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FreeTheAi
Free OpenAI-compatible API - 60+ active models, zero billing
Also searched as Free The AI, Free The Ai, and FreeTheAI.
Chat | Streaming | Tool Calling | Image Generation | Audio
Website | Quickstart | Setup Guides | Docs | Model Catalog | Pricing | Status | API Health | Discord | Support
Roleplay API | Coding Agent API | OpenAI-Compatible API | What Is Free The AI
Overview
FreeTheAi, also searched as Free The AI or Free The Ai, is a free API gateway with 60+ active models behind a single key. OpenAI-compatible - if your SDK works with OpenAI, it works here. Full request docs live at freetheai.xyz/docs.
POST /v1/chat/completions- chat with streaming and tool callingPOST /v1/messages- Anthropic-style messages routePOST /v1/responses- OpenAI Responses APIPOST /v1/images/generations- image generationPOST /v1/images/edits- image edits for supported image aliasesPOST /v1/audio/speechand/v1/audio/transcriptions- supported voice aliases- Tool calling, structured outputs, multi-turn conversations
- No billing, no credit card, no prompt storage
- Optional paid slots at freetheai.xyz/pricing for separate higher-power models
Quick Start
Base URL https://api.freetheai.xyz/v1
Auth Bearer YOUR_API_KEY
1 - Join Discord
Open discord.gg/secrets
2 - Get a key
Run /signup and complete the Discord modal
3 - Check in
Run /checkin with your API key once per UTC day
4 - Build
Point any OpenAI SDK at the base URL
[!IMPORTANT] New keys must complete
/checkinonce per UTC day before API use./checkinasks for your existing key and a randomized human challenge.
[!TIP] Lost your key? Run
/resetkeyand provide a real reset reason - same account, same stats, fresh key.
Setup Guides
Step-by-step setup for the most common AI clients lives at freetheai.xyz/setup.
| Category | Clients |
|---|---|
| Coding agents | OpenCode, Kilo Code, Zed, Cline, Roo Code, Continue.dev |
| CLI | Aider, Claude Code |
| Roleplay & chat | SillyTavern, Janitor AI, Chub AI, RisuAI |
| General chat clients | LibreChat, Open WebUI, LobeChat, AnythingLLM, Cherry Studio, TypingMind, BoltAI, Page Assist, Chatbox, Big-AGI |
Each guide ships exact field labels, a copy-paste config, and the gotchas users actually hit.
SKILL.md
This repo includes a SKILL.md describing how AI agents should connect to FreeTheAi (base URL, routes, model aliases, capability metadata, and rate limits). The standalone skeuomorphic UI skill that previously lived here is now at docs/SKILL_SKEUOMORPHIC.md.
Routes
| Route | Method | What it does |
|---|---|---|
/v1/chat/completions |
POST |
Chat completions with streaming |
/v1/messages |
POST |
Anthropic-style messages |
/v1/responses |
POST |
OpenAI Responses API |
/v1/images/generations |
POST |
Image generation |
/v1/images/edits |
POST |
Image edits for supported image aliases |
/v1/images/generations/{request_id} |
GET |
Poll async image generation jobs |
/v1/audio/speech |
POST |
Text to speech for supported voice aliases |
/v1/audio/transcriptions |
POST |
Speech to text for supported voice aliases |
/v1/models |
GET |
Authenticated model catalog |
/v1/models/full |
GET |
Expanded model catalog with throughput policy metadata |
/v1/models/leaderboard |
GET |
Site-key top model leaderboard |
/v1/health |
GET |
Health check |
Code Examples
curl https://api.freetheai.xyz/v1/chat/completions \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $FREETHEAI_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"model": "glm/glm-5.1",
"messages": [
{ "role": "user", "content": "Write a Python hello world." }
],
"stream": true
}'
import OpenAI from "openai";
const client = new OpenAI({
apiKey: process.env.FREETHEAI_API_KEY,
baseURL: "https://api.freetheai.xyz/v1",
});
const res = await client.chat.completions.create({
model: "glm/glm-5.1",
messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Say hello." }],
});
console.log(res.choices[0].message.content);
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(
api_key="YOUR_API_KEY",
base_url="https://api.freetheai.xyz/v1",
)
res = client.chat.completions.create(
model="glm/glm-5.1",
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Say hello."}],
)
print(res.choices[0].message.content)
curl https://api.freetheai.xyz/v1/messages \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $FREETHEAI_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"model": "glm/glm-5.1",
"max_tokens": 256,
"messages": [
{ "role": "user", "content": "Write a migration plan." }
]
}'
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(
api_key="YOUR_API_KEY",
base_url="https://api.freetheai.xyz/v1",
)
res = client.chat.completions.create(
model="glm/glm-5.1",
tool_choice="required",
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Get weather for Boston."}],
tools=[{
"type": "function",
"function": {
"name": "get_weather",
"description": "Get the weather for a city.",
"parameters": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {"city": {"type": "string"}},
"required": ["city"],
"additionalProperties": False,
},
},
}],
)
print(res.choices[0].message.tool_calls)
curl https://api.freetheai.xyz/v1/images/generations \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $FREETHEAI_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"model": "eve/gpt-image-2",
"prompt": "A neon sports car under rainy city lights"
}'
The free API exposes eve/gpt-image-2, eve/gpt-image-2-low, and eve/gpt-image-2-medium for image generation. It also exposes ever/*image* aliases for image generation and supported image edits. Live availability and any future image models are in GET /v1/models.
