AI models · data verified October 28, 2026

Best free AI in 2026: what you get without paying

Mistral Vibe gives you a strong model for free that the company names outright (Medium 3.5) and keeps data in the EU. ChatGPT Free has no fixed cap on everyday text chats, and Gemini adds Deep Research and image creation. DeepSeek is entirely free, but stores everything in China.

  1. Mistral Medium 3.5 Mistral AI · balanced

    Mistral Vibe (formerly Le Chat) uses Medium 3.5 as its default model even on the free plan, and Mistral reports 77.6% for it on the SWE-bench Verified coding test. Data is stored in the EU. Mistral does not publish exact message limits, and on Free it may use your conversations for training until you switch that off in the privacy settings.

    API price: $1.5 / $7.5 per 1M tokens (input / output) · Context window: 256K tokens

  2. GPT-6 Luna OpenAI · small

    ChatGPT Free has no fixed cap on everyday text chats, only abuse safeguards. The chat itself runs the older GPT-5.6 Luna with a 27K-token context, though. You get GPT-6 Luna, which OpenAI says scores 66.6% on DeepSWE v1.1, in limited form in ChatGPT Work and Codex in the desktop app. Your chats are used for training until you turn this off in settings.

    API price: $0.1 / $0.5 per 1M tokens (input / output) · Context window: 1.1M tokens

  3. Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite Google · fast and cheap

    Free Gemini has the most features: image creation, Deep Research, Gemini Live, Canvas and 15 GB of storage. Since 9 October 2026, though, most questions go to Flash-Lite with only a 32K-token context. Google does not name the version, and the current API model, 3.5 Flash-Lite, scores 12 on the Artificial Analysis index. Limits refresh every 5 hours up to a weekly cap.

    API price: $0.3 / $2.5 per 1M tokens (input / output) · Context window: 1M tokens

  4. Claude Sonnet 5.5 Anthropic · balanced

    Claude Free includes web search, file creation, code execution and memory across conversations. Anthropic lists the Sonnet and Haiku models but not their versions, so it is not certain you get Sonnet 5.5 specifically. Usage is counted in a 5-hour window and message counts are not published. Opus, Claude Code and Research are not on Free.

    API price: $2 / $10 per 1M tokens (input / output) · Context window: 1M tokens

  5. DeepSeek V4 Pro DeepSeek · flagship

    DeepSeek has no paid subscription, and the website and app are free with the V4.1 Flash and V4 Pro models. DeepSeek reports 87.9 for V4 Pro on Terminal Bench 2.1. The catch is data protection: everything you type is stored in China and may be used for training. Czechia’s NÚKIB rates the threat as high, and it is banned for official use in Czech state administration. According to media reports, Slovakia’s NBÚ has also warned about its data collection. Keep personal and business data out of it.

    API price: $1.32 / $3.96 per 1M tokens (input / output) · Context window: 1M tokens

  6. Qwen3.8-27B Alibaba (Qwen) · small

    If you have a powerful computer, you can download an open model for free and run it fully offline, with no limits and no data leaving your machine. Qwen3.8-27B scores 52 on the Artificial Analysis index, third among open models. The Apache 2.0 license also allows commercial use, and the model understands images and video. Alibaba does not publish exact hardware requirements.

    API price: $0.5 / $3 per 1M tokens (input / output) · Context window: 262K tokens

  7. Gemma 4 31B Google · small

    You can run it in Ollama or LM Studio on a single graphics card, as the 4-bit version needs about 17.5 GB of memory. It handles more than 35 languages, and Google reports 84.3% on GPQA Diamond. Apache 2.0 license. Its knowledge stops in January 2025, though, so without search it knows nothing about later events.

    API price: no published API price per 1M tokens (input / output) · Context window: 256K tokens

Grok and Meta AI for free

Grok has a free plan with a limited number of chats and agent tasks, plus limited Grok Build and Imagine. xAI publishes neither the limits nor which model runs on Free. The stronger Grok 4.7 is only in Fast mode for paying users.

Meta AI is free in WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads and on meta.ai. It runs on the Muse Spark model, but Meta names neither the version nor an official list of countries. The quickest way to find out whether you have it is to look in WhatsApp.

What to watch out for on free plans

  • Hardly anyone publishes exact limits. ChatGPT, Claude, Mistral, Grok and DeepSeek do not state message counts.
  • ChatGPT Free and Mistral Free may use your conversations for training, and you can turn that off in settings. DeepSeek’s privacy policy mentions no such setting, so you can only opt out by email.
  • For business and personal data, business plans are the better choice: ChatGPT Business and Google Workspace do not use company data for training by default.
  • If a free plan is not enough, see the paid plans for ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Mistral and Grok.

Free options for developers

The Gemini API has a free tier for Gemini 3.8 Flash and 3.5 Flash-Lite as well. Under its terms, Google does not train on API data from users in the EEA, even on the free tier. Alibaba gives you 1 million tokens for 90 days with Qwen3.8-Max in its Singapore region. A Cohere trial key is free, but not meant for production.

How we chose

What counts most is how strong the model on the free plan really is and whether the vendor names it. Then come the limits and features the plan includes, and finally where your data goes and whether it is used for training. That is why DeepSeek, despite its strong model, sits in the lower half. Open models on your own computer come last because they need powerful hardware, but there you alone decide about your data.

FAQ

Which AI is completely free?

DeepSeek and Meta AI have no paid plan for everyday users at all. ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Mistral Vibe and Grok have a free plan with limits, plus paid plans. Only open models that you download and run on your own computer come with no limits at all.

Is free ChatGPT or free Gemini better?

It depends on what you do. ChatGPT Free has no fixed cap on everyday text chats, which suits lots of short questions. Free Gemini has more features, such as Deep Research and Gemini Live, and a slightly larger context (32K tokens versus 27K), but its limits refresh every 5 hours up to a weekly cap.

Is it safe to use DeepSeek for free?

You can use it for everyday questions without personal data, but expect everything to be stored in China and possibly used for training. Czechia’s NÚKIB rates the threat as high, it is banned for official use in Czech state administration, and in Italy the app was pulled from the app stores. The open DeepSeek V4.1 Flash model on your own server is a different case: no data leaves.

Sources

Prices and models change often. The data comes from official vendor pricing pages and documentation, and every page shows when it was last checked. Before a larger purchase, confirm the price with the vendor.

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