Credits - verified
Is the Cerebras API free?
Not as a standing free tier. The Cerebras API gives one-time Free Trial credits after you add a verified payment method. A payment method is required. Trains on your data: No.
Read from inference-docs.cerebras.ai, cerebras.ai. Compare every free LLM API
- Offer
- Credits
- Card required
- Yes
- Trains on data
- No
- Verified
- 2026-10-18
The offer
- Offer class
Credits, not a standing free tier
No permanently free tier. A Free Trial gives one-time promotional credits ($5, expiring 30 days after grant) after adding a verified payment method. Recorded below as credits, not a standing free tier.
“Is there a permanently free tier? No. The Free Trial is time- and credit-bounded: $5 in credits that expire 30 days after they're granted. ... Cerebras doesn't currently offer a no-cost tier that renews automatically or a per-model always-free allowance.”
inference-docs.cerebras.ai - Credits
Amount: $5. Expires 30 days after grant. One-time, not recurring.
- How to get it
Free Trial (credits): sign up at cloud.cerebras.ai and add a verified payment method to receive $5 in promotional credits that expire 30 days after they are granted.
“New accounts receive $5 in free credits after adding a verified payment method. These credits expire 30 days after they're granted and can be used across all public models. There is no charge until you choose to purchase additional credits. If you skip adding a payment method at sign-up, Playground and API access remain inactive until you do.”
inference-docs.cerebras.ai “Add a valid payment method to receive a one-time $5 promotional credit. The credit expires 30 days after activation. You will not be charged or automatically enrolled in paid usage.”
cerebras.ai - Card required
Yes
A verified payment method is required to activate the Free Trial credits and API access.
Free-tier limits
Values are copied exactly as the provider publishes them, units included. Not stated means the public docs give no value.
| Model | RPM | Uncached TPM | Total TPM | TPH | TPD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gpt-oss-120bFree Trial (credits) | 5 | 30K | 90K | 1M | 1M |
| qwen-3.8-27bFree Trial (credits)Image limits: 2 per request, 10 MiB total request payload | 5 | 30K | 90K | 1M | 1M |
Free Trial tab of the 'Limits by Tier' table. Docs: 'Every model in the Shared Inference Model Catalog is available on the Free Trial tier'.
From the limits docs
“| Model | RPM | Uncached TPM | Total TPM | TPH | TPD | | gpt-oss-120b | 5 | 30K | 90K | 1M | 1M | | qwen-3.8-27b1 | 5 | 30K | 90K | 1M | 1M |”
Does it train on your data?
No
No. Terms say Cerebras has no right to use Service Content for training or fine-tuning; privacy policy says inference inputs and outputs are not retained. Applies to the service generally, not only the trial.
“We reserve the right to use Service Content to provide the Service to you, comply with applicable law and enforce these Terms. For clarity, the foregoing does not grant Cerebras the right to use Service Content for the purpose of training or fine-tuning models.”
“We do not retain inputs and outputs associated with our training, inference and chatbot Services. We delete logs associated with our training, inference and chatbot Services when they are no longer necessary to provide services to you”
Also read: https://www.cerebras.ai/privacy-policy
Restrictions
Expiry
“These credits expire 30 days after they're granted”
inference-docs.cerebras.ai Not for production
“* For development, evaluation, and experimentation; not intended for production use.”
cerebras.ai Footnote on the Developer (pay-as-you-go) tier on the pricing page.
Credit revocation
“Promotional credits are non-transferable, have no cash value, and may be withheld or revoked in cases of fraud, abuse, or duplicate accounts.”
cerebras.ai After the credits
“API and Playground access stop on the Free Trial tier until you purchase credits.”
inference-docs.cerebras.ai
Upgrade path
First Pay as You Go credit purchase moves the org to the Developer tier: gpt-oss-120b 1M uncached TPM / 3M total TPM / 1K RPM and no hourly or daily token caps.
“Your first purchase moves you to the Developer tier with significantly higher rate limits and no hourly or daily token caps.”
FAQ
Is the Cerebras API free?
Not as a standing free tier. The Cerebras API gives one-time Free Trial credits after you add a verified payment method. A payment method is required. Trains on your data: No.
What are the Cerebras Inference free limits?
$5 one-time, expires 30 days after grant; gpt-oss-120b: 5 RPM, 1M TPD. Free Trial tab of the 'Limits by Tier' table. Docs: 'Every model in the Shared Inference Model Catalog is available on the Free Trial tier'.
Does Cerebras Inference train on your data?
No. The terms say: "We reserve the right to use Service Content to provide the Service to you, comply with applicable law and enforce these Terms. For clarity, the foregoing does not grant Cerebras the right to use Service Content for the purpose of training or fine-tuning models."
Sources
Last verified from Cerebras Inference's own pages below. Quotes are verbatim.
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