--- title: "Cohere free inference" description: "No-cost research and development inference across 10 models; not unrestricted production use." canonical_url: "https://freeinferencing.com/provider/cohere/" md_url: "https://freeinferencing.com/provider/cohere.md" last_updated: "2026-09-19" --- # Cohere > No-cost research and development inference across 10 models; not unrestricted production use. ## Classification - **Directory:** Current - **Free access:** Research / development - **Status:** Restricted access - **Confidence:** High - **Payment card:** No - **Account:** Required - **Equivalent paid value:** Up to $350.72/mo - **API endpoint:** `https://api.cohere.ai/v2` ## Models mentioned - `Command A+` - `Command A Reasoning` - `Command A Translate` - `Command A Vision` - `Command A` - `Command R+` - `Command R` - `Command R7B` - `North Mini Code` - `command-a-plus-05-2026` ## Limits and terms ```yaml calls_per_month: 1000 chat_rpm: 20 audio_transcription_rpm: 5 rerank_rpm: 10 embed_inputs_per_minute: 2000 embed_image_inputs_per_minute: 5 embed_job_rpm: 5 tokenize_rpm: 100 parse_rpm: 500 default_endpoint_rpm: 500 ``` ## What happens to your prompts? **Partially private.** Content can be logged for 30 days and reviewed for abuse, while training is opt-in and aggregate improvement uses remain. Privacy is audited separately from price. Review the current governing terms before sending sensitive or regulated data. ## Data governance and agreements ```yaml data_governance: review_status: reviewed plan_scope: Cohere trial API and enterprise SaaS; trial, enterprise, training opt-in, and approved zero-data-retention configurations differ. prompt_retention: Cohere says logged prompts and generations are automatically deleted after 30 days, except for legal or contractual requirements, flagged abuse, or content separately allowed for training. Approved zero-data-retention accounts do not log prompts or generations. response_retention: Same 30-day default and exceptions as prompts. ordinary_logging: Cohere logs and monitors platform use for agreement enforcement and security, and collects non-customer-identifying usage measures such as frequency, duration, features, preferences, and aggregate input-token counts. model_training: Training use is opt-in. Cohere says common personal information is filtered from opted-in prompts and generations before possible model training; separately submitted fine-tuning data is governed by its feature and agreement terms. product_improvement: Aggregate usage data may be used to understand use and improve performance. Prompt or generation training use requires opt-in, while de-identified flagged content may be aggregated to evaluate safety detection and policy enforcement. human_or_operator_access: Safety and security teams may review prompts, generations, and logs flagged as possible misuse. subprocessors_and_routing: Cohere uses published subprocessors, including Google Cloud infrastructure and monitoring, delivery, support, and analytics vendors; third-party platforms integrating Cohere can impose their own handling. deletion_controls: Trial users can delete the platform account and request deletion of inadvertently submitted personal information. Enterprise data is normally deleted after 30 days, while approved ZDR purges content after processing and agreement-specific exceptions can apply. caveat: The free trial is not intended to process personal information. Zero data retention is not the default and requires Cohere approval. agreements: trial_terms: https://cohere.com/terms-of-use saas_agreement: https://cohere.com/saas-agreement privacy_policy: https://cohere.com/privacy ``` ## Eligibility ```yaml account_required: true payment_method_required: false allowed_use: evaluation_and_prototyping ``` ## API compatibility and modalities - **Compatibility:** Cohere V2 Rest - **Modalities:** Image / vision ## Before you build with Cohere ### Read the classification narrowly This record describes the bounded offer supported by evidence on 2026-09-19; it does not guarantee permanence, production suitability, uptime, latency, model quality, or access from every account and region. “Research / development” should be interpreted together with the Current directory placement, High confidence, No payment-card status, and the plan-specific sources below. ### Resolve the live model route The snapshot records 10 model IDs. Match the exact ID against the provider's current catalog before using it in code because zero-price routes, aliases, context limits, and feature support can rotate while an older documentation page remains online. ### Match the quota to the workload shape Translate the allowance into peak requests per minute, input and output tokens, concurrency, retries, and every daily or monthly ceiling that applies to the intended account. The first limit reached by the workload is the practical ceiling. A large token pool can still fail interactive bursts, and a high request limit can still fail long-context work. Include tool calls and retry traffic, test the largest realistic payload, and treat research, experimental, and community access as conditional on their eligibility and fair-use terms. ### Preserve billing and privacy boundaries The recorded payment-card requirement is No, and account access is required. Confirm both in the live signup flow, set provider-side budgets when charges are possible, and observe the balance or usage fields after a complete request. The prompt-handling classification is **Partially private** because Content can be logged for 30 days and reviewed for abuse, while training is opt-in and aggregate improvement uses remain. Re-read the terms for the exact route and plan before sending sensitive, regulated, or proprietary content. ### Follow the evidence, then re-check it This record links 11 first-party sources covering the offer, catalog, limits, pricing, terms, privacy, or adoption evidence available to the audit. Prefer the newest and most specific governing document or live catalog when sources disagree. A dated finding can become stale even when the page remains online, so retain the source and snapshot that supported the decision and submit a correction when a provider changes a material term. ### Plan fallback without policy drift A fallback should preserve modality, context length, streaming, structured output, tools, safety controls, and data terms, not only API syntax. Decide which errors may retry, cap retry storms, and prevent an exhausted free route from silently switching to a billable model. Rotating aliases and free pools can change behavior without changing the endpoint, so retain the response model field and test at least one substitute route before the primary offer becomes unavailable. ### Monitor the offer as a dependency Capture the model ID, response model, rate-limit headers, usage fields, latency, HTTP status, and provider request identifier. Watch authorization failure, quota exhaustion, catalog removal, policy revision, and balance movement as separate failure modes. Re-check the live catalog and governing sources on a schedule proportionate to the workload's importance, and keep an owner and exit path for any production dependency on volatile free capacity. ### Test one complete request before scaling Start with the smallest permitted request using the exact credential, model ID, endpoint, region, and account type intended for deployment. Record the status, headers, usage fields, response model, latency, and dashboard balance movement. Then exercise an invalid model, quota exhaustion, or rate limit so failure is explicit and cannot silently switch to a paid route. Validate streaming, structured output, and tool calls separately because a free model can expose fewer features than its paid counterpart. Keep a budget ceiling outside the application whenever billing is possible, and do not send sensitive data until the observed route matches the reviewed agreement. ## Primary sources - [Cohere pricing](https://cohere.com/pricing): Official Pricing - [Rate limits](https://docs.cohere.com/v2/docs/rate-limits): Official Docs - [Chat API](https://docs.cohere.com/v2/docs/chat-api): Official Docs - [Trial key pricing update](https://docs.cohere.com/v1/changelog/pricing-update-and-new-dashboard-ui): Official Changelog - [Cohere Terms of Use](https://cohere.com/terms-of-use): Official Terms - [Cohere SaaS Agreement](https://cohere.com/saas-agreement): Official Terms - [Cohere Privacy Policy](https://cohere.com/privacy): Official Privacy - [Enterprise Data Commitments](https://cohere.com/enterprise-data-commitments): Official Docs - [Cohere Trust Center](https://trustcenter.cohere.com/): Official Trust - [Cohere models (context windows and maximum output tokens)](https://docs.cohere.com/v2/docs/models): Official Docs - [pypistats recent downloads for the official cohere package](https://pypistats.org/api/packages/cohere/recent): Package Downloads ## Sitemap See the full [semantic sitemap](/sitemap.md) for every page and markdown mirror.