Can You Build Software With AI Without Paying for an API?

One thing that keeps coming up when people try AI coding for the first time is the API key.

You find a coding agent you want to try, then you need to create an account, add billing, get an API key, figure out model pricing, and keep an eye on usage.

For someone who just wants to build a small project, that can be enough friction to make them give up.

That’s one of the reasons I’m building Clixad.

Clixad is a cloud-based AI coding agent for the terminal. The workflow is similar to Claude Code or Codex: it can inspect a codebase, edit files, run commands, test changes and work through errors.

The difference is that users don't need their own API key or a paid subscription.

There are free credits to start with. Additional credits can be earned through advertiser-funded offers, forms and surveys, which are used to cover the AI inference costs.

So the AI isn't actually "free" in the sense that inference costs nothing. The cost is just shifted away from the user paying directly.

I think this model makes more sense for a particular group of people:

People learning to code with AI, students, hobby developers, indie hackers, and anyone who wants to experiment with vibe coding without immediately committing to another monthly subscription.

It also isn't meant to replace a $20+ paid plan for someone who runs an AI coding agent all day. There’s obviously a limit to how much free usage an advertiser-funded model can support.

The interesting part for me is the accessibility.

AI coding tools have made building software dramatically easier, but the moment you put a paywall or API billing setup in front of someone, a lot of beginners never get to the interesting part.

I build Clixad around the idea that getting started should be easier than that.

Would you use a free AI coding agent if the tradeoff was spending a few minutes on offers/surveys instead of paying for a subscription?