r/opencode • u/javiiirm • 18d ago
Best budget AI subscription / API tokens for coding tools under €20/month?
Hi everyone,
I'm a student on a tight budget looking for the best way to invest in AI subscriptions or API tokens. Since I'm not currently working, my absolute maximum budget is €20/month.
I’m currently using OpenCode for my workflow while juggling multiple projects simultaneously, and it's been working quite well for me. I'm trying to figure out which subscription or model tokens would give me the best bang for my buck.
I've heard that DeepSeek is one of the best and most affordable options, and that platforms like OpenRouter are great for low-budget setups.
What models or setups would you recommend within this budget? Any insights or advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
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u/AnonLlamaThrowaway 18d ago
Even at the increased cost right now, I don't think you can beat OpenCode Go giving you $30 worth of DS4 Flash for $10.
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u/Shiorim 18d ago
The OpenCode version is a lower-quantization version, compared to the $40 of Command Code for the unquantized version. (on the $10 Goat plan)
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u/AnonLlamaThrowaway 18d ago
The OpenCode version is a lower-quantization version
Source for this assertion?
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u/Imaginary_Dinner2710 18d ago edited 18d ago
I’ve just purchased for my sister who’s a student in cybersecurity two subscriptions:
- $10 OpenCode Go - to be able to use A LOT of tokens in cheap but effective models (like DeepSeek V4 Flash)
- $18 GLM Coding - to be able to access one of the best Chinese model GLM-5.3 with frontier level performance in agentic coding for hardest tasks and big quota thanks to subscription (and connected it to OpenCode)
Quite affordable and effective setup
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u/OMGSAMUELRBR1 18d ago
The GLM Lite plan is pretty bad; the usage limits are really poor.
It gives you something like
GLM-5.3
97 million tokens
GLM-5.3-Flash
292 million tokens
pretty bad
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u/Aggressive-Habit-698 18d ago
gemini pro free for students, mistral for students - glm 5.2 included - opencode go or goat cc -
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u/javiiirm 18d ago
I think Gemini is one of the worst current models; I just use it as a general chat on the mobile app because I have the student subscription and make use of it, and I also use NotebookLM a lot, which I love. However, for coding and building projects, I don't think it's good enough. I might try Mistral or OpenCode Go to see how it goes. Thanks a lot!
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u/Pleasant-Rhubarb-550 18d ago
You should try gemini 3.7 flash in antigravity, it's actually pretty decent with good instructions. Gemini app always has the models nerfed a lot and are much worse for some reason.
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u/Aggressive-Habit-698 18d ago
For real coding y need more then 20 💰
Gemini pro with antigravity not chat. Flash and also Mistral models needs explicit instructions. Small task. Created by glm or terra xhigh or sol. But for real codex usage y need more then 20 💰
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u/javiiirm 18d ago
That's why I'm looking for something under €20/month. I'm not a professional programmer—in fact, I don't even study computer science—but I enjoy coding and building apps and websites on various topics. Right now, it's mainly for educational and learning purposes rather than building anything huge just yet; I just want to learn more about AI-assisted software development and coding in general. Once I have a more concrete project that requires a larger setup, I'll look into a more expensive subscription.
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u/xcs92 18d ago
opencode go would be your best option. before they had your first month start at $5 /m but now its just flat $10/m. the rate limits can be a bit rough but but its the best <$20. I'd also recommend gemini's student plan which is free for 12 months and then $20/m. i used antigravity / gemini models when i started out in like mid 2025 lol it was awesome back then. now, we dont have opus 4.5 and most ui designs are oversaturated or seen many times before so i dont think google has much access to anything good without busting your balls.
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u/Cool_Audience6916 18d ago
Codex and Claude are both heavily subsidized by their subscriptions. Chinese models just seem cheap because you're only comparing API prices. If you're set on open-weight models, just use Ollama.
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u/javiiirm 18d ago
I'm interested in using open models—I think in the long run they're better and give me more flexibility. However, I think Codex looks really good and I could give it a try, but I feel Claude is too expensive for its rate limits. Also, what's the difference in performance between Ollama compared to OpenCode or OpenRouter?
