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Free Claude API: run Claude Code & Anthropic apps on free models

Anthropic doesn't publish a free Claude API tier, so "a free Claude API key" doesn't exist. What you can do is run Claude Code and any Anthropic-API app against free LLM models by pointing them at freellmpool — a local proxy that implements the Anthropic Messages API (/v1/messages) and routes it to 16 pooled free providers with failover. It's keyless to start (pip install freellmpool), and your tool keeps speaking the Anthropic API unchanged.

Run Claude Code on free models

pip install freellmpool
freellmpool proxy
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=anything   # ignored
claude

Run freellmpool code claude to print this setup. See the full coding-agents guide for Codex, Aider, Cline and more.

Use the Anthropic API from your own code

from anthropic import Anthropic
client = Anthropic(base_url="http://localhost:8080", api_key="anything")
msg = client.messages.create(model="claude-3-5-sonnet-latest", max_tokens=256,
                             messages=[{"role":"user","content":"Hello"}])
# claude-* model names auto-route to a free model

What this is and isn't: you're not getting Anthropic's Claude models for free — they aren't available free. You're running the same Anthropic-API interface on free models from other providers, so Claude Code and Anthropic-SDK apps work without code changes. Quality is bounded by the free-tier models, and the path is experimental (text and tool use; no vision yet).

Why use freellmpool for this

It's the only part you install — one pip, no key to start.
Failover across 16 providers, so a single tier's rate limit doesn't stop you.
The same proxy also serves the OpenAI API, so OpenAI-SDK tools work too.

FAQ

Is there a free Claude API?

Anthropic doesn't offer a free Claude API tier. The practical free path is to run Claude Code and Anthropic-API apps on free models from other providers via freellmpool's Anthropic-compatible proxy — keyless to start, no code changes.

How do I use Claude Code without paying?

Start freellmpool proxy, set ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080 and any ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, then run claude. It runs on pooled free models. The path is experimental (text + tools, no vision).

Will it use real Claude models?

No — real Anthropic Claude models aren't available for free. freellmpool routes the Anthropic API interface to free models from other providers, which is what makes it free.

Part of freellmpool (MIT, free, open source). Updated 2026-06-03.