AI Provider Capacity: What Runs Free Today & How to Reach 100%
GigTry runs at full user-facing capacity on a zero-cost chain: text generation now LEADS with Groq (free reserved tier, connected) and falls back to two independent keyless providers, images are unlimited keyless, and search-engine submission is fully automated. Adding further free-tier API keys — Gemini, Cerebras, Together — inserts more reserved capacity in front of the keyless fallback. Check live readiness any time at /api/providers/capacity.
The generation chain is built so that no single provider outage can block a user. Requests start at the fastest reserved provider and fall back automatically through free keyless strategies. This page explains what is live right now, what each upgrade adds, and how to add it — without touching code.
How the zero-cost chain works
Reserved text tier — ACTIVE (Groq)
GROQ_API_KEY is connected: text generation leads with Groq free-tier gpt-oss-120b on dedicated LPU hardware, and the tier self-heals when Groq rotates its model catalog by discovering the account's current chat models automatically (llama-3.3/3.1 were retired by Groq in 2026 — the cascade survived without code changes). Rate limits are respected by design — if Groq returns 429, the request fails fast to the keyless tier instead of hammering the API, keeping the key in good standing.
Keyless text tier (always active)
Two independent free strategies back the reserved tier: the Pollinations GET endpoint and the OpenAI-compatible POST endpoint (openai-fast). If Groq is rate-limited or down, these take over automatically — text generation keeps working with zero keys and zero cost.
Keyless open-data integrations
Beyond text and images, GigTry uses keyless open-data APIs where they add verifiable value: Wikidata (CC0) population facts enrich all 4,450 city-tool pages — fetched at data-refresh time by scripts/fetch-city-facts.mjs (zero runtime API calls, zero cost); IRS SOI ZIP-code income data (public domain) powers the /markets client-potential rankings and the zip hotspots on US city pages, also embedded at build time; ECB reference rates via Frankfurter (keyless) serve live currency conversion at /api/fx with a 12-hour edge cache; and IndexNow notifies Bing/Yandex/Seznam of new URLs automatically. Every integration follows the provider's terms of service and rate limits — including attribution licenses such as simplemaps, credited on /markets.
Free-tier key tier
Any free-tier API key you add (Groq, Gemini, Cerebras, Together, OpenRouter, Cohere) slots in between the keyless tier and paid providers. Keys added in the admin AI-keys console or as environment variables are picked up automatically on the next request.
Paid tier (last resort)
OpenAI GPT-4o-mini and Claude Haiku sit at the end of the chain. They are only reached if every free option fails, and they can be left unconfigured entirely.
Check live capacity in one tap
Open /api/providers/capacity — it probes the keyless text and image endpoints in real time, shows which optional keys are present, lists the exact env vars that raise capacity, and links each provider's free-tier signup page. No secrets are ever returned, only readiness.
| Capability | Runs keyless today | What an optional key adds |
|---|---|---|
| Text generation | Yes — Groq (reserved, connected) + dual keyless strategies with auto-failover | More reserved redundancy: Gemini, Cerebras or Together keys layer extra capacity in front of the keyless tier |
| Image generation | Yes — unlimited anonymous generation with seed rotation | Licensed stock-photo search (Pixabay/Pexels/Unsplash, all free) |
| Voiceover / audio | Server TTS with browser Web Speech fallback | Reserved server-side TTS via the same ZAI key |
| Video generation | Best-effort (heaviest capability) | Reserved video capacity via the same ZAI key |
| Search submission | Yes — Google ping, robots.txt directive, IndexNow (Bing/Yandex/Seznam), all automated daily | Search Console API reads (service account) and Bing URL-submission quota (free key) |
| Env var | Provider | Free tier | Signup |
|---|---|---|---|
| GROQ_API_KEY | Groq | CONNECTED — free tier, gpt-oss-120b with auto-discovery of current models, fastest inference | console.groq.com/keys |
| GEMINI_API_KEY (also accepts GOOGLE_AI_API_KEY / GOOGLE_GEMINI_API_KEY / GOOGLE_GENERATIVE_AI_API_KEY / GOOGLE_API_KEY) | Google AI Studio | Free tier — chain: gemini-2.5-flash → 2.5-flash-lite → 2.0-flash, with retire-detection + model-list self-heal | aistudio.google.com/app/apikey |
| CEREBRAS_API_KEY | Cerebras | Free tier, llama-3.3-70b | cloud.cerebras.ai |
| OPENROUTER_API_KEY | OpenRouter | Free models pool | openrouter.ai/keys |
| TOGETHER_API_KEY | Together AI | Free starter credits | api.together.xyz |
| COHERE_API_KEY | Cohere | Free trial keys | dashboard.cohere.com/api-keys |
| GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL + GOOGLE_PRIVATE_KEY | Search Console API | Free service account | search.google.com/search-console |
| BING_WEBMASTER_API_KEY | Bing Webmaster API | Free with Microsoft account | bing.com/webmasters |
| GOOGLE_PAGESPEED_API_KEY | PageSpeed Insights API | 25k queries/day free | console.cloud.google.com |
| PIXABAY_API_KEY / PEXELS_API_KEY / UNSPLASH_ACCESS_KEY | Stock media | All free | pixabay.com/api/docs/ |