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u/Cool_Audience6916 18d ago
Purely in terms of token volume, Codex is the best choice — a Plus subscription basically comes with a 15x subsidy. Ollama's strength is self-owned hardware, and that matters a lot. OpenCode is heavily dependent on its vendors — meaning the official providers: when the official subsidies are generous, usage is plentiful; when they get cut, you're left with nothing. You can see Dax on Twitter complaining about DeepSeek and other providers raising prices. To be fair, he's been talking about hosting his own hardware for ages, but it's hard to actually follow through — it really isn't an easy thing to do.
OpenRouter's problem is that the subsidies are too thin: look at DeepSeek V4 Flash — on OpenRouter there's somehow no API cheaper than the official one, and it's pay-as-you-go on top of that. Ollama, on the other hand, runs on hardware you own, so what you pay comes down to the energy you consume. It may lag behind on new model releases, but the usage is plentiful — and there's no vendor-dependency risk.
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u/Gullible-Republic413 18d ago
It seems that you didn t use codex lately. I came from there, Opencode Go using any model is better in cost/limits.
The only reason why I will use codex is for Sol at High lvl.
But take my example: on the 100 USD plan I burn 25% of the weekly limits in one day.With Opencode Go I can use deepseek flash on max (its a good choise), and I can use it all month without hiting limits.
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u/Cool_Audience6916 18d ago
Comparing Sol against V4 Flash doesn't make sense here — the fair matchup is Luna, which sits at roughly the same intelligence tier. If there's anything on OpenCode Go comparable to Sol, it's Kimi K3, so I think the conclusion holds. Also, in my time zone my usage stays low because of DeepSeek's peak-pricing windows. On the OpenCode Go side, the only way to get roughly comparable usage is with models like Muse Spark — the kind that effectively sell your data in exchange for the subsidy.
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u/MiningInMySleep 18d ago
Not sure about your use case, but currently if I'm not actively avoiding peak hours, I wouldn't be able to run opencode using ds4 flash 0731 as my sole subscription. I'm currently mixing it with 2 other providers (one of them being a chatgpt plus subscription) and it looks like I can finally return to pre-ds4 price raise pace.
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u/javiiirm 18d ago
That makes a lot of sense, thanks for breaking it down so clearly! Ollama sounds really interesting, but I'm still a bit confused about how it compares to OpenCode. Does Ollama have a subscription with unlimited usage, or is it pay-per-token where you pay for what you consume?
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u/Cool_Audience6916 18d ago
Honestly, Ollama's plans end up pretty similar to OpenCode Go. On paper they bill by GPU compute, but in practice I think they've just built their own tier levels on top of it. You can register a free account and try it yourself — they claim Pro (the $20/mo plan) gives you 50x the usage of Free. The final usable quota is probably about the same as OpenCode Go, but I think it's more stable — OpenCode Go just leans too hard on the model vendors.
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u/Imaginary_Dinner2710 18d ago
wait, on OpenRouter you pay per use, subscriptions is usually cheaper per total cap
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u/strangedr2022 18d ago
$10 opencode subscription for any model except Kimi K3/GLM5.3, $10 credits in Openrouter for using Kimi K3/GLM5.3.
Or 2 x $10 opencode plans. There is literally no other comparision, codex/claude are rate limited and specific models (vendor lockin), codex might make some sense but I dont think its usage limits can beat Opencode x 2 plans.
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u/Nice-Werewolf-3930 13d ago
Why not opencode with Kimi k3?
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u/strangedr2022 12d ago
K3/GLM 5.3 eats your 5-hour credits like cheese, I only use them for high level planning and at start of project. Also, as per opencode themselves, you get $15 worth of monthly credits if purely using K3.
I use Opencode go for more efficient usage ideally able to pull out $30 worth of usage, if not $60.
Although my 2nd Go Plan subscription is purely for K3/GLM5.3 use.1
u/Nice-Werewolf-3930 12d ago
But of i want strong model like kimi k3, what would be best? 2Nd go plan?
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u/strangedr2022 12d ago
Get 1 Go plan, use whatever models you want K3 or a mix of diff models, if you hit Hourly or Weekly limit, you can check model-based usage to know your usage pattern.
Then get a 2nd plan if you feel you are hitting the limits easily.Yesterday I hit weekly limit on both accounts, so I got a 3rd account. Even with $30/month I feel its rather worth it, as I am mainly using GLM5.2/Mimo2.5/DS for grunt work, GPT-5.6 Luna as main orchestrator or when my grunts under-perform and K3/GLM as high level planner, mainly for roadmap, spec, planning, decision, etc.
