--- title: "Modal free inference" description: "$30 in credits refresh on a published schedule. See verified limits, model IDs, privacy terms, and primary sources for Modal." canonical_url: "https://freeinferencing.com/provider/modal/" md_url: "https://freeinferencing.com/provider/modal.md" last_updated: "2026-09-19" --- # Modal > $30 in credits refresh on a published schedule. ## Classification - **Directory:** Current - **Free access:** Monthly credits - **Status:** Available now - **Confidence:** High - **Payment card:** Yes - **Account:** Required - **Equivalent paid value:** $30.00/mo - **API endpoint:** `https://{workspace}--{endpoint}.{region}.modal.direct/v1` ## Models mentioned - `moonshotai/Kimi-K3` ## Limits and terms ```yaml plan: Starter plan_price_usd_per_month: 0 included_credit_usd_per_month: 30 containers: 100 gpu_concurrency: 10 shared_endpoint_credit_restriction: Since 2026-09-01, plan-included credits cannot pay Shared Endpoint usage; they remain usable for user-deployed and dedicated endpoints. ``` ## What happens to your prompts? **Private.** Modal does not store ordinary endpoint payloads or train on Customer Data without written consent. 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: Modal serverless compute and Modal-hosted inference endpoints; Functions, endpoints, logs, volumes, and snapshots have different retention. prompt_retention: Server and inference endpoint request payloads are not stored and are proxied to the customer's container. Function arguments and return values can be retained encrypted for up to seven days. response_retention: Endpoint responses are not stored; Function return values can remain up to seven days. Customer-created volumes and images persist until deleted. ordinary_logging: App and container logs persist one day on Starter, 30 days on Team, and per contract on Enterprise; account and resource metadata persists for the account lifetime. model_training: Modal contractually says it will not train an AI model on Customer Data or export it into an LLM without prior written customer consent. product_improvement: Modal collects aggregate de-identified operational data, but Customer Data is licensed only as necessary to provide the service and is excluded from model training without consent. human_or_operator_access: Modal says it will not access code, function inputs or outputs, or stored customer data. Logs and metadata are accessed only with customer permission for troubleshooting, subject to service/security exceptions in the terms. subprocessors_and_routing: Modal pools compute across cloud providers and lists AI-tool subprocessors under its DPA; customers can select processing regions. deletion_controls: Inference endpoint payloads are never written to disk; function data expires within seven days; volumes and images persist until customer deletion; portability and erasure requests are supported. caveat: Modal is infrastructure, so code deployed by the customer can itself save or forward prompts. The endpoint ZDR statement covers Modal's proxy, not application-level logging inside the container. agreements: terms_of_service: https://modal.com/legal/terms privacy_policy: https://modal.com/legal/privacy-policy ``` ## Eligibility ```yaml account_required: true payment_method_required: true ``` ## API compatibility and modalities - **Compatibility:** OpenAI Chat Completions, OpenAI Responses, Custom Http - **Modalities:** Text generation, Custom models ## Before you build with Modal ### 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. “Monthly credits” should be interpreted together with the Current directory placement, High confidence, Yes payment-card status, and the plan-specific sources below. ### Resolve the live model route The snapshot records 1 model ID. 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 Yes, 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 **Private** because Modal does not store ordinary endpoint payloads or train on Customer Data without written consent. 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 8 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 - [Pricing](https://modal.com/pricing): Official Pricing - [Billing](https://modal.com/docs/guide/billing): Official Docs - [Endpoints](https://modal.com/docs/guide/endpoints): Official Docs - [Shared endpoint integrations](https://modal.com/docs/guide/endpoint-integrations): Official Docs - [Modal Terms of Service and DPA](https://modal.com/legal/terms): Official Terms - [Modal Privacy Policy](https://modal.com/legal/privacy-policy): Official Privacy - [Security and privacy at Modal](https://modal.com/docs/guide/security): Official Docs - [PyPI download stats for modal](https://pypistats.org/packages/modal): Package Registry Stats ## Sitemap See the full [semantic sitemap](/sitemap.md) for every page and markdown mirror.