:free variant allows you to access free versions of models on OpenRouter.
Usage
Append:free to any model ID:
Rate limits
Free variants have no per-token cost, but every request against a:free model counts toward the account-wide free-model rate limits. The limits apply to your OpenRouter account as a whole — they are not per model, and pinning a specific :free model does not raise them.
The threshold looks at credits purchased all time, so a one-time top-up of at least credits keeps you at the higher daily limit even after your current balance drops back down. See Rate limits for the full behavior, including 429 handling.
Details
Free variants provide access to models without cost, but may have different availability than paid versions — free capacity is contributed by upstream providers and can change or be temporarily unavailable. If you need guaranteed capacity or higher throughput, use the paid variant of the same model (no:free suffix), which is not subject to the free-model request cap.
Related resources
- Rate limits - Full details on free-model quotas and 429 handling
- Free Models Router - Automatically route across all free models
- Free Models Router in Chat Playground - Try the router without writing code