Use AI without paying. Three paths.
From simplest to most advanced. Pick your starting point and follow the steps.
Apps with a free plan
The quickest way: open it in your browser or on your phone and start typing.
- Pick an app: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Le Chat (Mistral) or DeepSeek.
- Sign up with your email or Google account.
- Use the free model. When you hit the daily limit, switch to another app.
- In settings, check whether your chats are used for training and turn it off if you prefer.
Free models on OpenRouter
One place with dozens of free models. They are the ones shown by the “Free only” filter in our ranking.
- Create an account at openrouter.ai.
- Under Models, filter by price 0 or look for names ending in :free.
- Try them in the site's Chat, with nothing to install.
- To use them in other apps, create a key under Keys and paste it into the app.
AI on your own computer
Run the model on your PC. It works offline and your data never leaves your machine.
- Install LM Studio (point and click) or Ollama (command line).
- Download a small model: Llama, Qwen or Gemma with 3 to 8 billion parameters.
- Open the chat and use it like any other app.
- If it's slow, pick a smaller version of the model.
Before you start.
Is free AI safe?
The big apps are safe to use, but what you type may be stored and, on some free plans, used to train models. Check the privacy settings and never paste sensitive data. For private documents, use Path 3.
What's the difference from the paid version?
Paid plans give stronger models, more messages per day and extras like analysing large files. For most everyday tasks, the free version is enough.
Do I need to code?
No, not for Paths 1 and 2. Path 3 doesn't need coding either if you use LM Studio.
Which free model should I pick?
It depends on the task. Use the ranking below with the “Free only” filter.
The best free models by task.
Click “Free only” to see just the no-cost models.
Coding & Debugging
Writing, reviewing and fixing code.
- 1Claude Opus 5.5Anthropic“Flagship model explicitly built for demanding coding and multi-step changes in large codebases with reasoning support”
- 2Gemini 3.1 Pro PreviewGoogle“Frontier reasoning model with enhanced software engineering performance and improved agentic reliability for complex workflows”
- 3Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic“Biggest gains in agentic coding with improvements in long code refactors and front-end development workflows”
Provisional podium: these results come from the first (screening) pass. The final podium appears after the ranking pass.
- 1Laguna S 2.1freePoolside“Dedicated coding agent model, 70.2% Terminal-Bench 2.1”
- 2Gemma 4 31BfreeGoogle“Competent open model for code generation and multi-file review”
- 3Nemotron 3 UltrafreeNVIDIA“Frontier-scale MoE with strong software engineering capability”
Reasoning & Maths
Multi-step deduction, planning and logic.
- 1GPT-6 Astra ProOpenAI“Pro reasoning mode explicitly optimized for complex tasks, flagship model with extended thinking capability”
- 2Gemini 3.1 Pro PreviewGoogle“Frontier reasoning model with enhanced software engineering and agentic reliability for complex workflows”
- 3GPT-6 AstraOpenAI“Flagship model with strong reasoning capability, scientific work strength, slightly below pro mode”
Provisional podium: these results come from the first (screening) pass. The final podium appears after the ranking pass.
- 1Ling 3.1 FlashfreeinclusionAI“Hybrid reasoning MoE with 25B active parameters”
- 2Gemma 4 31BfreeGoogle“Configurable thinking mode elevates analytical and mathematical performance”
- 3Nemotron 3 UltrafreeNVIDIA“Explicitly a frontier-reasoning and orchestration model”
Writing & Editing
Drafting, rewriting and changing tone.
- 1Claude Opus 5.5Anthropic“Flagship model with exceptional prose quality, nuanced tone control, and creative writing capabilities across all formats”
- 2Claude Opus 5Anthropic“Strong general writing with excellent clarity and style, slightly behind 5.5 in creative nuance and polish”
- 3Claude Opus 4.8Anthropic“Proven writing excellence with sophisticated language control, though superseded by newer Opus iterations in refinement”
Provisional podium: these results come from the first (screening) pass. The final podium appears after the ranking pass.
- 1Gemma 4 31BfreeGoogle“Clean, natural writing style suitable for professional text creation”
- 2Nemotron 3 UltrafreeNVIDIA“Large model produces polished, controllable prose”
- 3InklingfreeThinking Machines“Solid generalist prose”
Long Documents
Whole books, contracts and transcripts (200K+ tokens).
- 1GPT-5.5 ProOpenAI“Million-plus token context with deep reasoning optimized for complex high-stakes workloads requiring extended analysis”
- 2GPT-5.5OpenAI“Million-plus token context with improved efficiency though lacks explicit reasoning mode for complex analysis”
- 3Gemini 3.1 Pro PreviewGoogle“Million-token context with enhanced software engineering performance and improved agentic reliability across complex workflows”
Provisional podium: these results come from the first (screening) pass. The final podium appears after the ranking pass.
- 1Gemma 4 26B A4BfreeGoogle“Handles 256k token context window efficiently due to sparse activation”
- 2Gemma 4 31BfreeGoogle“Solid 256k context window for document collections and logs”
- 3Nemotron 3 UltrafreeNVIDIA“262k window plus hybrid attention for very long documents”
Data Extraction
Pulling structured data from messy text: JSON, tables.
