↓	Navigate models
Enter	Launch selected model in active tool
Z	Cycle target tool
T	Cycle tier filter
D	Cycle provider filter
E	Cycle visibility filter (Active only → Configured only → Usable only)
F	Favorite / unfavorite model
Y	Toggle favorites mode (Normal filter/sort default ↔ Pinned + always visible)
X	Clear active custom text filter
G	Cycle global theme (Auto → Dark → Light)
Ctrl+P	Open ⚡️ command palette (search + run actions)
R/S/C/M/O/L/A/H/V/B/U	Sort columns
Shift+U	Update to latest version (when update available)
P	Settings (API keys, providers, updates, theme)
Q	Smart Recommend overlay
N	Changelog
W	Cycle ping cadence
I	Feedback / bug report
K	Help overlay
Ctrl+C	Exit

Mouse

Action	Result
Click column header	Sort by that column
Click Tier header	Cycle tier filter
Click CLI Tools header	Cycle tool mode
Click model row	Move cursor to model
Double-click model row	Select and launch model
Right-click model row	Toggle favorite
Scroll wheel	Navigate table / overlays / palette
Click footer hotkey	Trigger that action
Click update banner	Install latest version and relaunch
Click command palette item	Select item (double-click to confirm)
Click recommend option	Select option (double-click to confirm)
Click outside modal	Close command palette

→ Stability score & column reference

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✨ Features

• Parallel pings — all ~165 API/Zen-callable models tested simultaneously via native fetch (~170 total cataloged models including CLI-only Gemini rows)
• Adaptive monitoring — 2s burst for 60s → 10s normal → 30s idle
• Stability score — composite 0–100 (p95 latency, jitter, spike rate, uptime)
• Smart ranking — top 3 highlighted 🥇🥈🥉
• Favorites — star models with F, persisted across sessions, default to normal rows, and switch display mode with Y (pinned+sticky vs normal rows)
• Configured-only default — only shows providers you have keys for
• Keyless latency — models ping even without an API key (show 🔑 NO KEY)
• Smart Recommend — questionnaire picks the best model for your task type
• Smart Model Router — local OpenAI-compatible daemon with model sets, failover, circuit breakers, health probes, and token stats
• ⚡️ Command Palette — Ctrl+P opens a searchable action launcher for filters, sorting, overlays, and quick toggles
• Install Endpoints — push a full provider catalog into any tool's config (from Settings P or ⚡️ Command Palette)
• Missing tool bootstrap — detect absent CLIs, offer one-click install, then continue the selected launch automatically
• Tool compatibility matrix — incompatible rows highlighted in dark red when a tool mode is active
• OpenCode Zen models — 8 free models exclusive to OpenCode CLI/Desktop, powered by the Zen AI gateway
• Width guardrail — shows a warning instead of a broken table in narrow terminals
• Readable everywhere — semantic theme palette keeps table rows, overlays, badges, and help screens legible in dark and light terminals
• Global theme switch — G cycles auto, dark, + light live without restarting
• Auto-retry — timeout models keep getting retried
• Aggressive update nudging — fluorescent green banner when an update is available, impossible to miss, Shift+U hotkey, command palette entry, background re-check every 5 min, mid-session updates the banner live without restarting
• Last release timestamp — light pink footer shows Last release: Mar 27, 2026, 09:42 PM from npm so users know how fresh the data is

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📋 Contributing

We welcome contributions — issues, PRs, new provider integrations.

Q: How accurate are the latency numbers?
A: Real round-trip times measured by your machine. Results depend on your network and provider load at that moment.

Q: Can I add a new provider?
A: Yes — see sources.js for the model catalog format.

→ Development guide · Config reference · Tool integrations

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⚖️ Model Licensing & Commercial Use

Short answer: The ~170 cataloged models are API/CLI-served models where generated-output ownership is generally granted by the provider/model terms. Always verify current provider terms for high-stakes commercial use.

Output Ownership

For every model in this tool, you own the generated output — code, text, or otherwise — and can use it commercially. The licenses below govern the model weights themselves, not your generated content.

