Resources

Official free tiers

Ways to try AI for free, straight from the companies that run them. Free tiers have usage limits that can change. See today's free models and what a free tier usually includes.

• OpenRouter free models

  openrouter.ai

  One account, many models; free variants are marked "(free)". Our daily list is on the Free models page.

  Pro

  Try many models with one account

  Con

  Free variants have rate limits and can be removed

• Google AI Studio

  aistudio.google.com

  Google’s browser workspace for trying Gemini models and getting an API key.

  Pro

  Runs in the browser, nothing to install

  Con

  Needs a Google account; check the terms for how free-tier data is used

• Hugging Face

  huggingface.co

  The largest public library of open models, with model cards and demos (Spaces).

  Pro

  Open models you can download and run yourself

  Con

  Quality varies widely; read each model card and license

• Ollama

  ollama.com

  Free app for running open models on your own computer.

  Pro

  Private: runs offline on your machine

  Con

  Needs a reasonably powerful computer for larger models

• LM Studio

  lmstudio.ai

  Free desktop app with a chat window for local models.

  Pro

  Friendly interface for beginners

  Con

  Same hardware limits as any local model

Free learning resources

Courses from universities and the companies that build the tools. All free to start. Our own plain-language guides are in Learn. Go to Learn.

• Elements of AI

  elementsofai.com

  A free online course for non-experts from the University of Helsinki and MinnaLearn.

• Google Machine Learning Crash Course

  developers.google.com

  Google’s self-paced introduction to machine learning.

• Hugging Face Learn

  huggingface.co

  Free courses on language models, agents and more.

• Practical Deep Learning (fast.ai)

  course.fast.ai

  A free course for people with some coding experience.

• Microsoft AI for Beginners

  github.com

  A free curriculum published by Microsoft on GitHub.

Buying guide

You don't need to buy anything to use AI: the free options above cover most beginners. If you do want more, here's an honest overview. Prices change often, so we link the official pages instead of quoting them.

AI subscriptions

Worth it if you hit the free plan's limits every week. Try the free plan first, set a reminder before renewal, and cancel from the official site.

• ChatGPT plans (OpenAI)

  chatgpt.com

  Free and paid plans for ChatGPT.

  Pro

  Wide feature set in one app

  Con

  Paid tiers renew automatically until cancelled

• Claude plans (Anthropic)

  claude.com

  Free and paid plans for Claude.

  Pro

  Strong at long documents and writing

  Con

  Paid tiers still have usage limits

• Google AI plans

  one.google.com

  Gemini plans bundled with Google One storage.

  Pro

  Bundles storage if you already pay for Google One

  Con

  Bundle may include things you don’t need

Graphics cards and computers for running AI at home

Only needed if you want to run models privately on your own machine. The key spec is memory (VRAM on a graphics card, or unified memory on a Mac): more memory lets you run larger models.

• NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards

  nvidia.com

  The most widely supported GPUs for running AI locally.

  Pro

  Best software support (CUDA) for local AI tools

  Con

  Cards with more video memory (VRAM) cost much more

• AMD Radeon graphics cards

  amd.com

  Alternative GPUs; support in local AI apps is growing.

  Pro

  Often more VRAM for the money

  Con

  Fewer AI tools support them out of the box; check your app first

• Apple Mac computers

  apple.com

  Apple silicon Macs share memory between CPU and GPU.

  Pro

  Large unified memory can fit bigger local models

  Con

  Memory can’t be upgraded after purchase

Where to buy

Buy from the manufacturer or a major retailer. Be wary of marketplace listings with prices far below everyone else's.

• Best Buy

  bestbuy.com

  Major US electronics retailer.