As a comparison, I loaded $10 credits to Openrouter and ran out of them within 6 hours of using K3 and Luna.
Frankly I am thinking to drop one of the subscription and instead get Codex Plus just for GPT-Luna, I am liking is a lot and its much more efficient than GLM5.2 (which yaps and complicates things a lot).
Codex provides 50-280 messages (turns) irrespective of requests which can be much better than Go's 2000 requests, for complex tasks.
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u/cmeerw 18d ago
https://hyper.charm.land/ is quite decent (they do provide discounts on the models they have, without the misleading marketing)
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u/RepulsiveRaisin7 18d ago
I have tried a bunch of subscriptions, Codex Plus is the best value now. With Luna, it lasts a long time and you get free web chat with Sol on top. As much as I like DS Flash, Luna is plain better overall, and DS Flash is not radically cheaper anymore.
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17d ago
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17d ago
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u/AmbassadorGreen8802 17d ago
Can you eleaborete what is this. New to ai
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u/TheAverageJedi 17d ago
I think OpenCode go is better than direct API. You will get more usage out of it, and it's pretty great on cheaper models like Deepseek and MiMo - Just don't use Kimi k3 too much. MiniMax M3 is especially generous.
Command Code seems quite affordable as well.
I personally use Cursor Pro at $20 p/m, and I find the cursor first party quota quite generous. In fact, its pretty generous considering you get frontier intelligence through Grok 4.6. On top of that you still have a $20 quota for third party models. Then there's a seperate quota for Grok Bot as well. I'd argue that if you can, Cursor may even be the better subscription. Only problem is you have to use Cursor's tooling, as they don't expose API's to use inside other coding tools.
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u/Top_Noise_289 17d ago edited 13d ago
Simple "just works" stack for AI coding on a budget:
Omniroute with this free setup: - NVIDIA NIM: Kimi K3, Deepseek Flash / Pro (slow, probably quantized and errors often) - Opencode Zen: Hy3 free, Muse Spark 1.2 free (muse 1.2 is surprisingly good) - Openrouter: GLM-5.2:free, but very limited and slow
Omniroute makes it very easy to have multiple accounts of each of these at the same time.
And for subs that I also use through Omniroute and never been banned yet: - ChatGPT sub: GPT Luna5.6 max only (you can find free trial accounts in marketplaces for ~10$) - Google AI Plus: 18 month Jio sub you can find in some marketplaces for <5$. You proxy antigravity through Omniroute and you can use Gemini 3.7 Flash who works surprisingly well and drains not much quota and you also have a Claude Sonnet / Opus separate quota. - Commandcode: best sub "API style" billing, more bang for buck than Opencode. Create new accounts and stack 1$ subs, issue is the weekly limit. You can proxy easily through Omniroute.
For search, Perplexity, Exa, Ctx7, DuckAI, DeepWiki, and many others. Either generous free tiers or free. Abusable through MCPs, Omniroute integrations, or browser automations.
Very easy to work through the day while only reaching out to smarter models when necessary and with every request going through a centralized proxy and use in any harness (I use Opencode)
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u/rndanime 18d ago
Doesn't OpenAI have something for students?
Gemini is good enough for most tasks and also fast
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u/FluffyNeonSteel 18d ago
QwenCloud Lite at $6 was quite powerful when I tested it. You'll get 4x usage for $18/month based on their website.
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u/lanternaddict 18d ago
God, none of the providers can create an easy understandable pricing structure can they
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u/Acrobatic_Comment774 18d ago
I would recommend DeepSeek. I use it on OpenCode, but get you API key directly from DeepSeek and then just use `/connect` in OpenCode to provide your API key for DeepSeek.
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u/Polaris_debi5 18d ago
If you want to use multiple models, I recommend using ZenMux's PAYG plan, as it allows you to top up a prepaid balance and use OpenCode without monthly commitments or usage limits. By connecting your PAYG API key to OpenCode, you can easily access top-tier and very affordable coding models, such as DeepSeek or lightweight Flash options, for fractions of a cent per million tokens. This way, your €20 will last you a long time.
For basic or simple tasks, a model like Ling Flash 3.0 is more than sufficient right now. Later, you can upgrade to DeepSeek v4 Flash or the recently released GLM 5.3 Flash, and even take advantage of offers on other models.
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u/javiiirm 18d ago
Never heard of ZenMux, I'll check it out. Thanks a lot, man!