License Breakdown by Model Family

License	Models	Commercial Output
Apache 2.0	Qwen3/Qwen3.5/Qwen2.5 Coder, GPT-OSS 120B/20B, Devstral 2, Gemma 4	✅ Unrestricted
MIT / permissive model terms	GLM Flash, MiniMax M2.x, Devstral 2	✅ Provider/model terms apply
Modified MIT	Kimi K2/K2.6 (>100M MAU → display "Kimi K2" branding)	✅ With attribution at scale
Llama Community License	Llama 3.3 70B, Llama 4 Scout/Maverick	✅ Attribution required. >700M MAU → separate Meta license
DeepSeek License	DeepSeek V3/V3.1/V3.2/V4 family	✅ Use restrictions on model (no military, no harm) — output is yours
NVIDIA Nemotron License	Nemotron Super/Ultra/Nano	✅ Updated Mar 2026, now near-Apache 2.0 permissive
MiniMax Model License	MiniMax M2, M2.5	✅ Royalty-free, non-exclusive. Prohibited uses policy applies to model
Proprietary / hosted API terms	Gemini, GitHub Models, Mistral/Codestral, OpenRouter-hosted models	✅ Provider ToS applies
OpenCode Zen	Big Pickle, GPT 5 Nano, MiniMax M2.5 Free, Nemotron 3 Super Free, HY3/Ling/Trinity previews	✅ Per OpenCode Zen ToS

Key Points

1. Generated code is yours — no model claims ownership of your output
2. Apache 2.0 / permissive model families (Qwen, GLM Flash, GPT-OSS, Devstral, Gemma) are the lowest-friction options
3. Llama requires "Built with Llama" attribution; >700M MAU needs a Meta license
4. DeepSeek / MiniMax have use-restriction policies (no military use) that govern the model, not your generated code
5. API-served models (Gemini, GitHub Models, OpenRouter, Mistral, etc.) grant output ownership under their current terms of service

⚠️ Disclaimer: This is a summary, not legal advice. License terms can change. Always verify the current license on the model's official page before making legal decisions.

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📊 Telemetry

free-coding-models collects anonymous usage telemetry to help understand how the CLI is used and improve the product. No personal information, API keys, prompts, source code, file paths, or secrets are ever collected.

The telemetry payload is limited to anonymous product analytics such as the app version, selected tool mode, operating system, terminal family, and a random anonymous install ID stored locally on your machine. When a model is launched, telemetry can also include the selected tool, provider, model ID, model label, model tier, launch result, and a few product actions such as installing provider catalogs, saving/removing API keys, or toggling shell environment export.

Telemetry is enabled by default and can be disabled with any of the following:

Method	How
CLI flag	Run free-coding-models --no-telemetry
Environment variable	Set FREE_CODING_MODELS_TELEMETRY=0 (also supports false or off)

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🛡️ Security & Trust

Supply Chain

Signal	Status
npm Provenance	✅ Published with Sigstore-signed provenance
SBOM	✅ Software Bill of Materials attached to every GitHub Release
Dependencies	✅ 1 runtime dependency (chalk)
Lockfile	✅ pnpm-lock.yaml committed and tracked
Security Policy	✅ SECURITY.md
Code Owners	✅ CODEOWNERS — all changes require maintainer review
Dependabot	✅ Weekly automated dependency + GitHub Actions updates
Audit CI	✅ npm audit runs on every push/PR + weekly scheduled scan
License	✅ MIT

What This Tool Does

• Pings public API endpoints to measure latency and check availability
• Reads your API keys from .env files (only if you configure them)
• Opens configuration files for editing (with your permission)
• Reports anonymous usage data (no personal information — see footer)

What This Tool Does NOT Do

• ❌ Does not send your API keys, code, or personal data to any third party
• ❌ Does not install or execute arbitrary code beyond chalk (the only dependency)
• ❌ Does not modify any files outside its own config directory
• ❌ Does not require sudo, root, or elevated permissions

To report a vulnerability, see SECURITY.md.

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Star History

Special thanks to contributors

vava-nessa	erwinh22	whit3rabbit	skylaweber	PhucTruong-ctrl	chindris-mihai-alexandru	serajbaltu

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🆓 Other Free AI Resources

Curated resources outside the active CLI catalog — IDE extensions, coding agents, GitHub lists, and providers that are useful but not clean enough for the core free-provider table.

