I recently tried connecting a Gemini API to my N8N setup thinking it was completely free. Turns out my old Google Cloud account still had payment info from years back. Luckily my credit card expired so I only got charged two cents for my tests.
This got me thinking about two things:
Are there any quality free APIs that give similar results to Gemini Pro when used in N8N workflows?
Does anyone know if you can access the free daily quotas for Gemini Flash or Pro through N8N? Would I need to create a fresh Google Cloud account without any payment methods attached?
I want to keep experimenting with AI integrations but prefer staying within free limits while learning. Any suggestions or experiences would be helpful.
I’ve had great luck with Groq’s API for fast inference - totally free and works perfectly with N8N’s HTTP request node. Their Llama models are surprisingly good and super fast for testing workflows. Cohere’s trial tier is another solid option for text generation. For Google, you can actually stick with your existing account - just create a new project and disable billing from the start. I got hit with unexpected charges before learning this trick. Go to billing settings, make sure there’s no payment method linked to that project, then generate fresh API keys.
huggingface is a good choice for free apis compatible with n8n, but watch out for those rate limits. you can still use gemini’s free tier with your current gcp account, just make sure to turn off billing in the project settings.
Anthropic’s Claude API has a solid free tier and works great with n8n’s HTTP node. I’ve been running it for a few months with zero problems. Just set up usage alerts so you don’t get hit with surprise charges like what happened with Gemini!
Mistral AI’s been my go-to for N8N workflows recently. Free tier’s generous for learning and quality matches Gemini Pro on most tasks. API integration through N8N’s HTTP request node is pretty straightforward once you nail the auth headers. Love their pricing - no hidden costs or confusing billing like Google Cloud. You hit the rate limit and that’s it, no surprise charges. For your Google situation, just keep your existing account. Create a separate GCP project and don’t add payment methods to it. Free quotas are per-project, not per-account.
OpenAI’s free tier works great with N8N - they’ve got a built-in node that makes setup easy. You get $5 in credits when you sign up, which goes pretty far for testing. Results are just as good as Gemini Pro most of the time. I’ve been using it for months without hitting any real limits while learning. For your Google Cloud issue, you don’t need a new account. Just turn off billing on your current project and it’ll drop back to free quotas. Make sure there’s no payment method attached to that project.
Been there with surprise API charges. Tracking multiple APIs and their free limits is a pain.
I’d automate it with Latenode instead of manually switching services. Set up workflows that rotate between free AI APIs when you hit limits. Works with OpenAI, Hugging Face, Cohere, and any HTTP API.
You can build logic to check usage against free limits and auto-switch. No surprise charges or manual babysitting.
I built one for a side project - tries OpenAI first, falls back to Hugging Face if over limit, then Cohere as backup. Way cleaner than N8N’s clunky API management.
Sure, you can keep the same Google account, but why deal with their billing mess when you can automate around it?