Pollinations AI Free API Verified: Image Truly Keyless, Text Free Only When Anonymous

Verified 2026-08-31 00:35 CST (UTC+8) · 3 curls reproducible · Fixed "any string works" error

Pollinations AI offers image and text generation, but "keyless" means different things for the two endpoints. Every claim below is from live requests.

TL;DR Verified Result

Endpoint	Truly Keyless?	Correct Way	Wrong Way	Live Result
Image GET `https://image.pollinations.ai/prompt/{prompt}`	✅ Yes	GET with no `Authorization` header	—	`200` `31KB JPEG` `512x512`
Text POST `https://text.pollinations.ai/openai`	⚠️ Anonymous only	POST without `Authorization`	With `Authorization: Bearer not-needed` / any string	Anonymous `200 gpt-oss-20b`; with key `402 PAYMENT_REQUIRED`

Critical pitfall: Any Authorization on text triggers 402 API key budget too low ... costs ~0.0001 pollen, but this key has 0.0000 with note legacy text API is being deprecated for authenticated users. Anonymous requests are NOT affected. Please migrate to https://enter.pollinations.ai. For free text, do NOT send Authorization.

Reproducible Verification (3 curls)

Test 1: Image — No Auth Needed

curl -o image.jpg "https://image.pollinations.ai/prompt/A%20beautiful%20sunset%20over%20mountains?width=512&height=512&model=flux&seed=42&enhance=true" -i
# => HTTP/1.1 200 OK
# => Content-Type: image/jpeg
# => ~31KB JPEG 512x512

import requests
r = requests.get("https://image.pollinations.ai/prompt/A%20cute%20cat%20wearing%20spacesuit",
                 params={"width":1024,"height":1024,"model":"flux","seed":42}, timeout=30)
open("cat.jpg","wb").write(r.content)
print(r.status_code, len(r.content), r.headers.get("Content-Type")) # 200 31xxx image/jpeg

Test 2: Text — Anonymous POST = 200

curl -X POST https://text.pollinations.ai/openai \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model":"openai","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Hello!"}],"stream":false}' -i
# => 200 {"model":"gpt-oss-20b","choices":[{"message":{"role":"assistant","content":"Hello!"}}]}

import requests
resp = requests.post("https://text.pollinations.ai/openai", json={
    "model":"openai",
    "messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Explain quantum computing in one sentence"}],
    "stream": False
}, timeout=30)
print(resp.status_code) # 200
print(resp.json()["choices"][0]["message"]["content"])
# Do NOT add Authorization header

Test 3: Text — Dummy Key = 402 (Wrong)

curl -X POST https://text.pollinations.ai/openai \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer not-needed" \
  -d '{"model":"openai","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Hello!"}],"stream":false}' -i
# => 402 Payment Required
# => {"code":"PAYMENT_REQUIRED","message":"API key budget too low... Please go to https://enter.pollinations.ai ... legacy text API is being deprecated for authenticated users. Anonymous requests are NOT affected."}

Previous api_key="not-needed" + OpenAI(base_url="https://text.pollinations.ai/openai") was wrong and removed. SDK only works with https://enter.pollinations.ai/api/v1 + real pk_... pollen key.

Correct vs Wrong Code

✅ Correct (anonymous, free):

import requests
resp = requests.post("https://text.pollinations.ai/openai", json={
    "model":"openai",
    "messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Write a short poem about spring"}]
})

❌ Wrong (402):

import openai
client = openai.OpenAI(base_url="https://text.pollinations.ai/openai", api_key="not-needed")

For SDK, use new domain with balance:

import openai
client = openai.OpenAI(base_url="https://enter.pollinations.ai/api/v1", api_key="pk_xxx")

// Node.js correct (anonymous)
fetch("https://text.pollinations.ai/openai", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
  body: JSON.stringify({ model: "mistral", messages: [{ role:"user", content:"Hello!" }] })
}).then(r=>r.json()).then(console.log);

Free Tier & Models (Verified)

Resource	Free Quota	Notes
Image	Unlimited*	Fair use, verified 200 repeatedly
Text (anonymous)	Unlimited*	Anonymous 200, with key 402
Rate	Generous	Recommend 1-2 req/s
Validity	Permanent	No signup

*Fair use for personal/small-medium traffic.

Image models: flux, turbo, sdxl via ?model=flux. Text models: openai (returns gpt-oss-20b), mistral (32K), llama via {"model":"openai"}. OpenAI Chat Completions compatible.

Comparison (Corrected)

Platform	Free Image	Free Text	Key Required	OpenAI Compat	Verified
Pollinations Image	Unlimited*	—	No	—	GET 200
Pollinations Text Anonymous	—	Unlimited*	No (must be anonymous)	Yes	POST anon 200
Pollinations Text with Key	—	Pollen	Yes	Yes	402 on legacy, migrate
Hugging Face	Rate-limited	Rate-limited	Yes	No	Token required
Together AI	$5 trial	$5 trial	Yes	Yes	Card required

Use Cases & Limits

Good for: Personal prototypes, teaching, bots, frontend-direct image. Not for: Mission-critical SLA, high concurrency.

Tips:

Never send Authorization for free text; buy pollen at enter.pollinations.ai if you need billing.
Cache identical image prompts locally.
Wrap with retry + Apishare fallback for prod.

Conclusion

Pollinations "keyless" is real with a caveat: image unconditional; text only when anonymous — any key triggers 402. Use the 3 verified curls above for zero-cost integration; migrate to enter.pollinations.ai for SDK/billing. Verified and copy-paste ready.

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Pollinations AI Free API Verified: Image Truly Keyless, Text Free Only When Anonymous (Dummy Key Triggers 402)