📚 Awesome Lists (curated by the community)

Resource	What it is
cheahjs/free-llm-api-resources (18.4k ⭐)	Comprehensive list of free LLM API providers with rate limits
mnfst/awesome-free-llm-apis (2.1k ⭐)	Permanent free LLM API tiers organized by provider
inmve/free-ai-coding (648 ⭐)	Pro-grade AI coding tools side-by-side — limits, models, CC requirements
amardeeplakshkar/awesome-free-llm-apis	Additional free LLM API resources

🖥️ AI-Powered IDEs with Free Tiers

IDE	Free tier	Credit card
Qwen Code	2,000 requests/day	No
Rovo Dev CLI	Conditional Atlassian/Rovo allowance	No
Gemini CLI	1,000 requests/day	No
Jules	15 tasks/day	No
AWS Kiro	50 credits/month	No
Trae	10 fast + 50 slow requests/month	No
Codeium	Unlimited forever, basic models	No
JetBrains AI Assistant	Unlimited completions + local models	No
Continue.dev	Free VS Code/JetBrains extension, local models via Ollama	No
Warp	150 credits/month (first 2 months), then 75/month	No
Amazon Q Developer	50 agentic requests/month	Required
Windsurf	25 prompt credits/month	Required
Kilo Code	Up to $25 signup credits (one-time)	Required
Tabnine	Basic completions + chat (limited)	Required
SuperMaven	Basic suggestions, 1M token context	Required

🔑 API Providers with Permanent Free Tiers

Provider	Free limits	Notable models
OpenRouter	50 req/day, 1K/day with $10 purchase	Qwen3-Coder, Tencent HY3, Laguna, Gemma 4
Google AI Studio	Varies by Gemini model and region	Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview, Gemini 2.5 Flash
NVIDIA NIM	~40 RPM	MiniMax M2.7, GLM 5.1, Kimi K2.6
GitHub Models	Depends on GitHub/Copilot tier	GPT-4.1, DeepSeek V3, Llama 4
Groq	1K–14.4K req/day (model-dependent)	Llama 3.3 70B, Llama 4 Scout, GPT-OSS
Cerebras	30 RPM, 1M tokens/day	Qwen3-235B, Llama 3.1 70B, GPT-OSS 120B
Cohere	20 RPM, 1K/month	Command R+, Aya Expanse 32B
Mistral La Plateforme	1 req/s, 1B tokens/month	Mistral Large, Devstral, Magistral
Cloudflare Workers AI	10K neurons/day	Llama 3.3 70B, QwQ 32B, 47+ models
OVHcloud AI Endpoints	2 req/min/IP sandbox	GPT-OSS, Qwen3, Mistral

🧪 Good Candidates Kept Outside the Core Catalog

Provider	Why it is not core
Vercel AI Gateway	Useful gateway with included credits, but it is a router/billing layer, not a provider of permanently free models.
Cohere	Real evaluation key, but the allowance is small and the catalog is not coding-first enough for the default TUI.
Ollama Cloud	Interesting for light cloud usage, but it is closer to hosted Ollama capacity than a classic OpenAI-compatible free provider.

💰 Providers with Trial Credits

Provider	Credits	Duration
Hyperbolic	$1	Trial/promo
Fireworks	$1	Trial/promo
Nebius	$1	Permanent
SambaNova Cloud	$5	3 months
AI21	$10	3 months
Upstage	$10	3 months
NLP Cloud	$15	Permanent
Alibaba DashScope	1M tokens/model	90 days
Scaleway	1M tokens	Permanent
Modal	$5/month	Monthly
Inference.net	$1 (+ $25 on survey)	Permanent
Novita	$0.5	1 year

These trial-credit providers are deliberately not treated as core providers unless their free allowance is practical for recurring coding use. A $0.10/month or $1 one-time credit is useful for experimentation, not for this CLI's default promise.

🎓 Free with Education/Developer Programs

Program	What you get
GitHub Student Pack	Free Copilot Pro for students (verify with .edu email)
GitHub Copilot Free	50 chat + 2,000 completions/month in VS Code
Copilot Pro for teachers/maintainers	Free Copilot Pro for open source maintainers & educators