{"slug": "i-run-claude-code-on-0-month-a-practical-guide-to-free-llm-apis", "title": "I Run Claude Code on $0/Month: A Practical Guide to Free LLM APIs", "summary": "A developer has documented a method for running AI coding assistants such as Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex CLI entirely on free LLM API tiers by overriding backend environment variables like ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL and ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN to route requests through providers including Google AI Studio, Groq, NVIDIA NIM, OpenRouter, Cerebras, and Mistral. The setup relies on a directory at freellm.net that tracks 489 free models across 30 providers, with Google AI Studio's Gemini 2.5 Flash (500 requests/day, 1M context) and Groq's Llama 3.3 70B cited as the best free options for coding.", "body_md": "AI coding assistants are incredible — until the API bill arrives. If you've ever watched your Claude Code or Cursor usage tick upward and wondered whether there's a cheaper way, this guide is for you.\n\nThe good news: in 2026, the free tier landscape for LLM APIs is genuinely good. Not \"free trial for 7 days\" good — permanently free, no credit card required, production-usable models. The bad news: the information is scattered across dozens of provider docs, and free tiers change constantly.\n\nHere's the practical setup I actually use.\n\nNot all free tiers are equal. These are the ones with permanent free tiers, no credit card required:\n\n| Provider | Standout model | Why it's good | \n|---|---|---|\n| **Google AI Studio** | Gemini 2.5 Flash (1M context, multimodal) | Most capable free tier, 500 req/day | \n| **Groq** | Llama 3.3 70B, gpt-oss-120b | Fastest inference, ultra-low latency | \n| **NVIDIA NIM** | 100+ open models (DeepSeek R1/V3, Llama) | Huge selection, one API key | \n| **OpenRouter** | 35+ free models | Single key, single endpoint for everything | \n| **Cerebras** | Llama 3.3 70B | Extremely fast | \n| **Mistral** | Mistral Small/Medium | ~1B tokens/month free | \n\nThe full comparison — rate limits, context windows, credit card requirements — is maintained at [freellm.net](https://freellm.net), a directory of 489 free models across 30 providers. I use it as my reference because free tiers change often and static lists go stale fast.\n\nPick one provider to start. My recommendation for coding: **Google AI Studio** (best model quality) or **Groq** (best speed).\n\nThat's it. You now have a working LLM API key that costs $0.\n\nClaude Code reads two environment variables to override its backend:\n\n```\nexport ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=\"https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/openai\"\nexport ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN=\"your-google-ai-studio-key\"\n```\n\n(For Groq: `ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=\"https://api.groq.com/openai/v1\"`.)\n\nThen just run `claude` as normal. It will route through the free provider instead of Anthropic's API.\n\nFor **Cursor**: Settings → Models → Add Model, paste the base URL and key.\n\nFor **Codex CLI**: set `OPENAI_BASE_URL` + `OPENAI_API_KEY`.\n\nReady-to-copy snippets for every provider/model combination are at [freellm.net/config](https://freellm.net/config/) — pick your tool, pick your model, paste.\n\nBefore wiring a key into your daily workflow, test it. The [freellm.net playground](https://freellm.net/playground/) lets you paste a key and chat with any model right in the browser — no install, and your key goes directly to the provider, never stored on their servers.\n\nFree tiers have limits, and you should know them upfront:\n\n$0/month. I do the bulk of my AI-assisted coding on Gemini 2.5 Flash via Google AI Studio's free tier, and fall back to Groq when I need speed. When I hit a rate limit (rare), I switch providers — which takes 30 seconds since it's just env vars.\n\nIf you're a student, indie hacker, or just cost-conscious, there's no reason to pay for API access while these tiers exist. The setup takes less time than reading this article did.\n\n*Reference: [freellm.net](https://freellm.net) — 489 free LLM APIs from 30 providers, with rate limits, context windows, and one-click configs for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.*", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-run-claude-code-on-0-month-a-practical-guide-to-free-llm-apis", "canonical_source": "https://dev.to/fastoolster/i-run-claude-code-on-0month-a-practical-guide-to-free-llm-apis-2o8g", "published_at": "2026-10-05 10:45:28+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-10-05 10:49:21.951774+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-tools", "large-language-models", "ai-products", "developer-tools"], "entities": ["Claude Code", "Cursor", "Codex CLI", "Google AI Studio", "Groq", "NVIDIA NIM", "OpenRouter", "freellm.net"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-run-claude-code-on-0-month-a-practical-guide-to-free-llm-apis", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-run-claude-code-on-0-month-a-practical-guide-to-free-llm-apis.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-run-claude-code-on-0-month-a-practical-guide-to-free-llm-apis.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-run-claude-code-on-0-month-a-practical-guide-to-free-llm-apis.jsonld"}}