OpenAI API today
Starts at
$0.10/1M tokens
- Contract
- Not found
- Free plan
- Not found
Free plan, which OpenAI API doesn't show (4)
A free plan you can keep, in the vendor's own words.
| Alternative | Starts at | Against OpenAI API | States that OpenAI API doesn't | Contract | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Hugging Face Inference ProvidersPRO, read Oct 29, 2026 |
$9/moPRO plan, starting price | Not comparable | SSO | Not found | Free Hub account with unlimited public models, datasets and apps; CPU Basic... |
 Cloudflare Workers AIread Oct 29, 2026 |
$0.011/1,000 NeuronsUsage price | Not comparable | Fine-tuning support, Tool and function calling | Not found | 10,000 Neurons per day free; beyond that, upgrade to Workers Paid |
 Google Gemini APIread Oct 29, 2026 |
$0.30/1M input tokensUsage price | Not comparable | Tool and function calling | Not found | Free tier with free input and output tokens, limited access to certain... |
 Google Vertex AIread Oct 29, 2026 |
$0.085/vCPU-hourUsage price | Not comparable | Fine-tuning support | Not found | Agent Compute includes 50 free hours, Agent Memory 100 free GiB-hours, and... |
Flat tiers (1)
Priced in tiers, where OpenAI API charges by use.
| Alternative | Starts at | Against OpenAI API | States that OpenAI API doesn't | Contract | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Basetenread Oct 29, 2026 |
$1.40/1M input tokensUsage price | Not comparable | Fine-tuning support, SSO | Not found | Trial: New accounts come with free credits; duration not stated |
Other options (5)
No computed reason to switch, listed for completeness.
| Alternative | Starts at | Against OpenAI API | States that OpenAI API doesn't | Contract | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 xAI APIGrok Plus (app subscription), read Oct 29, 2026 |
$8/moGrok Plus (app subscription) plan, starting price | Not comparable | SSO | Not found | Not found |
 Anthropic Claude APIPro, read Oct 29, 2026 |
$20/moPro plan, starting price | Not comparable | SSO | Enterprise is annual only; Pro and Team can be monthly or annual | Not found |
 AI/ML APIread Oct 29, 2026 |
$20/minimum top upUsage price | Not comparable | MCP server | Not found | Not found |
 DeepInfraread Oct 29, 2026 |
$0.06/1M input tokensUsage price | Not comparable | Tool and function calling | no long-term contracts | Not found |
 DigitalOcean Gradient AIread Oct 29, 2026 |
$0.05/M tokensUsage price | Not comparable | Nothing extra found | Not found | Trial: $5 free credit valid for 90 days (example given) |
No price found, or contact sales (4)
- Azure OpenAI Servicehybrid
- Cerebras Inferencehybrid
- DeepSeek APIcontact the vendor
- Groqcontact the vendor
Questions
Is there a free alternative to OpenAI API?
Yes. 4 AI API platforms have a free plan, including Hugging Face Inference Providers, Cloudflare Workers AI, Google Gemini API, Google Vertex AI.
How this page is made
Alternatives come from OpenAI API's own category, AI API platforms. Prices come from each vendor's pricing page and are compared at the same volume where both can be computed, and by starting price where neither can. "States that OpenAI API doesn't" lists what we found on the other vendor's site and didn't find on OpenAI API's, which doesn't prove OpenAI API lacks it. How prices are read.