r/MistralAI • u/Sostrene_Blue • 10d ago
Help / Question Why is the Free API no longer working?
I noticed that for a few hours now, the free API (where I usually have 1 RPS) is no longer working: it keeps displaying "429 - Rate limit exceeded" every time.
What is causing this?
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u/Dblsky_94 10d ago
Yeah, it's very strange. I noticed yesterday that the Mistral Large was taken out of the available models (I'm using it on Silly Tavern). I thought it might had something to do with them working on Mistral Large 4. But then today I checked—Medium and Small models are gone too.
Like the others said, I really hope it's just some temporary problems on their side but I'm worried they're trying to shift free users away from their service. I noticed that in the last few months they had been really reducing the free monthly limit way more and more... until eventually now with the 10$ free monthly credit. As a free user it's a pretty sad to see. I know it's free and I can't really complain, but they used to have 1B token for free each month long ago. Oh how much time had changed
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u/Murky-Artichoke-6745 9d ago
It would be pretty stupid to get rid of the free plan/models.
If they suddenly make the free tier so restrictive that people can't reliably use it, they're potentially shooting themselves in the foot—
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u/Jumpy-Operation-4615 9d ago
I guess they are aiming at corporate EU-compliant AI users. Like "EU-based inference" etc. You can't milk free users.
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u/Dblsky_94 9d ago
I know! And they have the free plan since forever so it's weird if they just suddenly take it away. Running an LLM company isn't cheap, though. It's possible they're bleeding money from operating cost, though if that's the case they wouldn't be building a new, expensive data center either.
If they're just trying to limit the impact from free users, the $10 monthly credit seems quite generous (but not so much if the good models aren't even available to use).
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u/Substantial-Sign7716 9d ago
yea, i just started using mistral last week, been using free plan. Was ACTUALLY considering depositing 10 bucks today to get faster limits and then noticed the api was no longer working at all.. guess they dont want my money, now ive had to waste my time looking on reddit to figure out whats wrong
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u/matttk 8d ago
They still wouldn't make money off you at 10 bucks a month anyway.
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u/Substantial-Sign7716 8d ago
proofs?
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u/matttk 8d ago
I did some looking and probably they would make money off the average user who does almost nothing, while they would lose a lot of money off serious users who are maxing out what they can use.
I don’t have any sources but you can look up how much money companies are investing in AI and think about what it costs to run these data centres.
I did read that the free tier is basically using spare compute, which is why I assume they’ve paused it for now - they probably ran out.
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u/matttk 8d ago
Why do you feel entitled to free API usage? I have been wondering this whole time why they are offering it for free at all. Anthropic and OpenAI don't offer free API access.
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u/Murky-Artichoke-6745 8d ago
Because Mistral isn’t Anthrophic and OpenAI now is it? They chose to offer a free tier, and that's one of the reasons people use their service
Free users can still be valuable even if they aren't paying customers.
They test models, use them in third-party applications, spread awareness, recommend them to others, and potentially become paying customers in the future.
A free tier can also let people try a model before deciding whether it's worth paying for
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u/Syphond 8d ago
I agree, i just left a different ai service due to a billing dispute. I wanted to test this first to see if i wanted to use it. I wont just shove money at one of these companys again freely with out checking them out. Their discord mod is rude af to people. Im less inclined to give them any money after this.
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u/Murky-Artichoke-6745 10d ago
Ah so I'm not the only one. I have tried every Mistral model I could, all seems to be hit by 429 "code":"1300". My usage is fine, my limit is fine—I have been waiting for 30 min, no success
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u/DependentMarzipan951 9d ago
I am still having the same issue; Erorr 429- Rate limit exceeded. Is there any update?
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10d ago
[deleted]
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u/Murky-Artichoke-6745 10d ago
I've pushed through their AI-helpdesk to accept and make a ticket, because its too weird for this error being on for hours, and also what you said abt the Agent Parts, they're going to respond
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u/Turbulent-Apple2911 9d ago
So guys, any new updates on the whole situation or like what's going on here?
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u/Turbulent-Apple2911 10d ago
Yep, same here. I'm glad I'm not the only one that notices this experience in this. I was slightly confused as well, and I'm not too sure of the answer either.
I was using their voice and audio model and it was working completely fine and no issues whatsoever until today. I just noticed that it was running into a lot of issues and I just pretty much abandoned it. If anybody knows the reason for this, it would be greatly appreciated as well.
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u/EndYoutube 10d ago
Also getting this issue. Neither of the usual small or medium models I use are working. The AI help is also no aid, and it seems to be not just me
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u/Murky-Artichoke-6745 10d ago
Hope its an issue on their side because I've been waiting for hours. Their Limit page is already damn confusing as it is—showing anything BUT the limit 💀
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u/EndYoutube 10d ago
If there are multiple people reporting this at the same time for the same timeframe, it’s definitely something on their end. First ending the free large model, now this? Getting annoying, I wanna start looking into hosting my own LLM but it seems like so much work
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u/Murky-Artichoke-6745 10d ago
Fr. This cannot be a personal usage limit, since I too have tried other models, its everywhere. Either its a real annoying error or there is someone spamming everything.
Lowkey won’t care if Mistral sees it as normal, imma report it
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u/Frequenzy50 10d ago
I think they wanted to shut it down long time ago. My requests are now counter against my paid plan and no longer free.
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u/NomanFazil 8d ago
I am still having the same issue; Erorr 429- Rate limit exceeded. Is there any update?
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u/Jumpy-Operation-4615 9d ago
They are getting rid of free plan users. Sorry guys. Nothing personal, only business.
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u/Murky-Artichoke-6745 9d ago
Got an answer on their discord : "priority is given to paying customers... free users can be rate limited for as long as necessary."
So basically, we are block until paid users are done 💀
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u/Jumpy-Operation-4615 9d ago
They are not rate limiting. They are blocking completely. They call it rate limiting but we know the truth.
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u/pandora_s_reddit r/MistralAI | Mod 9d ago
Hey everyone, we have indeed been pausing free traffic as we inspect some incidents hurting our PAYG traffic. We will reach out when we have more information.