Transcription
Today, in this video, I'm going to explain not one, but two different ways you can get a free AI API key without having to pay anything or even enter any credit card information. So, whether you want to create an app that requires any sort of AI integration, or you're planning to create an automation using Make.com or n8n, or even trying out some AI coding tools like, let's say, bald.diy, where you can bring in your own API key, this is the video that you'll have to watch. So, stick around till the end to find these two methods. So, let's quickly get started.
So, the first platform that gives you access to a ton of different AI API keys from different AI models from Meta, Google, Quen, Tencent, or let's say Deepseek, is called as OpenRouter.ai. So, the thing that you have to do is to click the second link in the description below and head over to OpenRouter.ai, and you'll be taken to a page something like this. And now, the first thing that you got to do is to go ahead and click on the login button, or let's say, sign-up button, and sign up for a new account. And once you're signed in, and once you log in, this is going to be the kind of interface that you will see. And now, if I click on this "Models" option right here, it will take me to a page where I can access and find all the different models that are available within the platform. And as you can see, OpenRouter allows you to access well over 455 models within this platform. And now, the interesting part is that OpenRouter offers both free and paid AI models that you can access. So, if I click on this, uh, pricing section right here, and if I lower the slider to the free section right here, now we have around 55 different AI models that you can access for free. So, basically, you generate an API key within OpenRouter and you can start using it for free. So, here we have Tencent, we have Mistral, then we have DeepSeek R1, then we have, okay, Google Gemma that is three and four billion parameters, then we have Quen 3, then we have Meta Llama 4, Deepseek, Gemini 2.5 Pro Experimental. I mean, all of these are AI models that you can access for free.
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Now, back to the video. So, the first thing that you got to do is to set the prompt pricing as free. And then you can browse and find the specific AI model that you want to use. So, in this case, let's say I want to use the Google Gemini 2.5 Pro experimental model. So, I can click on that one. And now, as you can see, it says, "Okay, this model right here is deprecated." So, what I'll do is I'll go ahead and try a different one. For example, let's say this one right here that is Deepseek V3. And now, if you look at the input tokens and output token pricing section, you will see that it is $0 per million input token and $0 per million output tokens. So, that means you can infinitely use this AI model for free. And now, after you generate an API key, you can integrate the same into your app or use it for an automation within n8n or Make.com, or even use it on, let's say, AI coding tools like bald.diy, right? So, to create, I mean, the first thing that you got to do is to obviously find the AI model that you want to use. And as I mentioned earlier, we have around 55 different models that you can select from. And now, after that, once you're logged in, click on your profile picture right here, and you'll find an option called as "Keys." So, I'll click on that one. And now, it will take me to a page where I can create a new secret key, or let's say, an API key. And I'll click on this "Create API Key" button right here. And now, I got to give a name. So, in this case, let's say, "Free API." So, just go ahead and enter a name that makes sense for your specific use case. And, yep, all of that looks good. And now I can click on this "Create" option right here. So, there you go. Here we have the API key. So, you can click on this button right here to copy the same. And also, make sure to copy and note it down somewhere safe because you won't be able to see this again. All right. And if you want to use it, you can actually use it using the OpenAI package itself. So, that is yet another cool thing. As you can see, you can use the OpenAI SDK to use this one. So, that's actually a really great thing. And if you want to learn how to use this and also see the use case examples and all that, you can head over to the docs page and access more information in here. So, yeah, you have got your API key, right?
Next up, you can head back to the models page right here. I'll set the pricing to free, just like that. And now, maybe I'll just try DeepSeek R1. And now, all right. So, that looks good. And now, if you want to, let's say, try it out and take it for a spin, you can click on this chat option right here. And now, maybe let's say, send some random message. So, let's say, "Hi." So, there you go. It says, "Hello, how can I assist you today?" And the DeepSeek R1 model is actually a reasoning model. So, it just went through a reasoning process for about 2 seconds, and it has given me the answer here. And now, one thing that I want you to keep in mind is the fact that a lot of these free models right within OpenRouter are used by thousands of people on the globe. And for the same reason, the speed won't be that great. I mean, if you compare the performance of a free model and a paid model right within OpenRouter, the paid model will be several folds faster. So, that is one caveat, or let's say, one thing that you'll have to keep an eye on. And now, okay, as you have the API key, you can go ahead and start using it right away. And if you want to get the implementation guide, you can move over to this API tab right here. And now, there you go. You can copy this code snippet. If you're about to use, let's say, Python, or maybe if you are about to use TypeScript, you can copy this one and start using it right away. So, it is as easy as that. So, this is the first method.
Now, the second method to access a free AI API key is to use Google AI Studio. So, as you might already know, Google provides API access to their Gemini AI models. And they also have a generous free tier plan that you can use to access a lot of these AI models, including Gemini 2.5 Pro, then 2.5 Flash, then we have Flashlight Preview, uh, then we have Flash Preview TTS, then we have, I mean, all of these 2.0 Flash. I mean, all of these are AI models from Gemini that you can use for free. So, they have a free plan. So, you can go ahead and generate an API key and start using it right away without having to pay for anything or even enter any credit card information. So, as you can see in here, we have this Gemini 2.5 Pro. And as you can see, they have a free tier. And now, to access it, all you got to do is to click the third link in the description below and head over to Google AI Studio. And now, if this is your first time, you'll be asked to log in with your Google account. So, just sign in using your Gmail account, and you should be pretty much sorted. So, you'll be taken to a page like this. And towards the top right, you can find a button that says "Get API Key." So, I can click on that option right there. And now, towards the top, I can click on this "Create API Key" button right here. And now, it will ask me to select a Google Cloud project. And now, all I got to do is to select one of the projects that I already have. And now, in your case, if you don't already have a project, you can click on this "Create" button and create a new project. And now, I'll click on this button right here. And it says, "Generating API key." And there you go. Here we have got a Gemini API key. So, I can copy the same and start using it right away. And the thing is that even if you lost that API key, you can still go ahead and click on this option right here and copy the API key and start using it right away. And now, if you want to learn to implement this API key in your application, or you want to start using it right away, you can refer to the quick start guide right here, and you can just follow the, you know, SDK and guide in here, and you can start using it right away. And the thing is that if you are about to use an API key from AI Studio, even in their free plan, it is several folds faster than a free API key from OpenRouter. But OpenRouter does not really rate limit you or does not really have any limit. But AI Studio has a limit. So, the API key, I mean, the free plan is generous enough, but still, after you hit the limit, you'll have to pay. So, yeah, that's for that.
So, these are the two different ways you can access free AI API keys, and you can use it for any automation workflows on n8n or Make.com, or let's say you want to create some application like SaaS applications or some projects that involve some sort of AI integration, or even if you want to, let's say, use bald.diy or any other AI coding tools that allows you to bring in your own API key. And you can, if you want to use it, you can just follow the methods I've shown you in this video and you can grab your API key and get going. So, that's pretty much all I wanted to show you in this video. I hope you guys found this video useful.