14 tools free tiers · Jun 18 migration window · China APIs no proxy · six-step runbook
If monthly bills for Claude Pro, Cursor Pro, or Copilot are eating your budget but you refuse to downgrade your AI coding stack, the June 2026 free-token landscape is richer than most developers realize: Gemini CLI OAuth delivers 1000 requests per day, SiliconFlow grants 20M tokens on signup, and GitHub Copilot Student is worth $10/month at zero cost. This guide targets indie developers and students. You get a 14-tool free-tier comparison table, five quota traps decoded, overseas CLI plus China no-proxy API combos, a six-step zero-cost runbook, and a decision frame for 24/7 Agent hosting on rented Mac hardware.
In 2026, "free" breaks into three distinct categories: free tools that connect to paid APIs (OpenCode, OpenClaw), vendor-granted API credits (SiliconFlow, Alibaba Bailian), and OAuth quotas bundled with subscriptions (Gemini CLI, Codex CLI). Mixing all three paths is how you drive monthly inference cost toward zero. Free does not mean unlimited—quota traps, silent model downgrades, and sudden policy changes are the hidden costs.
The most urgent deadline is June 18, 2026: Google announced that Gemini CLI's free OAuth path will stop serving personal users, who must migrate to Antigravity CLI. With only days left, if you have not completed OAuth login and practiced /model switching, this is your last window. Read our Gemini CLI policy change analysis for the full timeline.
Quota traps: Gemini API free tier gives Flash 1500 requests per day but Pro only 100. Large-context prompts can hit RPM limits after 4–15 calls—the lived experience diverges sharply from marketing copy.
Silent model downgrades: Free accounts may be routed to Flash-Lite or older models during peak hours with no popup warning. Run /stats model proactively to verify what you are actually hitting.
Policy shift risk: GitHub Copilot switched to usage-based billing on June 1, 2026. Gemini CLI OAuth ends June 18. Free tiers can shrink overnight—always keep a backup API key ready.
Network fragmentation: Gemini CLI and Codex CLI need reliable proxy access from China. SiliconFlow, Bailian, and Zhipu connect directly—a single global config rarely works for every region.
Token black-hole commands: Claude Code and Codex /init scan entire repositories in one shot, burning hundreds of thousands of tokens. On free quotas, avoid these commands entirely.
The real cost of a free tier is not $0—it is how fast you map the quota boundaries. One day ahead of the crowd buys you another month of free inference.
The table below summarizes public free policies as of June 9, 2026. Quotas follow each vendor's latest announcements. Rows marked with a warning flag carry recent change risk.
| Tool / Platform | Free Quota | Paid Account Required | China Direct | Best Free Leverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini CLI (OAuth) | 1000 req/day, 60 RPM | No | Proxy needed | Warning: Jun 18 Antigravity migration |
| Gemini API (AI Studio) | Flash 1500 req/day | No | Proxy needed | Pro 100 req/day |
| Codex CLI | ChatGPT free OAuth (limited) | No | Proxy needed | Can use China API fallback |
| OpenCode | Tool free, pay per API | No | With China API | 146K stars, 75+ providers |
| OpenClaw | Tool free, multi-provider | No | With China API | Reuses Gemini OAuth |
| GitHub Copilot Free | 2000 completions + 50 premium/mo | No | Yes | Zero-cost light use |
| Copilot Student | Full Pro (300 premium/mo) | Student verification | Yes | Worth $10/month |
| Cursor Hobby | 2000 Tab + 50 slow premium/mo | No | Yes | Full VS Code experience |
| SiliconFlow | 20M tokens (permanent) | No | Yes | DeepSeek / Qwen / GLM-5 |
| Alibaba Bailian | 70M tokens (time-limited) | No | Yes | 70+ model coverage |
| Zhipu AI | 20M tokens (permanent) | No | Yes | GLM-5 stable |
| Groq | 14400 req/day | No | Proxy needed | Fast Llama / Mixtral |
| Your Network | Recommended Stack | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Stable proxy access | Gemini CLI OAuth + Cursor Hobby | $0 |
| China only, no proxy | SiliconFlow API + OpenCode + Copilot Free | $0 |
| Student | Copilot Student + Cursor student Pro + Bailian API | $0 |
| 24/7 Agent daemon | OpenClaw + China API + cloud Mac host | Mac rental |
June 18 countdown: Gemini CLI OAuth free access stops on June 18, 2026. If you rely on 1000 free requests per day, complete OAuth login this weekend, export your usual config, and register Antigravity CLI as a fallback before the cutoff.
This runbook turns the table above into a reproducible personal workflow. Whether or not you have proxy access, following all six steps builds a zero-cost AI coding environment in under 30 minutes.
Register the China API trio: SiliconFlow (cloud.siliconflow.cn), Alibaba Bailian (dashscope.console.aliyun.com), Zhipu AI (bigmodel.cn)—combined signup grants exceed 110M tokens, enough for six months of solo development.
Install OpenCode as your unified shell: curl -fsSL https://opencode.ai/install | bash, then /connect to SiliconFlow or a Gemini API key—one TUI to switch across 75+ models.
