The watchlist

Trust, but verify.

These providers advertise something free, but a decisive detail is missing: a current model, exact credit, zero-balance call, or consistent billing policy.

Not counted as verified. We move an offer into the main catalog only when first-party evidence closes the gap.

Showing 43 records

AkashML

Credit amount unpublished

Current FAQ says new users automatically receive free credits.

Anthropic AI for Science Program

Application Required

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

AnyRouter

Conditional

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

Arcee Trinity Builders Program

Application Required

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

Current FAQ is prepaid upstream-price pass-through with a platform fee. A free monthly BYOK gateway allowance still incurs upstream inference cost; unspecified account promotions and generic :free variants do not prove a funded exact free route.

BaobabAI API

Public Unauthenticated Endpoint Free Terms Unpublished

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

Baseten

Credit amount unpublished

Current pricing says new accounts receive credits to experiment for free.

Baseten Startup Program

Application Required

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

Beam

Needs Verification

https://docs.beam.cloud/v2/security/terms-and-conditions

BentoML Cloud / Bento Inference Platform

Credit amount unpublished

Current pricing promises one-time free compute credit.

Bhashini PoC APIs

Advertised Poc Access Price Unverified

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

CoreWeave Forge Serverless Inference (formerly Weights & Biases)

Promotional Credit Amount Unpublished

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

Eden AI

Ongoing Free Models Card And Runtime Unresolved Plus Trial

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

EmberCloud Startup Credits

Application Required Purchase Conditioned

Application approval is required; after approval users must add $5 to verify the company before the $100 credits can be used. No-card wording applies to the application, not a guaranteed zero-spend activation.

fal Research Grants

Application Required Amount Unpublished

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

fal Startup Program

Application Required

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

Fikra API

Needs Verification

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

FlexAI Startup Program

Application Required

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

FreeModel.dev

Trial underdocumented

The key dashboard advertises $300 free signup credits with no payment information and aliases FRE-5.4 and FRE-5.5.

Greenference

Needs Verification

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

Indiana University Research and Academic LLM Services API

Institution Free API Exact Developer Surface Unpublished

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

Jina LLM-as-SERP API

Free claim unresolved

Current product page says the API is free and optional keys raise limits without being charged.

LLM Gateway

Conflicting sources

Pricing says three zero-cost models on a $0 forever plan with no card.

LUMI AI Factory Aitta shared inference API

Shared Aitta API Live Free Status Unverified

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

Maritaca AI Academic Credits

Needs Verification

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

Modal Academics Program

Application Required

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

Modal Startup Program

Application Required Amount Unpublished

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

Modular shared Model API

Conflicting sources

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

Murf Startup Incubator

Application Required

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

Nebius Builders Program

Application Required

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

Neurlap

Early Access Waitlist

Users share GPU capacity to earn credits.

NexusRouter

Needs authenticated check

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

OpenAI API complimentary data-sharing tokens

Conditional eligibility

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

OpenAI startup partner credits

Partner Referral And Application Required

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

Pollinations.ai

Needs Verification

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

Pruna Build Program

Application Required With Spend Conditioned Later Stages

join_program_with_billing_information

Runpod startup credits

Application Required

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

SambaNova Cloud

Conflicting sources

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

SiliconFlow China zero-price catalog

Authenticated Real Name Catalog Unresolved

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

Tencent Cloud TokenHub

Needs Verification

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

Tera

Application Required

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

Venice API

Conflicting sources

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

Z.ai Startup Program

Application Required Exact Award Unpublished

A possible free offer exists, but a decisive term still needs verification.

How to read an unresolved free-tier claim

A marketing claim is a lead, not the verdict

“Free,” “complimentary,” and “developer access” can describe very different products. The offer may be a web playground rather than an API, a credit visible only after signup, a route that still requires a positive wallet balance, or a community service whose capacity depends on other users. The watchlist preserves the positive claim without letting it inflate the verified catalog.

The missing fact is named on the provider page

Each record explains what is known and what remains unproven: the exact model, recurring quota, payment-card rule, authenticated callability, geographic eligibility, or conflict between current provider pages. First-party links stay attached so a reader can inspect the same evidence and resolve the gap when a dashboard or account is available.

Moving into the catalog takes one decisive source

A watchlist entry becomes current when provider documentation, pricing, governing terms, a live catalog, or a reproducible call closes the material gap. The resulting record still distinguishes recurring access from trials and still audits prompt handling separately. Verification confirms a bounded claim; it never turns a volatile free tier into a permanence promise.

Use these records as questions, not recommendations

If you are evaluating one of these providers, confirm the unresolved field before designing around it. Check the signed-in limits page, make a zero-balance request where permitted, capture the exact model ID and response, and read the plan-specific data terms. Until then, the safest statement is that a possible free route exists but its practical terms are not yet public enough to recommend.

Corroboration still cannot replace the governing term

Community reports, screenshots, search snippets, and third-party trackers can show where to investigate, but they rarely settle who is eligible, whether an allowance recurs, which account type receives it, or what happens after exhaustion. Even a successful anonymous call may describe a demo route rather than the signed-in product. The audit therefore keeps corroboration as context while waiting for a provider-owned contract, documented limit, live catalog, or reproducible account result that can support a precise public statement.

An unresolved claim still has an expiry date

A waitlist, preview, undocumented dashboard balance, or contradictory pricing page cannot remain a useful lead forever without re-checking. The dated snapshot shows when the evidence was last assessed, and newer provider material can either promote the offer, narrow its classification, or close it as an excluded claim. This prevents “needs verification” from becoming a permanent substitute for a finding.