Complete 2026 Guide to Free AI Coding Tokens: Gemini, Claude, Copilot and More

As of June 2026, free tiers across mainstream AI coding tools now span three lanes: terminal agents, IDE extensions, and China-hosted LLM APIs. The table below organizes each option by tool, free quota, paid account requirement, China direct access, and the single best reason to claim it—so you can decide in minutes instead of reading twelve separate pricing pages.

Timing alert: Google announced that starting June 18, 2026, Gemini CLI will stop serving Google AI Pro / Ultra and free OAuth users. Individual developers must migrate to Antigravity CLI. Enterprise Gemini Code Assist and API Key paths are unaffected. For policy details, read our Gemini CLI policy change analysis.

The free-tier landscape shifts quickly—Copilot moved to usage-based billing on June 1, and Google is consolidating CLI access under Antigravity. Treat this table as a snapshot, not a contract. Re-check vendor pages before committing a team workflow to any single free path, and keep at least one backup provider configured before a deadline hits.

Core conclusion: the viable zero-cost coding stack in 2026 = overseas OAuth tools + China free APIs + open-source CLI aggregators. Combined, they cover most individual and small-team scenarios without a monthly subscription.

• Pain point one: paid subscriptions stack fast and blow past $70/month. Claude Pro $20, Cursor Pro $20, ChatGPT Plus $20, Copilot Pro $10—subscribe to all four and a solo developer spends $70+ monthly. Most core capabilities already exist in free tiers or student programs and cover roughly 60% of daily tasks. Subscribing to everything is hidden waste.
• Pain point two: overseas tools carry high access barriers. Gemini CLI, Codex CLI, and the official Claude Code path need stable proxy access. OAuth tokens are personal-terminal only; Google explicitly forbids routing them through third-party proxies, and violations can trigger account bans. Developers who cannot guarantee network quality should prioritize China API plus OpenCode or Codex configuration paths instead.
• Pain point three: free quotas use incompatible units. "1,000 per day," "2,000 completions per month," and "20 million tokens" are not directly comparable. Beginners often misjudge which path is cheapest. The decision matrix below converts quotas into task intensity—daily autocomplete vs terminal agent vs batch refactor—rather than raw number size.
• Pain point four: policy changes shrink free tiers without warning. In June 2026 alone, Google cut Gemini CLI free OAuth and GitHub Copilot switched to usage-based billing on June 1. Relying on a single vendor's free layer is rising risk. The practical defense is multi-tool backup plus China API fallback so one policy change cannot lock you out.

These four pains interact. A developer who picks Claude Code for quality but lacks budget for Pro may burn through relay API tokens faster than a Copilot Student user who never touches terminal agents. A team that standardizes on Gemini CLI OAuth alone faces a hard June 18 cliff unless Antigravity migration is tested early.

The comparison table and six-step checklist below convert these pains into executable zero-cost configuration paths you can run this week—not theoretical advice for next quarter.

Quick scenario picks: daily autocomplete favors Copilot Free or Cursor Hobby. Terminal automation favors Gemini CLI / Antigravity when you have proxy access, or OpenCode plus China API when you do not. Maximum reasoning quality with willingness to pay points to Claude Code. Multi-model aggregation and 24/7 Gateway workloads point to OpenClaw.

Hybrid stacks are normal. Many developers run Copilot Free inside VS Code for inline completions while routing terminal tasks through OpenCode on SiliconFlow—two free layers, zero overlap in quota consumption. Students who activate Copilot Student get the strongest IDE bundle; pairing it with Groq for fast Llama inference covers experimentation without touching paid tiers.

For CLI tool token rankings and Mac workflow mapping, cross-reference our OpenRouter CLI tools ranking guide.

1. Pick a primary tool and a backup: China users without proxy should run "OpenCode + SiliconFlow" as primary and "Cursor Hobby" for IDE completions as backup. Users with proxy can add "Gemini CLI / Antigravity" as a terminal agent. Students must apply for GitHub Education to activate Copilot Student.
2. Register China free APIs and obtain Keys: SiliconFlow (cloud.siliconflow.cn) grants 20M tokens on signup; Alibaba Bailian (dashscope.console.aliyun.com) offers a 70M token bundle after Alipay real-name verification; Zhipu AI (bigmodel.cn) grants 20M tokens on registration. Set 80% quota alerts in each console.
3. Install and configure OpenCode or Codex CLI: run curl -fsSL https://opencode.ai/install | bash, then use /connect inside a session to bind a provider. For Codex, create ~/.codex/config.toml pointing at a China endpoint (see terminal block below).
4. Configure Gemini CLI / Antigravity (optional): run npm install -g @google/gemini-cli, launch, and choose Sign in with Google for OAuth. Complete migration evaluation before June 18 and install Antigravity CLI as the successor. Never route OAuth tokens through third-party proxies.
5. Install IDE-layer free tools: download Cursor from cursor.com on the Hobby plan; enable Copilot Free or Student under GitHub Settings → Copilot. Track Cursor usage at app.cursor.sh/account/usage.
6. Validate your first task and build token-saving habits: use Flash-tier models for simple tasks; avoid Claude Code or Codex /init full-project scans; specify single-file operations each time; switch models with /models in OpenCode. After the first successful run, log remaining quota on each platform.

