Groq Free plan: fast open-model API with no card
GroqFree API access to gpt-oss-120b and more
- Cost
- Free plan. Groq only asks for a payment method when you upgrade to the Developer tier.
- How long
- Ongoing. Limits are per minute and per day.
- Last verified
- Nov 12, 2026 · console.groq.com
What you get
- Free-plan API access to Groq-hosted open models, including openai/gpt-oss-120b, openai/gpt-oss-20b, qwen/qwen3.8-27b and whisper-large-v3.
- For gpt-oss-120b the Free plan limits are 30 requests/minute, 1K requests/day, 8K tokens/minute and 200K tokens/day.
- Speech-to-text on the Free plan: whisper-large-v3 gets 20 requests/minute, 2K requests/day and 7.2K audio seconds per hour.
Limits
- Each model has its own per-minute and per-day caps (RPM, RPD, TPM, TPD). You hit whichever comes first.
- Limits apply at the organization level and may change. Groq's docs list higher limits only on the Developer plan.
- Over a limit the API returns a 429 error until it resets.
Who qualifies
- A Groq account (GroqCloud console).
- The billing FAQ says upgrading from Free to Developer is when you provide a payment method, so the Free plan itself doesn't need one. The docs don't say whether sign-up asks for a phone number.
Claim it with an AI agent
A browser or computer-use AI agent, for example Grok Bot or Meta's Muse, can do most of the clicking and setup. You keep the steps tied to your identity, money and legal consent.
The agent can do
- Open Groq's rate-limit page and show the current Free plan numbers for the model you want.
- After you create the API key, write the OpenAI-compatible code to call the model and add retry handling for 429 errors.
- Track your usage against the daily caps.
You do yourself
- Create the Groq account and sign in yourself.
- Create and store the API key yourself. Never paste keys into chats.
- Enter a payment method yourself only if you choose to upgrade to the Developer tier.
Example prompt: "Open the official Groq page (console.groq.com) and check that this offer still matches what it says there. Once I've signed in, set it up for me. Stop and hand control back to me at any sign-in, phone or ID check, card field, captcha or terms acceptance."
Use one organization and its limits. Don't create extra accounts to get around the caps.
Sources
Checked Nov 12, 2026 on the official pages above. Offers change, and the official page always wins. All deals