All 31 Completely Free LLMs in February 2026: The Ultimate Guide

The Free LLM Landscape in February 2026

If you asked someone in 2023 whether you could run GPT-4-class models completely for free, the answer would have been "absolutely not." Fast-forward to February 2026, and the situation is dramatically different. Intense competition between AI providers — Google, Meta, Mistral, NVIDIA, and dozens of others — has created an unprecedented era of free, high-quality language model access.

This guide catalogues every completely free LLM available as of February 2026, across all major platforms. We cover OpenRouter's 31-model free tier, Groq's blazing-fast free inference, Google AI Studio's generous limits, and more. Whether you're a developer, researcher, or power user, this is your definitive reference.

OpenRouter — 31 Free Models with One API Key

OpenRouter is the undisputed king of free LLM access as of February 2026. Their aggregator model means you get a single sk-or-v1-... API key that routes to 31 completely free models. The endpoint is OpenAI-compatible, so any existing OpenAI integration works with a two-line change.

Top Free Models on OpenRouter (February 2026)

Model	Provider	Context	Capabilities
meta-llama/llama-3.3-70b-instruct:free	Meta	128K	Tools
google/gemma-3-27b-it:free	Google	131K	ToolsVision
mistralai/mistral-small-3.1-24b-instruct:free	Mistral	128K	ToolsVision
deepseek/deepseek-r1-0528:free	DeepSeek	164K	Reasoning
qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-thinking-2507	Qwen/Alibaba	131K	ToolsReasoning
openai/gpt-oss-120b:free	OpenAI (OSS)	131K	Tools
openai/gpt-oss-20b:free	OpenAI (OSS)	131K	Tools
nvidia/nemotron-3-nano-30b-a3b:free	NVIDIA	256K	Tools
nvidia/nemotron-nano-12b-v2-vl:free	NVIDIA	128K	ToolsVision
qwen/qwen3-vl-235b-a22b-thinking	Qwen/Alibaba	131K	VisionReasoning
stepfun/step-3.5-flash:free	StepFun	256K	Tools
upstage/solar-pro-3:free	Upstage	128K	Tools
z-ai/glm-4.5-air:free	Z.ai	131K	Tools
nousresearch/hermes-3-llama-3.1-405b:free	Nous Research	131K	—
arcee-ai/trinity-large-preview:free	Arcee AI	131K	ToolsReasoning
google/gemma-3-12b-it:free	Google	33K	Vision
google/gemma-3-4b-it:free	Google	33K	Vision
meta-llama/llama-3.2-3b-instruct:free	Meta	131K	—
liquid/lfm-2.5-1.2b-thinking:free	LiquidAI	33K	Reasoning
cognitivecomputations/dolphin-mistral-24b-venice-edition:free	Venice	33K	—
+ 11 more free models including Google Gemma 3n variants, Qwen3 4B, NVIDIA Nemotron 9B, Arcee AI Trinity Mini, OpenRouter auto-router (free), and Aurora Alpha

Groq Cloud — The Fastest Free Inference on the Planet

Groq's Language Processing Unit (LPU) hardware delivers token generation speeds that no GPU-based service can match. Their free tier (no credit card required) gives you access to several top-tier models including Llama 3.3 70B at blazing speed.

Free Models on Groq (February 2026)

Model ID	Context	Speed	Best For
llama-3.3-70b-versatile	128K	~280 tok/s	Best quality — recommended for VORA correction
llama-3.3-70b-specdec	8K	~400 tok/s	Ultra-fast shorter tasks
llama-3.1-70b-versatile	128K	~230 tok/s	Fallback to 70B generation
llama-3.1-8b-instant	128K	~750 tok/s	Lowest latency, bulk tasks
llama3-8b-8192	8K	~800 tok/s	Simple corrections, high volume
gemma2-9b-it	8K	~500 tok/s	Google Gemma fast path
mistral-saba-24b	32K	~300 tok/s	Multilingual excellence
deepseek-r1-distill-llama-70b	128K	~200 tok/s	Step-by-step reasoning
qwen-qwq-32b	128K	~180 tok/s	Thinking / math reasoning

Groq's key differentiator is token speed. Where OpenAI's free tier (ChatGPT) might give you 40–60 tokens/second, Groq's Llama 3.3 70B delivers 280+ tokens/second. For real-time speech-to-text correction (our use case in VORA), this is game-changing — corrections come back in 300–800ms instead of 3–5 seconds.

Google AI Studio — Gemini Free Tier

Google's Gemini models remain the most generous free tier from a quality-per-request standpoint. The gemini-1.5-flash and gemini-2.0-flash variants available through Google AI Studio are completely free with a per-minute RPM (Requests Per Minute) limit.

Gemini Free Models (February 2026)

Model	Context	Free Limit	Best For
gemini-2.0-flash / gemini-flash-latest	1M tokens	15 RPM / 1,500 RPD	⭐ Best overall free model — use this for VORA
gemini-2.0-flash-lite	1M tokens	30 RPM / 1,500 RPD	Higher throughput, slight quality tradeoff
gemini-1.5-flash-8b	1M tokens	15 RPM / 1,500 RPD	Ultra-light tasks, fast response
gemini-2.5-flash-preview	1M tokens	10 RPM / 500 RPD	Advanced reasoning preview
gemini-1.5-pro	2M tokens	2 RPM / 50 RPD	Deep analysis (very restricted)

Other Free Platforms

Hugging Face Inference API

Hugging Face offers free serverless inference for many open models. The free tier has significant rate limits but is excellent for experimentation. Models include Llama, Mistral, and thousands of fine-tuned variants. The main limitation: free tier models may be "cold" and take 20–60 seconds to load on first call.