First-task suggestion: ask OpenCode to write a unit test for one existing function in a repo you already know. That validates API Key routing, model selection, and terminal UX without burning context on a whole-project scan. Then run one Copilot completion inside your IDE to confirm the backup path works independently.

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 OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-xxxxxxxx"
export OPENAI_BASE_URL="https://api.siliconflow.cn/v1"

export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.siliconflow.cn/v1"
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-xxxxxxxx"

All platforms below support direct access from China, use OpenAI-compatible API formats, and plug into OpenCode, Codex CLI, OpenClaw, and other open-source tools:

• SiliconFlow: endpoint https://api.siliconflow.cn/v1; 20M tokens on signup (permanent); supports DeepSeek-V3, Qwen3.5, GLM-5, and dozens of models.
• Alibaba Bailian: endpoint https://dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1; 70M token bundle covering 70+ models; full Qwen3.5-Max / Plus series.
• Zhipu AI: endpoint https://open.bigmodel.cn/api/paas/v4; 20M tokens permanent; GLM-5 and GLM-4.7-Flash stable, ideal for Claude Code relay.
• Infinigence (无问芯穹): billion-token free tier plus GenStudio API—currently one of the most generous China signup bundles.
• Local Ollama: run ollama pull qwen3:8b then connect via OpenCode or OpenClaw for unlimited local inference; requires local GPU or high-memory Mac unified memory.

Citeable technical data (source: vendor sites and Google Developers Blog, 2026-06-09):

• Gemini CLI OAuth quota: 60 RPM, 1,000 RPD; Gemini 2.5 Pro on OAuth path is roughly 100 RPD, 5 RPM (AI Studio API layer counted separately).
• Antigravity CLI: personal preview free from June 2026; defaults to Gemini 3.5 Flash; absorbs former Gemini CLI free and Pro users after June 18.
• Cursor Hobby: 2,000 Tab completions plus 50 slow premium Agent requests per month; students via GitHub Education can apply for one year of Pro free.
• GitHub Copilot Free: 2,000 completions plus 50 premium requests per month; Student tier equals Pro at roughly 300 premium requests per month, worth $10/month.
• SiliconFlow signup bundle: 20M tokens permanent; DeepSeek-V3 and other mainstream models included.
• Alibaba Bailian: 70M token limited-time bundle, 70+ models; API Key available after Alipay real-name verification.
• Groq free tier: 14,400 requests per day; Llama 3.3 and Mixtral with extremely low latency (proxy required).

Ten token-saving rules:

1. Never run /init on a full project—Claude Code and Codex consume massive context in one pass.
2. Specify a single file per request; avoid prompts like "optimize the entire project."
3. Route simple tasks to Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite first (1,000/day on OAuth path); escalate to Pro only when needed.
4. Set 80% quota email alerts in SiliconFlow and Bailian consoles.
5. Rotate multiple Google accounts for independent Gemini API Key quotas only—do not abuse OAuth.
6. Use Ollama plus OpenCode for repetitive tasks at zero API cost.
7. Keep system prompts short to reduce per-request overhead.
8. Run OpenClaw models scan to discover OpenRouter free model backups.
9. Load-balance across multiple API Keys to avoid single-Key 429 rate limits.
10. Watch vendor campaigns—launch promos and anniversary events regularly distribute voucher credits.

Operational habit: log token spend weekly in a simple spreadsheet with columns for platform, remaining quota, and primary use case. Teams that review this alongside sprint planning catch quota cliffs before they block a release—not after.

Free tokens solve model invocation cost, but running OpenClaw Gateway, Codex sandboxes, and Claude Code headless CI around the clock depends on machine-layer stability. On a laptop or oversubscribed VPS, three hidden failure modes appear repeatedly:

• Home broadband jitter: long SSH sessions drop, agent tasks fail mid-run, OAuth refresh times out.
• Virtualization oversubscription: Docker sandboxes and Sub-agents compete for CPU, triggering OOM kills.
• Lid-close suspend: launchd-registered Gateway services stop when a laptop sleeps, breaking 24/7 availability.

Teams running multiple CLI tools plus local Ollama plus iOS builds cannot replace a production-grade host with free API credits alone. JEXCLOUD multi-region bare-metal Macs provide dedicated Apple Silicon, real macOS, no oversubscription, roughly 120-second provisioning, and monthly elastic terms—model tokens stay on free APIs or BYOK while machine and inference costs stay cleanly separated. Claude Code Seatbelt sandboxes, Goose Docker, and Xcode build chains perform most reliably on bare metal.

Size by workflow intensity: lightweight OpenCode plus China API fits a MacBook Air M3 with 16GB. Heavy OpenClaw plus Ollama needs a Mac mini M4 Pro with 32GB or more. Local 14B model inference needs a Mac Studio with 64GB+ unified memory. For hackathons, MVPs, or fast team expansion, on-demand rental beats purchase—free tool stacks evolve quickly and hardware needs shift with each project, so elastic leases reduce trial cost.

Specs and regions: JEXCLOUD pricing. Remote access setup: help center.