Best free OpenRouter model for agents today

Ranking

How the ranking is decided

• Free text models only Start with OpenRouter models that are free to use, return text, are not expired, and have at least an 8k context window.
• Metadata pass Score the eligible pool for tool calling, structured outputs, reasoning support, context length, output size, and recency.
• Optional backend probe If you want the backend to run a tiny daily health check, add your own OpenRouter API key as a Cloudflare Worker secret. Without that secret, the ranking stays metadata-only.
• Pick one stable default Health and reliability weigh more than raw specs, so the page favors the free model that is most likely to work for general coding and agent tasks today.
• Keep a backup route If the top pick stops working, openrouter/free stays on the page as the fallback router so you can keep calling OpenRouter directly.

Total score = metadata score plus the optional backend probe. Metadata adds capabilities, context, output size, recency, and free-label confidence; the probe adds health and latency.

The recommendation is a practical heuristic for general developer usage, not a benchmark claim.

Privacy

Your app talks to OpenRouter directly

shir-man.com does not proxy your prompts, collect your API key, or handle your completions.

Create your own OpenRouter API key, store it as OPENROUTER_API_KEY, and use the base URL shown above.

If the recommended model stops working, switch the model ID to openrouter/free. OpenRouter will route the request to any compatible free model it has available.