// alternatives to

OpenAI Alternatives

OpenAI set the standard for LLMs, but it's not the only option. These providers offer comparable (sometimes better) models, often with generous free tiers, OpenAI-compatible APIs, and open weights.

G

Groq

LLM
96
/ 100

Fastest LLM inference in the world. The free tier is real.

14,400 req/day · 30 req/min · no card✓ no card
OpenAI-compatibleStreamingFunction calling
Get API
OR

OpenRouter

LLM
94
/ 100

One API, 100+ models. Pay-as-you-go with no markup.

50 req/min · 20 req/day free models · no card✓ no card
Multi-modelStreamingVision
Get API
DS

DeepSeek

LLM
93
/ 100

Open-weights frontier model. Industry-low pricing.

5M tokens free · then $0.14/M input · no card✓ no card
Open weightsReasoningCheap
Get API
TG

Together

LLM
91
/ 100

Open-source models at scale. $5 free credits.

$5 credits · no card✓ no card
Open weightsFine-tuningEmbeddings
Get API
M

Mistral AI

LLM
90
/ 100

European frontier models. Open weights + cheap API.

1 req/sec · 500k tokens/month · no card✓ no card
Open weightsCodeVision
Get API
FW

Fireworks AI

LLM
88
/ 100

Blazing fast OSS inference. $1 free credits.

$1 credits · no card✓ no card
Fast inferenceFunction callingOpen weights
Get API
C

Cohere

LLM
85
/ 100

Enterprise-grade LLMs + RAG. 1k req/month free.

1k req/month · 20 req/min · no card✓ no card
RAGEmbeddingsRerank
Get API
G

Google Gemini

LLM
95
/ 100

Gemini Flash free forever. 1M context. 1500 req/day.

1,500 req/day · 1M context · no card✓ no card
Vision1M contextMultimodal
Get API
CB

Cerebras

LLM
93
/ 100

2,000+ tokens/sec on Llama 70B. Free tier available.

30 req/min · 1M tokens/day · no card✓ no card
Fastest inferenceOpenAI-compatibleStreaming
Get API
SN

SambaNova

LLM
89
/ 100

RDU-powered inference. Llama 405B for free.

600 req/min · free · no card✓ no card
Fast inferenceLlama 405BOpenAI-compatible
Get API