#4 in LLM APIs & inferenceFree tier
Gemini API
Google's Gemini models, with a free tier in AI Studio.
The Gemini API is Google's developer API for Gemini models, documented at ai.google.dev, with prompting in Google AI Studio. Many models have a free tier with rate limits, and paid usage is per token.
Why this rank
The free tier is large enough to prototype, which makes it the Google API to try before you commit a card.
Best for
Prototyping on Gemini without a large upfront bill.
Pricing
Free tier for many models, with rate limits, then usage-based paid rates. See ai.google.dev/pricing. Terms for how Google may use free-tier data differ from the paid tier.
Pricing checked November 7, 2026. Confirm it on the official site.
Before you commit
- Read the free-tier data terms before you send user content.
- Rate limits on the free tier will not carry a production app.
Also look at
- OpenAI API — The default API for GPT models and OpenAI tools.
- OpenRouter — One API key for many models and providers.
- Claude Platform — Anthropic's API for Claude models.