Frequently asked questions

A controlled AI marketplace. One account, one wallet, one OpenAI-compatible endpoint that routes to every enabled provider and model. FreeTheAI owns routing, billing, listing review, and payouts.

No. You create FreeTheAI API keys and spend from a single wallet. The platform dispatches your request to the route you picked and bills the listed price.

Every listing shows the price you actually pay, set at review time. Sellers propose pricing; FreeTheAI reviews and controls what is published.

Free routes require a daily check-in with a verification challenge. Limits are server-owned and shown only when they are actively enforced.

Eligible account benefits are applied only after the related trust or contribution signal is verified and enforced by the server.

It is validated against the upstream provider, encrypted at rest, and added to the shared free pool. Donated keys are never displayed, never attributed publicly, and can be revoked by you at any time from the donate page.

You deposit into your FreeTheAI wallet and usage debits it per request at the listed pricing. Balances, limits, and transactions are visible in the dashboard wallet.

A failed request releases its wallet hold automatically. Buyers do not submit refund requests. Owner-verified usage corrections can reverse an incorrectly settled request.

Yes. Apply from the dashboard: you provide your endpoint base URL and API key, pick endpoint types, and propose pricing. After review, the platform routes buyer traffic through your endpoint and you earn per call, minus the platform fee.

No. Buyers see a platform-assigned seller label. Your upstream host, API key, and contact details stay private; the platform proxies all traffic.

Earnings become payable after the seven-day hold window. You request a payout from the seller console, then FreeTheAI sends it manually and records the transaction hash.

Use the base URL https://api.freetheai.org/v1 and an API key from Dashboard > API keys. Apps that ask for the full URL, like JanitorAI, need https://api.freetheai.org/v1/chat/completions. Copy model IDs exactly as they appear on the Models page. Step-by-step guides for 24 apps are at freetheai.org/setup.

Raise your app's max tokens (response length), or set it to 0 to use the model's full output length, and turn on streaming. Some models think before they answer, so long chats can take a while; if your app gives up waiting, retry or pick a faster model.

On the API connection screen, set Prompt Post-Processing to "Semi-strict" and try again. Some models need at least one message from you in every request, and that setting makes sure there is one.

Free models unlock after a quick daily check-in at freetheai.org/checkin. Your dashboard shows when the next check-in opens. Daily free requests reset at 00:00 UTC.

Free models can get busy at peak times. Wait a minute and retry, or switch to another model. Requests turned away because a model was busy do not count toward your daily free requests.

Usually not. Some models have a content filter that can block a message or its reply. Retry, rephrase a little, or switch to another model.

Use an address from a major provider such as Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook. Some privacy-focused and temporary email services are not accepted. Verify your email from the link we send before using the API.

Open an appeal from Dashboard > Support and choose the appeal category. Staff review every appeal in order and you get a notification with the result.

Your signup email, a screenshot of the error, a screenshot of your app's connection settings with the API key hidden, the error ID if there is one, and roughly when it happened. That lets us find the problem without back and forth.