About & how we test
freeaiapis.org is an independent, one-person directory of legitimate ways to get free AI API access. There is no editorial team and no automation deciding what gets listed — the site owner personally signs up and claims every offer before it counts as tested.
How every listing is tested
Before anything is published with a “Tested” label, the owner goes through the exact steps shown on the listing, as a normal user:
- Create a real account on the provider’s site — no special treatment, no press access.
- Follow the claim steps exactly as written on this site.
- Redeem the code, apply the referral, activate the free tier — whatever the offer requires.
- Confirm the credit or free access actually appears in the provider’s dashboard, not just at signup.
- Make at least one real API call and verify a sensible response comes back.
- Note the friction honestly: card required? phone verification? region restrictions? rate limits?
- Record the test date in the listing’s Last tested column. Dead or expired offers move to the archive at the bottom of the home page — they are never silently deleted.
What we check
- Card policy — whether a credit card is required at signup or to claim the offer.
- Real cost — the offer is genuinely free to claim; we flag anything that quietly converts to paid.
- Workability — the code redeems, the credit applies, the API key actually works.
- Limits — obvious rate limits, daily caps or expiry dates, recorded in the listing details.
- Friction — phone verification, invite queues, region blocks and similar gotchas.
- Data signals — anything the provider publishes about prompt logging or training on your data, surfaced as a risk note when relevant.
What we can’t do: see inside a provider’s infrastructure. Treat every risk note as a starting point, read the provider’s own terms, and never send sensitive data through a service you don’t trust.
What the status labels mean
| Badge | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Tested | Verified. The owner completed the offer end-to-end on the date shown next to the badge in the Last tested column and confirmed a working API call. A listing never shows “Tested” without a test date. |
| Unverified | Community-submitted, a placeholder, or not yet fully re-tested. Published for awareness only — treat with caution. |
| Dead | No longer works, or its expiry date has passed. Kept in the “Removed / expired” archive for the record. |
Other columns: Card needed says whether a credit card is required to claim the offer. Expires shows a provider-announced expiry date, or “No expiry”. A link labelled Referral link credits this site if you use it (see the disclosure) — always marked, never hidden. When a provider publishes how many redemptions are left and we checked it recently, you’ll see something like “~380 left (checked Oct 2)”. The footer shows the date the whole offer list was last fully reviewed, when there is one.
Re-testing and reports
Verified listings are re-tested periodically, and anything approaching its expiry date gets re-checked first. If you hit a problem, use the Report not working link inside any listing’s Details section — reports trigger a re-test, and confirmed failures are moved to the archive with the date they died.
What this site will never do
- Host, collect, ask for or display API keys — ever.
- Take payment for placement or for a “Tested” label.
- Publish scraped, untested offers as if they were verified.
- Hide a referral relationship — referral links are labeled in the table and in the details.
Questions or corrections? contact@freeaiapis.org.