API Services

AI API interfaces for developers to integrate into your applications.

🎯 What Are API Services?

API services provide programming interfaces that allow you to integrate AI capabilities into your own applications, websites, or tools.

Suitable For:

• Developers
• Technical teams
• Production environment deployment
• Automation needs

🌟 Recommended Services

Free Forever, High Quota

Google AI Studio API

• Quota: Free to use (varies by model)
• Features: Gemini series, OpenAI compatible
• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Groq API

• Quota: ~14,400 times/day
• Features: 800+ tokens/s ultra-fast
• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rich Model Selection

OpenRouter API

• Quota: 50-1,000 times/day
• Features: 25+ free models, OpenAI compatible
• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ultra-low Price

DeepSeek API

• Quota: ¥5 trial (7 days)
• Features: 97% cheaper than GPT-4, top Chinese performance
• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

RAG Expert

Cohere API

• Quota: 1,000 times/month
• Features: Embed + Rerank, RAG optimized
• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Enterprise-grade

Vertex AI API

• Quota: $300 trial (91 days)
• Features: 2M context, complete MLOps
• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Enterprise choice)

Anthropic API

• Quota: Prepaid (minimum $5)
• Features: 200K context, AI safety, powerful reasoning
• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Safe & reliable)

Hugging Face Inference API

• Quota: Free ~$0.10/month, PRO ~$2/month
• Features: 1M+ open-source models, multi-task support
• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Open-source choice)

Mistral API

• Quota: Experiment free trial (phone verification only)
• Features: Pixtral Large multimodal, open+proprietary, multi-cloud
• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (European choice)

NVIDIA NIM API

• Quota: ~1,000 free credits (trial)
• Features: GPU-accelerated inference, OpenAI-compatible, self-hosting supported
• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Enterprise-grade reliability)

Unified Multi-Model Access

Vercel AI Gateway API

• Quota: $5/month free credits
• Features: Unified interface to hundreds of models, automatic failover, zero markup
• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Best for multi-model integration)

Cerebras API

• Quota: 1 million tokens/day
• Features: 2,600+ tokens/s ultra-fast inference, 20x faster than GPUs
• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Speed champion)

GitHub Models API

• Quota: Varies by model (with rate limits)
• Features: 10+ models, OpenAI compatible, GitHub integration
• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Top choice for GitHub developers)

Cloudflare Workers AI API

• Quota: 10,000 neurons/day
• Features: Edge AI inference, 50+ open-source models, global deployment, low latency
• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Top choice for edge computing)

Baidu Qianfan API

• Quota: Permanently free (ERNIE-3.5-8K, ERNIE-Speed-8K unlimited)
• Features: Top Chinese performance, OpenAI compatible, leading Chinese AI
• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Top choice for permanently free)

📊 Detailed Comparison

By Free Quota

By Key Features

🎯 Selection Guide

I Need High Free Quota

→ Google AI Studio API - Free to use

I Need Ultra-fast Inference Speed

→ Cerebras API - 2,600+ tokens/s (fastest) → Groq API - 800+ tokens/s

I Need OpenAI Compatibility

→ Groq API → OpenRouter API → DeepSeek API

I Need to Try Multiple Models

→ OpenRouter API - 25+ models

I Need Chinese Optimization

→ DeepSeek API - Top Chinese performance → Baidu Qianfan API - Leading Chinese AI, permanently free

I Need RAG Features

→ Cohere API - Embed + Rerank

I Need Ultra-long Context

→ Google AI Studio API - Up to 2M → Vertex AI API - Up to 2M

I Need Enterprise Deployment

→ Vertex AI API - Complete MLOps

I Need AI Safety and Strong Reasoning

→ Anthropic API - 200K context, safe & reliable

I Need GPU Acceleration and Self-hosting

→ NVIDIA NIM API - Enterprise inference microservices

I Need Unified Interface to Access Multiple Providers

→ Vercel AI Gateway API - Zero markup aggregation

I Need Edge AI Inference

→ Cloudflare Workers AI API - 300+ global data centers, low latency

I Need Permanently Free API

→ Baidu Qianfan API - ERNIE-3.5-8K permanently free unlimited

💡 Development Suggestions

Quick Start

1. Choose the Right API

   • Personal projects: Google AI Studio or Groq
   • Enterprise projects: Vertex AI
   • Multi-model testing: OpenRouter
   • Chinese applications: DeepSeek
   • RAG applications: Cohere

2. Get API Keys

   • Register according to provider documentation
   • Save API keys

3. Install SDK

   # OpenAI compatible
   pip install openai
   
   # Or use official SDKs
   pip install google-cloud-aiplatform
   pip install groq
   pip install cohere

4. Write Code

   • Refer to each API’s documentation
   • Start with simple examples
   • Gradually add features

Best Practices

1. Securely Manage API Keys

   import os
   from dotenv import load_dotenv
   
   load_dotenv()
   api_key = os.getenv('API_KEY')

2. Implement Error Handling and Retries

   import time
   
   def call_with_retry(func, max_retries=3):
       for i in range(max_retries):
           try:
               return func()
           except Exception as e:
               if i < max_retries - 1:
                   time.sleep(2 ** i)
               else:
                   raise

3. Monitor Usage

   • Regularly check quotas
   • Set usage alerts
   • Log API calls

4. Optimize Costs

   • Use caching
   • Batch processing
   • Choose appropriate models

📚 Learning Resources

Documentation

• Each API has detailed documentation
• Includes quick start guides
• Provides code examples
• Best practice guidelines

Code Examples

See complete examples in each API documentation:

• Basic conversations
• Streaming output
• Multimodal input
• Function calling
• RAG applications

🔗 Related Resources

• Chatbot Services - Web conversation interfaces
• Provider Directory - Browse by provider
• Contribution Guide - Help improve documentation