Free tokens from a pool of idle keys

Plenty of provider keys sit idle. A free OpenRouter key you rarely hit. An NVIDIA NIM key with room to spare. The AnyRouter Pool puts that spare room to work. Members donate a key. Everyone in the pool runs free models through the shared keys at $0.

This post is the how-to. For the full announcement, read Introducing the AnyRouter Pool.

No, and we will not say it is. Here is what is true.

• Free models through the pool cost you $0. Paid models served by a donated key are billed at the donor's price, from $0 up to 10% over the provider's list price.
• Every API key has a fair-use rate limit, so a burst of requests can be slowed down.
• Every donated key has its own provider limits. A busy or empty key is skipped, so the pool is big but it is not endless.
• The pool is for members. You need a paid plan or one active donated key. A Free-plan member who calls a model marked Free via Pool gets a message that explains both ways in.

See which models are free on the free models list. Check the label before you plan around one.

1. You send a request to AnyRouter, like any other.
2. AnyRouter finds the routes that can serve the model. Donated keys are among them if you are allowed to use the pool.
3. It picks a key that is ready, favoring one that has been idle longest. You are never handed your own donated key.
4. The key's provider answers, and you see the answer. You pay $0 for a free model.
5. If a key is rate limited, out of credit or failing, AnyRouter moves on to the next route. You usually see one answer and no error.

• Go, free. One working donated key gives you the Go plan. If your last key stops working, Go pauses and you get an email.
• Credits. Each request your key serves adds 5% of its token cost to your pending credits, or 8% on Pro, Pro+, Max and Enterprise. The cap is $1 per key per day.
• Your own requests come first. Your key still works for you as a normal BYOK key.

Your key is encrypted with its own random salt before it is stored. After you save it, you only see a masked alias, never the key. It is redacted from our logs. It is sent only to the provider it belongs to. Other members never see it, and they never see which donor served them.

Be clear on one thing. The pool sends other members' requests through your provider account, so the usage shows up in your provider's console, under your provider's terms. Check that your provider allows sharing a key. Donate a key you can spare, and set a spend limit on it at your provider if it has one.

If a key runs out of credit or fails three times in a row, it pauses by itself. You can take it out any time, and it leaves the pool right away. Zero data retention is respected: with it on, a donated key only serves routes that declare it. The security post goes deeper.

1. Pick a key you can spare, such as a free OpenRouter or NVIDIA key. The NVIDIA key guide shows how to get one.
2. Sign in and open Dashboard, BYOK. Add the key. AnyRouter checks that it works.
3. Turn on Donate to pool for that key and confirm the one-time consent.
4. Choose free coverage, or paid coverage with your own prices.
5. Watch requests and credits on the key. Turn the switch off whenever you want.

More detail is in the shared pool guide and the walkthrough.