| CENSUS_API_KEY | US Census Bureau Data API | Free — 500 queries/day without one, key required since the Oct-2026 policy change | api.census.gov/data/key_signup.html |
| RESEND_API_KEY | Resend (bulk email — NOT YET SET) | 3,000 emails/month free — REST API tier leads the sending chain; the env var currently holds an EMPTY placeholder, so sends log-fallback. Paste a real key and the provider rows sync automatically; domain verification (SPF/DKIM DNS) is the remaining operator step for production deliverability | resend.com |
| TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN + TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID | Telegram (social autoposting — free channel) | The ONLY major posting channel with no developer review: create a bot with @BotFather (60 seconds), add the bot to your channel as admin, set TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID (channel @username or numeric id). Bot API is 100% free; posts flow automatically from the daily content engine | core.telegram.org/bots/api |
| (none — zero-key) | Telegraph + Write.as (R24 autoposting) | Both surfaces need NO credentials at all: Telegraph self-mints an anonymous account on first use and publishes long-form articles with an author backlink to gigtry.com; Write.as posts short teasers anonymously. Guarded by rate caps (Telegraph 2/h, 6/day; Write.as 1/h, 4/day) and 6h circuit breakers. Kill switches: TELEGRAPH_ENABLED=false / WRITEAS_ENABLED=false | telegra.ph/api |
| DEVTO_API_KEY | Dev.to (article republishing) | Free — articles republish from the content queue with canonical URLs pointing at gigtry.com (no SEO duplicate-content penalty) | dev.to/settings/extensions |
| MEDIUM_ACCESS_TOKEN | Medium (article republishing) | Free integration token — same canonical-URL protection as Dev.to | medium.com/me/settings |
| BREVO_API_KEY / SENDGRID_API_KEY / MAILGUN_SMTP_PASSWORD | Alternate email providers | Free tiers (Brevo 300/day, SendGrid 100/day, Mailgun trial) — auto-injected into the SMTP failover rows when a key exists | brevo.com / sendgrid.com / mailgun.com |
Adding a key (two ways, both zero-downtime)
Environment variables
Add the variable in Vercel → Settings → Environment Variables, then redeploy or wait for the next deployment. The provider chain reads env on cold start and picks the key up automatically.
Admin AI-keys console
Operators can paste keys in the admin AI-keys console — they are stored server-side and loaded by the generation chain on the next request, no redeploy needed.
Verify
Open /api/providers/capacity after adding: the key shows under keysPresent and the summary reflects the new reserved provider. No code changes are ever required.
The site never depends on an upgrade
Upgrades add headroom — reserved capacity, higher limits, richer analytics. Every user-facing flow works end-to-end with zero keys: generation, images, posting pipeline, SEO automation. That is what makes the zero-cost architecture safe to run.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to add any API keys to use GigTry?
No. Text and image generation run on a keyless free tier with automatic failover between independent providers, and search-engine submission is fully automated. Keys only add reserved capacity and higher rate limits — they are optional upgrades, not requirements.
What single upgrade gives the most capacity next?
A free Google Gemini key (GEMINI_API_KEY — any of the documented alias names work) — gemini-2.5-flash adds a second reserved text provider and deepens the Google integration family (same console manages Search Console and YouTube). Groq is already connected; Cerebras and Together are the next-best text redundancies.
How do I check what is live right now?
Open /api/providers/capacity. It shows real-time probe results for the keyless text and image endpoints, the active fallback chain, which optional keys are present, and the exact signup links for each upgrade.
What happens if a free provider goes down?
The chain fails over automatically: Groq (reserved) hands off to the keyless GET endpoint, then the keyless POST endpoint, and finally to paid providers if configured. A single provider outage is invisible to users — generation retries happen server-side within the same request.
Is anything sent to paid APIs without my knowledge?
No. Paid providers are only configured when you explicitly add their keys, and they sit last in the chain. With no paid keys configured (the default), every request stays on free infrastructure.
Related guides
What Is GigTry? Complete Platform Overview
GigTry is an all-in-one AI platform: 97 tools for writing, images, video, SEO and code, plus social auto-posting, a public API and a freelancer marketplace.
Getting Started with GigTry: Your First Generation in 2 Minutes
Step-by-step guide: create your free account, pick a tool, run your first AI generation, and understand credits — most users finish their first output in under two minutes.
The 10-Minute Setup Checklist: From Sign-Up to First Published Post
A complete self-service checklist: create your account, run your first tool, understand credits, schedule your first post and connect the API — no support contact needed.
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