Free Claude API access in 2026: the routes that work

Anthropic does not offer a free API tier. Its API tiers are paid, and new organisations start on a low evaluation tier until they build a usage history. That is where most articles on this topic stop, and it is why most of them are useless -- because Claude models are available without a per-token bill, just not from Anthropic directly.

Several vendors serve Claude through their own plans. Two of those plans are free. Others you may already be paying for without realising the model access is included.

The routes that exist

Kiro. AWS's coding IDE has a free plan of 50 credits a month, covering Claude Sonnet 4.5 and open-weight models such as Qwen3 Coder Next and DeepSeek 3.2. Paid plans start at $20 a month for 1,000 credits and add newer Claude models. Credits, not tokens -- which matters, because an agent spends them fast even on small edits.

Antigravity. Google's agent IDE has a free Individual plan with weekly rate limits. Next to Gemini it carries Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Opus 4.6 (as thinking models), but Google lists both as retiring on November 2, 2026, and the newer Claude 5.5 models need a paid Google AI plan.

GitHub Copilot. Not free beyond Copilot Free, which picks the model for you. Since June 1, 2026 the paid plans include a monthly pool of AI Credits, spent at each model's API rate; Copilot Pro is $10 a month with 1,000 base credits plus a 500-credit flex allotment at the moment. GitHub's model list includes Claude Haiku 4.5, Sonnet 4.6 to 5.5 and Opus 4.8 to 5.5, and your plan decides which of them you get. Credits you are not spending in the editor are Claude access you already bought (using them from other tools).

Cursor. Paid plans include a monthly pool of model usage, with Claude and other third-party models billed against it at API rates.

A Claude plan. Pro and Max are not API keys, but Claude Code runs on them, and a router can connect the same login for other tools.

The common shape: you are not getting Claude for nothing. You are getting it through a plan whose cost you have already absorbed, or one that is genuinely free at low volume.

What "free" costs you

Being honest about the trade-offs, because they are real:

• Credit caps rather than token caps. Kiro's free plan is 50 credits a month. An agent session spends them quickly.
• Rate limits are tighter. Free tiers are sized for interactive use, not for an agent firing parallel tool calls. Antigravity's free limits reset weekly, Kiro's monthly.
• Model availability shifts. Claude Opus 4.7 and Sonnet 4.5 are no longer on Copilot's model list, and Antigravity's free Claude models retire in November. Which versions a vendor exposes changes without notice.
• Your account is at risk. Kiro, Antigravity, Copilot and Claude logins are subscription or OAuth sessions that are not licensed for use through a proxy or router. kRouter shows a risk notice before you connect one, because the vendor can restrict or ban the account.
• No SLA. For production, this is not the path.

For development work, these are usually acceptable. For anything customer-facing, pay for the direct API.

Using them from a normal client

The friction is that each of these sits behind its own sign-in. Kiro talks to AWS's CodeWhisperer API. Copilot and Antigravity need their own token handling. Your editor cannot use those logins directly.

A local router resolves that by presenting one standard endpoint and translating behind it:

npm install -g @sifxprime/krouter
krouter -t

Connect whichever of the above you have access to on the dashboard's Providers page, then point any client at http://localhost:20128/v1 with a provider/model name such as kr/claude-sonnet-4.5. Claude Code, Cline, or your own script all reach them through the same URL without knowing the difference. Cursor is the exception: it sends requests from its own servers, so it needs kRouter's tunnel rather than localhost (why, and the fix).

Stacking them

This is where it stops being a workaround and becomes a better setup than a single subscription.

Each free tier has its own separate allowance. Put three in a combo and you have three allowances with automatic failover between them -- when one is exhausted, kRouter cools it down and the next takes over mid-session rather than stopping your task. That is a stronger position than one paid account with one limit, because the failure mode is "slightly different backend" instead of "blocked until reset".

Add a cheap metered provider at the end of the chain and you have a setup that rarely hard-stops: free tiers absorb the volume, and the paid path only sees traffic on the days you exceed everything else.

What to avoid

Sites offering "free Claude API keys". These are either proxying your prompts through someone else's infrastructure or reselling stolen credentials. Your conversations are the product.

Bulk free accounts on one provider. Providers detect it, and the outcome is a verification gate or a ban on all of them rather than more quota.

Assuming free means unlimited. Every route above has a ceiling. Knowing where it is beats discovering it mid-task.

Common questions

Does Anthropic offer a free API tier?

No. Claude models are available without a per-token bill, but through other vendors that serve them in their own plans -- Kiro's and Antigravity's free plans, or credits in a Copilot or Cursor plan -- not from Anthropic directly.

Are "free Claude API key" sites safe?

No. They are either proxying your prompts through someone else's infrastructure or reselling stolen credentials. Your conversations are the product.

Is free access actually unlimited?

No. Every route has a ceiling, and free plans usually count credits or requests rather than tokens -- which an agent spends quickly even on small edits. Kiro's free plan is 50 credits a month; Antigravity's free plan has weekly limits.

Can I create several free accounts for more quota?

Providers detect it, and the outcome is normally a verification gate or a ban across all of them rather than more quota. Stacking different providers works; stacking accounts on one provider does not.

Is this suitable for production?

No. Free tiers carry no SLA and model availability shifts without notice. For anything customer-facing, pay for the direct API.

Related

• Using Claude Code without paying $200/month
• Kiro vs Claude: which is cheaper
• Providers that serve Claude models
• Free AI coding assistant: what is actually free