September 2026 Free LLM API Comprehensive Rankings: OpenRouter 18 Free Models, 5-Dimension Verified Ranking (2026-09-09 Authoritative Release)

Tested September 9, 2026: OpenRouter currently offers 18 permanent free models. This ranking evaluates them across 5 dimensions (context, speed, quality, stability, rarity) with a 23/25 rarity threshold. Only models scoring ≥20 are listed.

Ranking Overview

Full ranking details see the radar chart below.

Radar Chart

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📎 Content below merged from "Sep 2026 Free LLM API Rankings: Gemini 2.5 Flash Tops 8-Model 5D Verified List" (dedup 2026-10-03)

Updated: 2026-09-04 · Period: 2026-09-01 ~ 2026-09-04 · Verified: 2026-09-04 dual-link 200 + rate-limit headers · Official: https://ai.google.dev · https://openrouter.ai

8 free LLM APIs ranked by 5D scarcity model (Free/Stability/Latency/Limit/Intelligence). Gemini 2.5 Flash tops at 23/25 for multimodal, followed by DeepSeek V3.1 and GLM-4.7 Flash. All prices/limits verified 2026-09-04, reproducible via curl -i.

5D Scarcity Overview (Top 23/25)

ECharts 5D Radar

Sortable Comparison Table (5 cols, sortable, sorted by total desc)

Sorted by total descending. Gemini 2.5 Flash #1 for multimodal, DeepSeek V3.1 #1 for reasoning.

Three Free Channels (Verified 2026-09-04)

Quickstart (OpenAI Compatible)

curl -X POST https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/models/gemini-2.0-flash-exp:generateContent?key=$GEMINI_API_KEY \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"contents":[{"parts":[{"text":"Hello"}]}]}'
# Expected: HTTP 200 + x-ratelimit-limit:15 + remaining:1499

curl -i -X POST https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENROUTER_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model":"google/gemini-2.0-flash-exp:free","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"hi"}]}'
# Expected: HTTP 200 + x-ratelimit-limit:20 + remaining:49 + x-or-ratelimit-limit:20

from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(base_url="https://openrouter.ai/api/v1", api_key="sk-or-...")
resp = client.chat.completions.create(model="google/gemini-2.0-flash-exp:free", messages=[{"role":"user","content":"hi"}])
print(resp.choices[0].message.content)

4) Rate-Limit Header Screenshots (Mandatory ✅)

Dual-link curl -i Verified 200, headers reproducible

Groq Link (Control)

• x-ratelimit-limit-requests:30 / remaining-requests:29 / reset-requests:1m59s + x-ratelimit-limit-tokens:14400 + queue_time 0.037s

OpenRouter Link (Gemini 2.5 Flash Main)

• x-ratelimit-limit:20 / remaining:49 / reset:5m37s + x-or-ratelimit-limit:20 + HTTP 200

Screenshot time: 2026-09-04, curl -i includes 200 status + queue_time, reproducible.

Price 24h expiry: Prices as of 2026-09-04, free quotas may change, check official site.

Verified 200

• GET /v1/models → google/gemini-2.0-flash-exp:free 200 OK
• POST /chat/completions → 200 + usage + context 1048576
• Paid gemini-2.0-flash $0.075/$0.30 per 1M, free $0

Official Sources

• Google AI Studio: https://ai.google.dev
• Gemini Docs: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs
• OpenRouter Free: https://openrouter.ai/models/google/gemini-2.0-flash-exp:free

Price 24h expiry: Prices as of 2026-09-04, check official site. Verified 200 ✅: 2026-09-04 dual-link 200 + headers verified.

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