Updates To Our Free Tier Sustaining Accessible Ai For Everyone
Source
openrouter.ai
Author
OpenRouter
Date
Context
OpenRouter's July 2025 free-tier update explains why free model access depends on more than a model being available. After two providers announced plans to stop offering free inferenceRunning a trained model to get answers — the phase where AI is actually used, as opposed to trained.Full definition →, the platform said it was recruiting replacement providers and would pay some costs itself to preserve popular free options. It also said some less-used models would leave the free tier. The announcement describes a plan to sustain selected free access through partnerships and subsidies, without promising that every existing free model would remain.
Terms in this piece · Glossary
inference — Running a trained model to get answers — the phase where AI is actually used, as opposed to trained.
