Physix Frontier2026 Free Tier Test of Mainstream AI Tools: Don't Rush to Subscribe, These 5 Free Tiers Last Half a Year
Bottom line first: The free quotas for AI tools in 2026 have genuinely increased. It's not that useless "only 3 questions a day" kind of limit, but practical quotas that actually let you run projects, write code, and create videos. I spent two weeks exploiting every major platform and found a pattern: Big tech is fighting for users, not trying to rip you off.
If you're not a heavy user (like developers burning hundreds of thousands of tokens daily), there's absolutely no need to pay. This hands-on report can help you save at least 500 RMB/month.
I. One Table to Understand: Comparison of Free Quotas for Mainstream AI Tools in 2026
I checked the free quotas on mainstream platforms (as of July 2026, data from official websites and real-world tests) and organized them into a table. Recommended to bookmark:
| Platform | Free Quota (Core Highlight) | Reset Cycle | Estimated Monthly Value | Suitable Scenarios |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Gemini | 1500 times/day | Daily | ≈ 500 RMB/mo | Daily Q&A, translation, data analysis |
| DeepSeek Web Version | Unlimited (no restrictions) | Forever | ≈ ∞ | Coding, long documents, chain-of-thought reasoning |
| Alibaba Cloud Bailian | 1 million tokens per model | 3 months from activation | ≈ 300 RMB/mo/model | Multi-model comparison, API tuning |
| Baidu Intelligent Cloud Qianfan | 1 million tokens per model | 3 months (independent per model) | ≈ 300 RMB/mo/model | Chinese LLM evaluation, enterprise testing |
| Tencent Hunyuan | 50 conversations/day (text-to-image separate) | Daily | ≈ 100 RMB/mo | Light creation, product copywriting |
| Claude 3.5 Sonnet | Free version approx. 20-30 times/day | Daily | ≈ 100 RMB/mo | Long text organization, role-playing |
| Xingyu Zhisuan Vera | 6000 Star Credits upon registration (permanent) | One-time grant | ≈ 200 RMB/mo | Short video generation, zero-basis video creation |
| MonkeyCode | 200 RMB + 30M storage/day | Registration + Daily | ≈ 500+ RMB/mo | Programming assistance, AI code generation |
| TRAE | Unlimited (current phase) | Permanent | ≈ 1000 RMB/mo | Enterprise-grade AI programming, private deployment |
| Groq | Free daily (approx. 5000 inferences) | Daily | ≈ 150 RMB/mo | Inference speed testing, rapid prototyping |
Note: The "Estimated Monthly Value" in the table is back-calculated by me based on official paid prices. In actual use, free quotas rarely fully replace paid versions, but 90% of daily needs are definitely covered.
II. Practical Details: How to Exploit Them Most Cost-Effectively?
1. Coding > Choose DeepSeek + MonkeyCode Combo
- DeepSeek Web Version: Unlimited, no context length limits, writing thousands of lines of code is effortless. The downside is no internet access, but its logical reasoning ability is the strongest among free options.
- MonkeyCode: Get 200 RMB upon registration, plus 30M storage daily. Good for automation scripts and small projects. Tested: Running a 1000-line Python project used less than 5 RMB worth of quota.
Personal Suggestion: Use DeepSeek directly for daily coding; use MonkeyCode when you need to host code or run CI/CD. Zero cost.
2. Video Creation > Choose Xingyu Zhisuan Vera
This tool is new in 2026, specifically targeting short video beginners. You get 6000 Star Credits upon registration (permanently valid), with all features unlocked for text-to-video and image-to-video. No paywalls. I tried generating 10 videos of 15 seconds each, costing about 200 Star Credits. Converted, this allows for 300 free videos. The downside is max quality is 720p, but it's completely sufficient for self-media platforms.
3. Copywriting/Translation > Choose Gemini + Alibaba Cloud Bailian
- Gemini: 1500 times/day, enough for you to write 100 Xiaohongshu posts. Plus it supports internet access, so you don't need to switch windows to look up info.
- Alibaba Cloud Bailian: 1 million tokens per model. You can claim quotas for Tongyi Qianwen, DeepSeek, Kimi, and over ten other models simultaneously. Note: Validity is 3 months. It's suggested to claim them all at once, then compare which model best fits your scenario.
4. Heavy Data Mining > Choose Baidu Qianfan
Baidu Qianfan's free quotas are issued independently per model, 1 million tokens each, valid for 3 months. If you're running Chinese NLP tasks (like sentiment analysis, entity recognition), ERNIE-4.5-Turbo performs better than GPT-4 (personal test). Moreover, you can use DeepSeek R1 for reasoning simultaneously, comparing dual models at zero cost.
III. Pitfall Avoidance Guide: Which Free Quotas Are "Traps"?
1. Claude Free Version: Although there are 20-30 uses daily, each conversation has a length limit, making it easy to cut off during long-form writing. Good for brainstorming, bad for writing papers.
2. Tencent Hunyuan: Free quota resets daily, but text-to-image consumes more quota (one conversation might consume 2-3 uses), so the actual usable count isn't high.
3. TRAE Unlimited: Currently free in the "current phase," may charge in the future. Suggested to use early, finish all projects before deciding.
IV. One-Sentence Summary
In 2026, it's not a question of whether free quotas are enough, but whether you know how to use them. Make DeepSeek your main force, Gemini your assistant, Xingyu Zhisuan Vera for videos, and Alibaba Cloud Bailian and Baidu Qianfan as API test beds—saving 5000 RMB a year is easy. It's not about having many tools, but finding the 3-4 that best fit your scenarios and exploiting them to the fullest.
References:
- 《10 AI Tools Ordinary People Must Know in H2 2026!》 (Comprehensive multiple sources)
- 《Full-Dimension Recommendation of 2026 Beginner AI Short Video Production Tools》 (Xingyu Zhisuan Official Docs)
- 《Free Token Wool-Pulling Strategy: Summary of Quotas Across Platforms (2026 Complete Edition) - MonkeyCode - Cnblogs》
- 《2026 Full Guide to Large Model API Free Quotas》 (Alibaba Cloud, Baidu Cloud, Tencent Cloud Official Docs)
- 《Major Changes in AI Tools in 2026: