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Cohere

Trial keys for Command R+, Embed, Rerank — RAG-friendly

TL;DR

Cohere — Trial keys for Command R+, Embed, Rerank — RAG-friendly. Free tier: Free trial keys: 20 RPM (chat), 100/min (embed). Non-production use only — production needs a production key.

Latency now
Uptime 24h
20
Free RPM
1000
Free RPD
Get free API key → Read docs ↗ Pricing ↗

Free tier limits

  • 20 requests/min
  • 1,000 requests/day
No credit card required.

Models on free tier

  • command-r-plus-08-2024
  • command-r-08-2024
  • embed-english-v3.0
  • rerank-v3.5

Upgrade path

Production: Command R+ $2.50/1M input, $10/1M output. Embed v3 $0.10/1M tokens. Rerank $2/1k searches.

Private deployments, fine-tuning, multi-tenant isolation.

Endpoint

https://api.cohere.com/v2

Custom SDK / API shape.

Quick start
curl https://api.cohere.com/v2/chat \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COHERE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "command-r-plus-08-2024",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello in 5 words"}]
  }'
When Cohere is the right pick

Stay on free tier when

RAG pipelines — Cohere Embed and Rerank are best-in-class for retrieval quality.

Pick something else when

Pure chatbot use — Command R+ is competitive but not the cheapest or fastest.

FAQ
Is Cohere's API really free?

Free trial keys: 20 RPM (chat), 100/min (embed). Non-production use only — production needs a production key. No credit card is required to sign up.

What models can I call on Cohere's free tier?

Most commonly used: command-r-plus-08-2024, command-r-08-2024, embed-english-v3.0, rerank-v3.5. The full current list is on Cohere's docs page.

Is Cohere OpenAI-compatible?

No — Cohere ships its own SDK. Code samples for Python, Node, and cURL are above.

When should I upgrade from Cohere's free tier?

Production: Command R+ $2.50/1M input, $10/1M output. Embed v3 $0.10/1M tokens. Rerank $2/1k searches. If your traffic is bursty or seasonal, the free tier may be enough; if you need a guaranteed SLA, upgrade.

See also