SiliconFlow

Chinese open models with a permanently free tier, distills included.

SiliconFlow hosts Chinese open weights. The China console registers with SMS to a mainland number; identity verification then unlocks a small standing free set. DeepSeek-R1 and DeepSeek-V3 on this host are paid. Caps are per model, shown in the console, not a global 30 RPM.

OpenAI-compatible at api.siliconflow.cn/v1, 131K of context. A Chinese platform; expect the console in that language. Fine if the specific free weights are what you want.

Free models: 3
Max context: 131K
Free tier: Per-model caps after KYC
Requirement: Phone verification, no card

Endpoint

Base URLhttps://api.siliconflow.cn/v1

Env varSILICONFLOW_API_KEY

Rate limitPer-model caps after identity verification

OpenAI-compatible
text

Code examples

npm install openai

import OpenAI from 'openai'

const client = new OpenAI({
  baseURL: 'https://api.siliconflow.cn/v1',
  apiKey: process.env.SILICONFLOW_API_KEY
})

const response = await client.chat.completions.create({
  model: 'Qwen/Qwen3-8B',
  messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Explain closures in one paragraph.' }]
})

console.log(response.choices[0].message.content)

pip install openai

import os
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://api.siliconflow.cn/v1",
    api_key=os.environ["SILICONFLOW_API_KEY"],
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="Qwen/Qwen3-8B",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Explain closures in one paragraph."}],
)

print(response.choices[0].message.content)

curl https://api.siliconflow.cn/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SILICONFLOW_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "model": "Qwen/Qwen3-8B",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Explain closures in one paragraph."}]
  }'

Worth knowing

The China console (siliconflow.cn) registers with an SMS to a mainland number. Identity verification unlocks the standing free set.
DeepSeek-R1 and DeepSeek-V3 on SiliconFlow are paid. The standing free set is smaller open weights after KYC.

Models you get for free3

Qwen 3 8BQwen/Qwen3-8B
Qwen 2.5 7BQwen/Qwen2.5-7B-Instruct
GLM 4 9BTHUDM/glm-4-9b-chat