Get started for free

No budget for AI coding tools? Here’s how to start for free.

I keep getting the same question from fellow founders:

“How do I use AI agents for development without paying upfront?”

Here’s the exact setup I recommend — takes 15 minutes:

1️⃣ Download a free IDE

VS Code (code.visualstudio.com) or Google Antigravity (antigravity.google) — both free. Antigravity has Gemini baked in.

2️⃣ Sign up for these free accounts

• OpenRouter.ai — 25+ free AI models, no credit card required

• Kilo.ai — free trial credits on signup

• Cline.bot — completely free, open-source VS Code extension

3️⃣ Install extensions

Search “Cline” or “Kilo Code” in your editor’s extensions panel. Paste your OpenRouter API key as the provider.

4️⃣ Use free models that actually work

→  qwen/qwen3-coder:free  — best for coding (1M token context!)

→  deepseek/deepseek-r1:free  — great for reasoning

→  meta-llama/llama-3.3-70b-instruct:free  — solid all-rounder

Total cost: 0 to get started.

Stack OpenRouter’s free 200 req/day + Kilo Code trial credits + Antigravity’s built-in Gemini and you’ve got a full AI dev environment for free.

Validate first. Pay only when you’re scaling.

Save this and share with a founder who needs it. 🙏