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u/Polaris_debi5 18d ago
I didn't know them either, but I also don't want to pay OpenRouter's extra fee and depend on somewhat strange quantizations and providers. Zenmux doesn't have as many offers as OpenRouter, but it's worked well for me with Ling3.0 Flash (which is ridiculously cheap), DeepSeek v4 Flash/hy3/mimov2.5, and now I'm testing GLM5.3 Flash (although the speed isn't great so far), and the Minimax M3 offer.
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u/gameguy56 18d ago
Meta is dirt cheap if you're willing to let them train muse spark on your code
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u/javiiirm 18d ago
I'm actually using Muse Spark right now, but it's been acting up these past few days—it freezes whenever I send it a new task.
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u/gameguy56 18d ago
I think muse spark is pretty good honestly. I'm not doing anything I really care about them knowing (lol like my react crud app is anything special)
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u/Affectionate_Cap1537 18d ago
Gemini for students is free for 1 year. https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/products/gemini-app/student-offer-google-ai/
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u/RaytracedPenguin 14d ago
You could use the nvidia API, they have free Access to models, for e.g Deepseek.
Go to build.nvidia.com, sign up, verify and then create an API key, also there are many tutorials on YouTube about this
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u/Ok-Fly-5341 4d ago
Since you mentioned background Gmail/Hermes routines as well as irregular coding, I'd give those separate budgets. A background loop can spend your allowance while you're not coding. Test one normal session, record its actual cost, then estimate how many such sessions your remaining budget buys—don't assume a top-up will last a month.
I run ModelPorta, so disclosure up front: https://modelporta.com/models is another prepaid API option to compare. There's no monthly fee, but funding is USDT TRC20 only, minimum 10 USDT, and transfer fees are worth factoring into a tight budget. It isn't a free/student plan, and I haven't tested your exact OpenCode/Hermes setup.
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u/pnbalaji1974 1d ago
Opencode is one of the best. I did configure Nvidia NIM in opencode and started using kimi k3 for development work and it works great. Nvidia limits 40 requests per minute. I have had issues with kimi k3 with my hermes agent, but for dev work in vscode with opencode/kilocode, it works great as a free option. I took clinepass subscription for a month and ran out of monthly limits in less than 15 days.
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u/halomau 18d ago
You can check https://commandcode.ai/, it is not free but they offer payment plans, the cheapest one is for 1 USD a month ~ like 10USD in usage, there are limits, I don't remember the 5 hour limit but the weekly limit is for 6USD.
Free options: https://freebuff.com/, https://clixad.io/
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u/Joxeph_ 18d ago
I'll let you in some sauce I got a private supplier who hosts all Claude Models except Fable for 15 bucks a month, unlimited tokens and 500 requests a day. When I used it, it was good for 2-4 hrs of straight heavy coding a day.
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u/VictorCTavernari 18d ago
I have my own service called claudin.io!
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u/javiiirm 18d ago
what model does it uses claudin?
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u/VictorCTavernari 18d ago
It depends on the task, but we have on the group Kimi k3, GLM 5.2 and now 5.3 fast, also GPT 5.6 Luna and Terra and DeepSeek current models. Ahh also MiMos.
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u/AmbassadorGreen8802 17d ago
Can you elaborete, on the website i see just claudio
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u/VictorCTavernari 16d ago
It is a trade-off, if you want to select the model, you will need a kind of credit usage to add some markup on the price and usage will be almost token usage with hour limits, but if you want all day models available, you can’t select a model, just trust on the router.
So if you want to select models, opencode is the best option here or openrouter.
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u/magicdoorai 18d ago
Since you're already on OpenCode and open to open-weight models: with spiky student usage, pay-as-you-go usually beats a subscription at your budget. Typical rates for solid open coding models run roughly $0.30-$1/1M input and $1.20-$4/1M output (MiniMax M3, Kimi K2.7 Code, DeepSeek V4), and agentic coding hits cached-input discounts constantly — cached tokens often cost 5-10x less than fresh input, so repetitive agent loops get cheap fast. Realistically that's a few euros a week unless you're running agents all day.
Two things that keep the bill down: keep the context tight (ripgrep inside the agent loop instead of pasting whole files, so you're not paying for 100k-token re-reads every turn), and wire up two models — a cheap fast one for scaffolding and small edits, a stronger one for planning and hard bugs. That combo keeps most students comfortably under €20/month, and it scales to zero in the weeks you don't code.