Free API Providers You Can Use to Set Up OpenClaw

This is the provider-selection version of the free setup problem. The goal is not to memorize a list from a video. The goal is to use the CLI to see what is available now and keep only the providers that still resolve cleanly.

Quick answer

Use openclaw models list --all and openclaw models scan --no-probe, then confirm the provider auth path with openclaw models status before you build anything on top.

Command line steps

1. List the providers you can target

Start wide, then narrow the list.

openclaw models list --all
openclaw models list --all --provider openrouter

2. Shortlist free-tier candidates

The scan command is usually faster than manually comparing provider pages.

openclaw models scan --no-probe --max-candidates 15

3. Verify the auth path before you keep the provider

If the provider looks good on paper but auth is broken, it is not useful yet.

openclaw models status
openclaw models status --check

What to check if it still fails

• If status --check warns about missing credentials, fix that now instead of adding channels on top of a broken model layer.
• If the free catalog is too noisy, use --provider, --min-params, or --max-age-days to narrow it.
• If you need a permanent setup later, keep the same commands but swap the temporary model for a more reliable paid default.