Layer Gemini CLI if you have proxy: npm install -g @google/gemini-cli, OAuth sign-in, /model gemini-2.5-flash for routine tasks, Pro for complex refactors. Complete this before June 18.
Configure Codex CLI China fallback: Edit ~/.codex/config.toml, point openai_base_url to SiliconFlow, select deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V3, disable web_search to avoid China timeouts.
Enable IDE free tiers: GitHub → Settings → Copilot → Enable Copilot Free; download Cursor Hobby from cursor.com—combined you get 4000 Tab completions + 100 premium requests per month.
Stack student verification for Copilot Pro: Visit github.com/settings/education/benefits with a .edu email—Copilot Student equals Pro (300 premium requests/month). cursor.com/students offers one year of Cursor Pro free.
openai_base_url = "https://api.siliconflow.cn/v1" model = "deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V3" sandbox_mode = "workspace-write" web_search = "disabled" approval_policy = "on-request"
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.siliconflow.cn/v1" export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-xxxx" claude --model claude-sonnet-4-6
Gemini CLI currently offers the most generous official free CLI quota: OAuth login unlocks 1000 requests per day at 60 RPM with 1M-token context. Install via npm install -g @google/gemini-cli, choose Sign in with Google on first run. Use /stats model to track daily consumption and /model to switch between Flash and Pro. Google explicitly forbids routing OAuth tokens through third-party proxies—violating ToS risks account suspension.
Codex CLI is OpenAI's official Rust terminal Agent with 83K+ GitHub stars and kernel-level sandboxing. Free ChatGPT accounts can OAuth in for a limited window; China-based users get a more stable path by pointing at SiliconFlow API with the config.toml above. OpenCode (146K stars) and OpenClaw are both open-source and free—the former excels at TUI multi-model switching, the latter reuses Gemini CLI OAuth via openclaw models auth login --provider google-gemini-cli.
| Platform | Signup Grant | API Endpoint | Representative Models |
|---|---|---|---|
| SiliconFlow | 20M tokens (permanent) | api.siliconflow.cn/v1 | DeepSeek-V3, Qwen3.5, GLM-5 |
| Alibaba Bailian | 70M tokens (time-limited) | dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1 | Qwen3.5-Max, DeepSeek-V3 |
| Zhipu AI | 20M tokens (permanent) | open.bigmodel.cn/api/paas/v4 | GLM-5, GLM-4.7-Flash |
| Infini-AI | Large free token pool | cloud.infini-ai.com | GenStudio API |
Cursor Hobby delivers 2000 Tab completions and 50 slow premium requests per month with no credit card—full VS Code plugin compatibility included. GitHub Copilot Free adds 2000 completions plus 50 premium requests; student verification unlocks full Pro. Track usage at app.cursor.sh/account/usage and GitHub Settings → Copilot.
Token-saving tactics: Route routine tasks through Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite (1500 req/day), escalate to Pro only for hard problems. Set 80% quota alerts in SiliconFlow and Bailian consoles. Run Ollama locally with qwen3:8b and connect OpenCode or OpenClaw for effectively unlimited local inference.
When writing internal memos or architecture docs, cite these cross-verified data points from public vendor documentation as of June 9, 2026:
Free APIs and OAuth quotas solve model inference cost, but they cannot replace process supervision, lid-closed uptime, Keychain boundaries, or overnight Agent runs. Many developers run OpenClaw or Claude Code overnight on a laptop—closing the lid suspends the process. Linux VPS setups repeatedly hit missing Metal or Xcode dependencies. Sharing one local environment across multiple CLIs means global config conflicts, no API key isolation, and a single runaway Agent draining an entire free quota overnight.
As with our OpenRouter CLI tools ranking and Gemini CLI migration guide: tokens can be free, but host uptime is an OpEx contract. For teams needing 24/7 Agent daemons alongside iOS CI/CD, VpsMesh Mac Mini M4 cloud rental bundles launchd reliability, SSH access, and predictable monthly billing into a single production host. See Mac Mini M4 rental pricing, deployment docs in the help center, or order a cloud Mac directly.
Yes. Sign in with a standard Google account via OAuth for 1000 free requests per day at 60 RPM—no credit card required. Note that the free OAuth path migrates to Antigravity CLI on June 18, 2026; complete login before the deadline. Migration details are in our Gemini CLI policy change analysis.
Use SiliconFlow (20M tokens on signup), Alibaba Bailian (70M tokens), and Zhipu AI (20M tokens) with OpenCode or Codex CLI—no proxy required. Add Cursor Hobby and GitHub Copilot Free at the IDE layer. For 24/7 Agent hosting, rent a Mac Mini M4 cloud node.
Visit github.com/settings/education/benefits, verify with a .edu email or student ID through GitHub Education, and Copilot Student (equivalent to Pro, worth $10/month) activates automatically. Cursor student Pro is at cursor.com/students. To order a cloud Mac, see the order page.
For light use, yes. Cursor Hobby provides 2000 Tab completions and 50 slow premium requests per month—enough to evaluate the product. Heavy development warrants Pro ($20/month) or the student Pro program. Check usage at app.cursor.sh/account/usage. More CLI comparisons in our OpenRouter CLI ranking guide.