--- title: "SEA-LION API free inference" description: "A finite allowance for new accounts; it does not recur." canonical_url: "https://freeinferencing.com/provider/sea_lion_api/" md_url: "https://freeinferencing.com/provider/sea_lion_api.md" last_updated: "2026-09-19" --- # SEA-LION API > A finite allowance for new accounts; it does not recur. ## Classification - **Directory:** Current - **Free access:** One-time trial - **Status:** Current trial - **Confidence:** High - **Payment card:** No - **Account:** Required - **Equivalent paid value:** Not quantifiable - **API endpoint:** `https://api.sea-lion.ai/v1` ## Models mentioned - `aisingapore/Qwen-SEA-LION-v4.5-27B-IT` - `aisingapore/Llama-SEA-LION-v3.5-70B-R` - `aisingapore/SEA-Guard` - `aisingapore/SEA-LION-ModernBERT-Embedding-600M` - `aisingapore/Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT` ## Limits and terms ```yaml requests_per_minute_per_user: 10 effective_date: 2026-06-04 total_tokens_or_duration: not_documented ``` ## What happens to your prompts? **Not private.** The terms authorize use of inputs and outputs to develop and improve the service without a clear no-training commitment. 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: AI Singapore and NUS SEA-LION website, playground, API, and associated services under the published terms. prompt_retention: The terms authorize use of input and output content to provide, maintain, develop, and improve the service, enforce policies, comply with law, and keep the service safe; no fixed content-retention period is published. response_retention: Outputs are part of Content under the same broad use terms. ordinary_logging: IP address, device, pages, location, search terms, cookies, and other log data are collected for secure and reliable operation; service use may be monitored for quality, improvement, and compliance. model_training: The terms do not expressly say whether service development and improvement includes model training, so no no-training commitment should be inferred. product_improvement: Input and output Content may expressly be used to develop and improve the services. human_or_operator_access: Monitoring is authorized for service quality, improvement, and terms compliance; the policy does not restrict review to automated processing. subprocessors_and_routing: AISG shares information with providers for hosting, maintenance, backup, storage, virtual infrastructure, analytics, and other operations, and third-party apps can receive selected content. deletion_controls: Users can request account deletion, including personal data, profile data, created content, and logs, subject to legal and compelling-interest exceptions; connected third parties must be contacted separately. caveat: The privacy policy specifically urges users to consider the sensitivity of information entered. Broad improvement rights and no fixed content-retention period make sensitive prompts inappropriate. agreements: terms_of_use: https://sea-lion.ai/terms-of-use/ privacy_policy: https://sea-lion.ai/privacy-policy/ ``` ## Eligibility ```yaml account_required: true signup_method: Google account through SEA-LION Playground keys_per_user: 1 payment_method_required: not_documented ``` ## API compatibility and modalities - **Compatibility:** OpenAI Chat Completions, OpenAI Embeddings - **Modalities:** Text generation, Embeddings, Safety ## Before you build with SEA-LION API ### 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. “One-time trial” 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 5 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 **Not private** because The terms authorize use of inputs and outputs to develop and improve the service without a clear no-training commitment. 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 - [SEA-LION API inference guide](https://docs.sea-lion.ai/guides/inferencing/api): Official Docs - [SEA-LION models](https://sea-lion.ai/models/): Official Catalog - [SEA-LION Terms of Use](https://sea-lion.ai/terms-of-use/): Official Terms - [SEA-LION Privacy Policy](https://sea-lion.ai/privacy-policy/): Official Privacy - [AI Singapore organization on Hugging Face (verified)](https://huggingface.co/aisingapore): Official Repository - [SEA-LION model repository](https://github.com/aisingapore/sealion): Official Repository - [Google DeepMind Gemmaverse page featuring AI Singapore's SEA-LION](https://deepmind.google/models/gemma/gemmaverse/sea-lion/): Partner Page - [Singapore National AI Strategy update](https://isomer-user-content.by.gov.sg/39/73e87bfe-77af-4fd5-8d8b-445fa7068b76/NAIS_update.pdf): Official Government Report ## Sitemap See the full [semantic sitemap](/sitemap.md) for every page and markdown mirror.