--- title: How to use Claude Code FREE Forever (Openrouter) | daily.dev description: A walkthrough on how to use Claude Code's agentic framework with alternative models via OpenRouter, reducing or eliminating API costs. The guide covers setting... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-claude-code-free-forever-openrouter--scasta96a twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: How to use Claude Code FREE Forever (Openrouter) | daily.dev og:description: A walkthrough on how to use Claude Code's agentic framework with alternative models via OpenRouter, reducing or eliminating API costs. The guide covers setting... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-claude-code-free-forever-openrouter--scasta96a og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/SCAStA96A.png og:image:alt: How to use Claude Code FREE Forever (Openrouter) og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # How to use Claude Code FREE Forever (Openrouter) **[YouTube](https://daily.dev/sources/youtube)** · 13 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A walkthrough on how to use Claude Code's agentic framework with alternative models via OpenRouter, reducing or eliminating API costs. The guide covers setting up an OpenRouter API key, comparing five model options (Claude Opus/Sonnet, Gemini Flash, DeepSeek V3, Qwen) across cost, speed, performance, and security trade-offs, and using a tool called anti-gravity to switch models in Claude Code's config. It also demonstrates that Claude skills (like Bitly link generation) remain portable across model swaps, and explains how to revert back to Claude at any time. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: --- Tags: [#google-gemini](https://daily.dev/tags/google-gemini), [#ai-coding](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-coding), [#claude-code](https://daily.dev/tags/claude-code) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-claude-code-free-forever-openrouter--scasta96a) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"How to use Claude Code FREE Forever (Openrouter)","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-claude-code-free-forever-openrouter--scasta96a","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-claude-code-free-forever-openrouter--scasta96a"},"datePublished":"2026-03-25T05:05:13.501Z","dateModified":"2026-03-25T05:10:38.956Z","description":"A walkthrough on how to use Claude Code's agentic framework with alternative models via OpenRouter, reducing or eliminating API costs. 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