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

create a free account on one of the providers

💡 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.

⚡ 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.

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" | "balanced" | "aggressive" } |

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

⌨️ 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

✨ 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

📋 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

⚖️ 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.

📊 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) |

🛡️ 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.

Star History

Special thanks to contributors

🆓 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 |