Together AI Free Tier

Together AI provides $25 in free credits to new users — not ongoing free access. However, their pricing is among the cheapest once you deplete credits ($0.10–$0.20 per million tokens for 70B models), making them effectively the most economical choice for high-volume production use.

Cloudflare Workers AI

Cloudflare's Workers AI platform includes a free tier with 10,000 neurons per day (roughly 3,000–10,000 tokens). Models available include Llama 3.1 8B and Mistral 7B. Not suitable for production but excellent for prototyping.

Perplexity AI (pplx-api)

Perplexity offers sonar-small-chat (based on Llama 3.1 8B) with online search capabilities. A limited free tier exists but primarily targets their consumer chat product. The API requires credits for most use cases.

Complete Side-by-Side Comparison

Platform	Best Free Model	Quality	Speed	Rate Limit	Card Req.
Groq	Llama 3.3 70B	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡	~30 RPM	❌ No
Google AI Studio	Gemini 2.0 Flash	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⚡⚡⚡⚡	15 RPM / 1,500 RPD	❌ No
OpenRouter	Llama 3.3 70B / DeepSeek R1	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⚡⚡⚡	20 RPM / 200 RPD	❌ No
Hugging Face	Various	⭐⭐⭐	⚡⚡ (cold starts)	Very limited	❌ No
Cloudflare AI	Llama 3.1 8B	⭐⭐⭐	⚡⚡⚡	10K neurons/day	❌ No
Together AI	Llama 3.3 70B	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⚡⚡⚡⚡	$25 credit only	❌ No (trial)

Best Model for Each Use Case

🎙️ Real-time Speech Correction (like VORA)

Winner: Groq — llama-3.3-70b-versatile
Speed is everything for real-time use. At 280+ tokens/sec, corrections come back in under 500ms. The 128K context window handles full meeting transcripts. This is exactly what VORA uses for its Groq-powered correction mode.

📝 Meeting Summarisation

Winner: Google Gemini 2.0 Flash
The 1M token context window is unmatched — you can feed an entire day's meeting transcript in a single request. Quality is excellent, and 1,500 free requests/day is more than enough for personal use.

💻 Code Generation & Debugging

Winner: OpenRouter — deepseek/deepseek-r1-0528:free
DeepSeek R1 with reasoning chains produces some of the best code quality among free models. The 164K context window handles large codebases, and the built-in step-by-step reasoning dramatically reduces bugs.

🔬 Complex Reasoning & Analysis

Winner: OpenRouter — qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-thinking-2507
At 235B parameters with explicit reasoning chains, this is among the most capable free models available anywhere. Rate limits are tight (20 RPM) but the quality for hard reasoning tasks is remarkable.

🖼️ Vision + Text Tasks

Winner: google/gemma-3-27b-it:free or mistralai/mistral-small-3.1-24b-instruct:free
Both support image inputs at the free tier via OpenRouter. For most vision+text tasks they perform comparably, with Mistral slightly better at document analysis and Gemma better at visual reasoning.

🌏 Korean/Asian Language Tasks

Winner: Groq llama-3.3-70b-versatile or OpenRouter qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-thinking-2507
Llama 3.3 70B has strong Korean capabilities and is blazingly fast on Groq. For maximum quality on Korean text, the Qwen3 235B thinking model on OpenRouter edges ahead — though the slower response time makes it unsuitable for real-time use.

Understanding Rate Limits & Fair Use

Every free tier has limits — understanding them is key to building reliable applications. Here's what you need to know:

• RPM (Requests Per Minute): How many API calls you can make in a 60-second window. Exceeding this returns HTTP 429. Always implement exponential backoff retry logic.
• RPD (Requests Per Day): Total daily budget. OpenRouter's 200 RPD per model may sound low, but at 60-second intervals, 200 requests = over 3 hours of continuous use.
• TPM (Tokens Per Minute): Some platforms limit total token throughput, not just request count. Groq's free tier has TPM limits that can be hit before RPM limits with long prompts.
• Data Privacy: All free tiers in this guide are processed server-side. Your data goes to the provider. For sensitive information, consider whether this is acceptable — or use on-device models (VORA Labs has several WASM-based local models).

How VORA Uses Free LLMs in 2026

VORA is built entirely on free-tier AI APIs. Here's our current stack:

• Speech-to-Text: Browser's built-in Web Speech API — completely free, zero server calls
• Real-time Correction (fast mode): Groq Cloud — llama-3.3-70b-versatile free tier (enable in Settings)
• Meeting Summaries & Q&A: Google Gemini 2.0 Flash — gemini-flash-latest free tier
• Parallel LLM Comparison (Labs): OpenRouter free tier — Llama 3.3 70B + Gemma 3 27B + Mistral Small 3.1 simultaneously

The result? A professional AI meeting assistant that costs $0/month for typical personal use. The only constraint is the daily/per-minute rate limits, which are generous enough for individual use cases but would require paid plans at enterprise scale.

The democratisation of AI inference is accelerating rapidly. In 2024, "free AI" meant limited chatbot interfaces. In 2026, it means production-grade 70B parameter models with 128K context windows, available via standard APIs, with no credit card required. The gap between free and paid tiers has never been smaller — and for many real-world applications, the free tier is genuinely all you need.

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