# Free OpenAI API key: is there one?

> OpenAI has no permanent free API tier. Here are the honest ways to use GPT models through an API without paying, checked October 2026.

OpenAI bills its API per token and we found no permanent free tier on its pricing pages. The ChatGPT app has a free plan, but that is not an API key.

## Free routes

- Vercel AI Gateway: $5 of free credit every 30 days, usable on the whole catalog, as long as you never buy gateway credit. It includes GPT models.
- GPT-OSS 120B is OpenAI's open-weight model, and Groq, Cerebras, SambaNova and NVIDIA serve it free within their limits.
- OpenRouter: Models ending in :free get 20 requests a minute and 50 a day. Buy $10 of credit once and it rises to 1,000 a day for good.

Paid key: https://platform.openai.com/api-keys

## Use it with every other AI at once

Paste the key into MultiScreenAI (https://www.multiscreenai.com) and ask every model at once, side by side, with a blind test mode. Agents can do the same over MCP: https://www.multiscreenai.com/mcp