- 1Claude Sonnet 5Anthropic“Frontier Sonnet with adaptive thinking and proven excellence in structured output and professional data work”
- 2Claude Sonnet 4.6Anthropic“Exceptional at complex codebase navigation and iterative work, ideal for large-scale extraction tasks”
- 3Claude Opus 5.5Anthropic“Flagship reasoning model excels at multi-step extraction workflows and handling complex structured data”
Provisional podium: these results come from the first (screening) pass. The final podium appears after the ranking pass.
- 1LFM2.5-2.6BfreeLiquidAI“Explicitly targeted at data extraction and RAG pipelines”
- 2Gemma 4 26B A4BfreeGoogle“Efficient field parsing and classification at high throughput”
- 3Nemotron 3 UltrafreeNVIDIA“Strong instruction following yields dependable structured output”
Images & Screenshots
Charts, diagrams, photos and scanned documents.
- 1Claude Opus 5.5Anthropic“Flagship model explicitly strong at visual analysis with massive context and latest generation capabilities”
- 2Claude Opus 5Anthropic“Explicitly highlighted for visual analysis strength, proven flagship performance with full multimodal support”
- 3Gemini 3.1 Pro PreviewGoogle“Latest Gemini with comprehensive video and image support, frontier reasoning enhances visual understanding”
Provisional podium: these results come from the first (screening) pass. The final podium appears after the ranking pass.
- 1Gemma 4 26B A4BfreeGoogle“Capable multimodal comprehension of images and video clips”
- 2Gemma 4 31BfreeGoogle“Strong visual perception over diagrams, video, and UI interfaces”
- 3Nemotron 3 Nano OmnifreeNVIDIA“Native image and video input for perception sub-agent duties”
Agents & Tool Use
Tool calling and autonomous workflows.
- 1Claude Opus 4.7Anthropic“Built specifically for long-running asynchronous agents with strongest agentic workflow performance in the Opus line”
- 2Claude Opus 5.5Anthropic“Flagship model with reasoning support excels at multi-step changes and complex agentic tasks”
- 3Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic“Biggest gains in agentic coding and long-running workflows over already strong Fable 5 baseline”
Provisional podium: these results come from the first (screening) pass. The final podium appears after the ranking pass.
- 1Ling 3.1 FlashfreeinclusionAI“Large MoE tuned for agentic and tool-driven workflows”
- 2Laguna S 2.1freePoolside“Built for terminal agent loops and tool use”
- 3Gemma 4 31BfreeGoogle“Native function calling support makes it viable for agentic loops”
Fast & Cheap
High volume, where cost matters most.
- 1Gemini 2.5 Flash LiteGoogle“Purpose-built for ultra-low latency and cost efficiency with optimized throughput for high-volume production workloads”
- 2Gemini 3.1 Flash LiteGoogle“GA model explicitly optimized for low-latency high-volume workloads with excellent multimodal support and production stability”
- 3Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite PreviewGoogle“Outperforms 2.5 Flash Lite on quality while maintaining high-volume optimization but preview status reduces production confidence”
Provisional podium: these results come from the first (screening) pass. The final podium appears after the ranking pass.
- 1Gemma 4 26B A4BfreeGoogle“MoE architecture activates only 3.8B parameters for rapid low-cost inference”
- 2LFM2.5-2.6BfreeLiquidAI“2.6B compact model, very cheap for high-volume simple tasks”
- 3Nemotron 3.5 LightningfreeNVIDIA“3B active params deliver very high throughput at low cost”
Translation
Many languages, Portuguese included.
- 1Gemini 2.5 ProGoogle“Gemini models have consistently demonstrated superior multilingual capabilities across diverse languages and translation tasks”
- 2Gemini 3.1 Pro PreviewGoogle“Frontier reasoning enhances translation quality and cultural nuance understanding across many languages”
- 3Gemini 2.5 FlashGoogle“Strong multilingual performance with excellent speed-to-quality ratio for translation and localization workflows”
Provisional podium: these results come from the first (screening) pass. The final podium appears after the ranking pass.
- 1Ling 3.1 FlashfreeinclusionAI“Broad multilingual coverage, strong in Chinese and English”
- 2Nemotron 3 UltrafreeNVIDIA“Good multilingual ability, primarily English-optimized”
- 3InklingfreeThinking Machines“Generalist multilingual ability”
Summaries
Condensing without losing what matters.
- 1Claude Opus 5.5Anthropic“Flagship reasoning model with 1M context excels at distilling complex information while preserving critical details”
- 2Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic“Mythos-class model optimized for knowledge work with strong long-context comprehension and faithful condensation”
- 3Claude Opus 5Anthropic“Strong reasoning capabilities and visual analysis make it excellent for multi-modal document summarization”
Provisional podium: these results come from the first (screening) pass. The final podium appears after the ranking pass.
- 1Gemma 4 31BfreeGoogle“Reliable summarizer for long papers and meetings”
- 2Gemma 4 26B A4BfreeGoogle“Faithfully summarizes documents across moderate-to-large contexts”
- 3Nemotron 3 UltrafreeNVIDIA“Faithful condensation across long, complex inputs”