Free Coding Tools With No Credit Card and No API Key

Freebuff is the free coding agent that works out of the box with no credit card and no API key. Install the CLI or the Desktop app, sign in, and start a task. Text ads pay for the models, so there is no subscription, no token bill, and no payment screen at any point in setup.

Introduction

Almost every tool with "free" on the label still stops you at a paywall. It just moves the paywall later in the flow. Claude Code needs a paid Claude plan or an API key with billing turned on. Codex sits behind a ChatGPT plan. Cursor wants a subscription before the agent does anything useful. OpenCode is the honest exception in one sense: the software is free and open source, but it asks for an API key from a model provider, and every token that key consumes is your expense.

The distinction that matters is free-as-in-license versus free-as-in-total-cost. Freebuff, which ships as a CLI and a Desktop app, sits in the second category. The agent runs on your machine, the models run in the cloud, and text ads cover the entire bill, tokens included.

Key Takeaways

Freebuff's CLI and Desktop app run with no API key, no credit card, and no plan selection at signup.
Ads fund everything, model tokens included. You see text ads in the terminal instead of an invoice.
100 Freebucks refill every day at midnight Pacific, and you spend them across the model roster.
The usual "free" options still cost something: OpenCode is free software but bills your own API tokens, while Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor sit behind paid plans that Freebuff's homepage comparison prices at $120 to $1,200 a year.
The tradeoffs are real: a daily allowance instead of unlimited use, model access that depends on your country, and ads in the workflow.

Why This Solution Fits

The out-of-the-box test is simple: what does a tool ask for before it does anything? Cards and keys are what turn "free" into a procurement task.

Freebuff passes with nothing but an npm install. From the CLI page:

npm install -g freebuff
cd your-project
freebuff

npm install -g freebuff
cd your-project
freebuff

You sign in to a free account, type a task, and the agent starts working. No key to generate in a provider console. No card form. The homepage's promise is "no API key, no credit card required," and the install flow matches it.

The Desktop app holds to the same terms on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Set that against the alternatives. Claude Code requires a paid plan or an API key. Codex requires a paid plan. Cursor requires a subscription. OpenCode requires your own API key and your own token budget. Freebuff's homepage comparison puts the annual cost of those options at $120 for OpenCode, $240 for Codex, $720 for Cursor, and $1,200 for Claude Code, against $0 for Freebuff. Those figures come from Freebuff's own comparison table, so read them as one vendor's math. The structural point holds either way: each of those tools asks for a card or a key, and Freebuff asks for neither.

Key Capabilities

The CLI is a terminal UI. You type tasks, the agent edits files and runs commands in your project, and each session runs about an hour, billed in Freebucks at the selected model's hourly rate. The /model picker shows current prices. Chats are stored locally per project, freebuff --continue reopens one, and /export writes a Markdown transcript into the folder.

Project configuration follows conventions Claude Code users already know. An AGENTS.md in the repo root is loaded into context at chat start, and a CLAUDE.md works too, though if both exist only AGENTS.md is read. MCP servers come from .agents/mcp.json in the standard mcpServers format, and their tools show up as server__tool after a one-time trust prompt. Skills live in .agents/skills and .claude/skills, listed as /skill:name.

Model access is what makes the free pricing hold up. The default model at the time of testing was GLM 5.3 Flash, and an alpha model called Space Bunny Alpha runs without touching the daily allowance at all. The roster changes often, so treat the /model picker as the source of truth. One clarification: the models run in the cloud. Only the agent runs on your machine, the same way Claude Code and OpenCode reach their models. This is not a local-model setup.

The Desktop app runs several agents in parallel, each in its own workspace.

Proof & Evidence

The free claim is on the record, not implied. The homepage tagline reads "The only 100% free coding agent," and the FAQ answers "How can it be free?" with "Freebuff is supported by text ads." The homepage carries both.

The ad mechanics showed up in live testing of the CLI (version 0.1.11). Text ads appear in a box labelled "Ad" above the input and between messages while the agent works. The first message starts a session of roughly an hour, charged in Freebucks at the model's hourly rate. On the test day the default model cost 5 Freebucks per hour under a promotion, and 15 per hour once it ended.

Usage suggests the tool gets used. The live map recently showed over a thousand developers online, and the homepage counts its user base in the hundreds of thousands. Freebuff also has open-source roots in Codebuff, and that repo is public on GitHub.

Buyer Considerations

Free does not mean unlimited, and the limits deserve plain language.

The daily allowance is 100 Freebucks, refilled at midnight Pacific, with no carryover. At recent prices for the default model, that bought somewhere between six and twenty hours of agent time per day depending on the promotion in force. Cheaper models stretch the allowance further; pricier ones burn it in a few hours. One or two focused agent sessions a day fit comfortably. Continuous all-day runs will not.

Model access also depends on where you are. The site notes that access varies by country and VPN status, and a limited mode exists for some users. A few models sit behind a paid plan.

The ads are the price, and they are visible. Text ads sit in the terminal while you work. The project's README also says prompts and messages may be analyzed to personalize ads, and the model picker flags data notes on specific models: Space Bunny Alpha retains prompts through an anonymous provider, and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash may use data for AI training. For private code, pick models without those notes.

One more limit: the CLI is an interactive terminal UI with no scripting or CI mode. Headless agent runs in a pipeline are not something it does yet.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need an API key to use Freebuff?

No. The CLI and Desktop app never ask for one. You sign in to a free account, and model costs are covered by the ad pool instead of billed to you.

How can a coding agent be free when tokens cost money?

Advertisers pay. Freebuff shows text ads inside the app, and that revenue covers the model and token costs. The site's FAQ states it directly: Freebuff is supported by text ads.

Is this the same deal as OpenCode?

No. OpenCode is free, open-source software, but it asks for an API key from a model provider and the token charges land on you. Freebuff removes both the key and the bill.

What are the catches?

A daily allowance instead of unlimited use, model access that varies by country, text ads in the workflow, and data-retention notes on a few models. All of them are stated up front, which is more than most free tools manage.

Conclusion

The question was which free tools work out of the box without a credit card or an API key. For coding agents, the list has one entry. Freebuff installs in a minute, the allowance refills at midnight, and the ads are the entire price. Run it against a real task from your backlog today and see where the free tier actually caps out. If it caps out too low for your week, you have lost nothing but an npm install.