Image responses are OpenAI-compatible and return:
data[0].b64_jsonfor base64 image data- For long EVE jobs, send
background: trueorasync: true, then pollGET /v1/images/generations/{request_id}with the same API key.
See examples/image_client.py for a beginner-friendly CLI tool that saves the key locally and writes the returned b64_json image to disk.
Release And Growth
Public releases make updates easier to follow and help the repo look active to GitHub users.
- Latest release draft notes:
RELEASE_NOTES.md - Public changelog:
CHANGELOG.md - SEO and GitHub growth checklist:
docs/GROWTH.md
If this project helps you, star the repo and share the docs page. It helps more developers find a free OpenAI-compatible API without a billing setup.
Support The Project
FreeTheAi is built and maintained by Vibhek Soni. The free tier always stays free. If this project saves you a subscription, replaces a paid plan, or unblocks something you were stuck on, a small tip helps cover servers, proxies, and the long nights spent keeping models alive.
- One-time tip on Buy Me a Coffee:
buymeacoffee.com/vibheksoni - Star the repo:
github.com/Free-The-Ai/free-ai - Share the docs and the setup guides with anyone you know who needs a free OpenAI-compatible key
Thanks for keeping the free tier alive.
Models
Browse the full searchable catalog at freetheai.xyz/models. Request examples and endpoint details are on freetheai.xyz/docs.
Live health currently reports 64 public catalog models across 12 provider prefixes. The bundled site fallback snapshot at site/public/models.json is refreshed from the same live /v1/models/full catalog used by the models page.
| Prefix | What it is |
|---|---|
bbl/* |
General chat models |
eve/* |
Image generation models |
ever/* |
Chat, image generation, and image edit models |
exa/* |
Role-gated web search models |
glm/* |
Long-context chat models |
kai/* |
Aggregated free chat and coding models |
mim/* |
Chat and voice models |
min/* |
Chat models |
olm/* |
DeepSeek and coding-oriented models |
opc/* |
Free chat/coding models |
pplx/* |
Role-gated web search |
xai/* |
Role-gated voice models |
[!NOTE] Use exact alias IDs from
GET /v1/models. Model availability updates automatically as the service catalog changes.
Rate Limits
| Tier | RPM | Concurrency |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 1 |
| 2 | 15 | 1 |
| 3 | 20 | 2 |
| 4 | 28 | 2 |
| 5 | 35 | 3 |
Tiers unlock through Discord invite progress. Per-user daily success cap defaults to 250/day (resets at UTC midnight) with role-based bumps for trusted members.
Privacy
FreeTheAi does not store prompt text, completion text, uploaded media, or conversation history as operational logs.
Tracked
- IP address and network/security signals
- API key prefix and account/user identifiers
- Discord eligibility, role, and check-in state
- Model alias used
- Route, timestamp, latency, and token/request-unit counts
- Request timestamp
- Status code
- Error IDs and rate-limit/concurrency signals
Not tracked
- Prompt content
- Completion content
- Uploaded media as message logs
- Conversation history
See the public Privacy Policy and Terms of Use for the plain-English disclosure. Metadata is logged to validate access, debug failures, secure the service, enforce limits, and prevent abuse.
Discord Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
/signup |
Get your API key after the modal |
/checkin |
Daily key activation challenge |
/resetkey |
Rotate to a fresh key after a reason + challenge |
/models |
Browse models |
/stats |
Your usage stats |
/generate |
Generate an image |
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
/tiers |
View rate limit tiers |
/tiermodels |
Models grouped by provider prefix |
/leaderboard |
Top users |
/modelleaderboard |
Top models |
/modelstats |
Stats for a model |
Team
Built by a small crew sharing free AI tools with everyone. Open source on GitHub.
| Member | Role | GitHub | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vibhek Soni | Founder. Wrote the full API and most of the platform. | @vibheksoni | |
| Dr. Vova | Co-Founder. Frontend and the upcoming GoonPia roleplay site. | @drvova | |
| Sai Revanth | Discord manager. Day-to-day moderation and onboarding. | @svsairevanth |
GitHub org: Free-The-Ai. Full team page: freetheai.xyz/team.
Community
Website | Quickstart | Docs | Model Catalog | Pricing | Status | Team | Discord | Backup Invite | Support
Free tier stays free. Optional paid slots are available for higher-power models.