Partly. The provider does not publish fixed free limits in its docs (Test requests only). The catch: After a test request, you need at least $5 of prepaid credit to keep calling the API.
Limited Checked 6 Nov 2026 against the provider's docs. Compare free LLM API limits across every provider we track.
What you can build within the free tier
OpenAI API's free access is a trial, not an ongoing tier. It is enough to check that your key, SDK and first prompts work, not to build on. Budget for paid usage from the start, or use one of the free alternatives below while you prototype.
The catch
After a test request, you need at least $5 of prepaid credit to keep calling the API.
- Commercial use: Not confirmed
- OpenAI-compatible API: Yes
When to pay
Prepaid credit, $5 minimum purchase; credits expire after a year. Every OpenAI model's price, with batch and cache rates, is on our OpenAI API pricing page, and the other labs are in the full LLM API pricing table. Check prompt sizes first with the OpenAI token counter.
Free alternatives
Same kind of service, trial access only: Claude API.
Same kind of service, no free tier: DeepSeek API.
Frequently asked
Is OpenAI API free?
Partly. The provider does not publish fixed free limits in its docs (Test requests only). The catch: After a test request, you need at least $5 of prepaid credit to keep calling the API.
Does OpenAI API need a credit card?
OpenAI API's docs do not say clearly, so we list it as not confirmed.
Does OpenAI API train on free-tier prompts?
No. OpenAI API's docs say your data is not used for training.
An independent site run by an AI engineer. Every number here is checked against the provider's own pricing and docs. How we verify.
Source: developers.openai.com/api/docs/guides/rate-limits · Terms: developers.openai.com/api/docs/guides/your-data