---
title: Free Tier Guide
url: https://arcana.otnelhq.com/docs/free-tier
---

# Free Tier Guide



Arcana is free and open-source. You only pay for the LLM providers you use. This guide shows you how to get the most from Arcana without spending a dime — or spending very little.




## Truly Free Options




### Ollama (Fully Local, Fully Free)



Run models on your own hardware. No API key, no cost, no data leaves your machine.



```bash
# 1. Install Ollama: https://ollama.com
# 2. Pull a model
ollama pull llama3.1:8b
ollama pull codellama:7b

# 3. Arcana auto-detects Ollama
arcana doctor

# 4. Run
arcana run "hello"
```



**Best for:** Daily coding, learning, experimentation. Requires 8GB+ RAM.




### Google Gemini Free Tier



Google offers free API access with generous rate limits.



```bash
# 1. Get free API key: https://aistudio.google.com/apikey
export GEMINI_API_KEY=...

# 2. Run
arcana run "explain this code"
```



**Limits:** 15 RPM, 1M tokens/day. Plenty for most personal use.




### DeepSeek (Very Cheap)



Not free, but extremely cheap. Often under $0.01 per session.



```bash
export DEEPSEEK_API_KEY=...
arcana run "review this PR"
```




## Cost Optimization Strategies




### Use a Cheap Utility Model



Arcana uses a secondary model for background tasks (extraction, compaction). Set this to the cheapest option:



```json
{
  "model": "gpt-4o",
  "utilityModel": "gpt-4o-mini"
}
```



Good cheap utility picks: `gpt-4o-mini` ($0.15/1M), `gemini-2.5-flash` ($0.15/1M), `deepseek-chat` ($0.14/1M).




### Compact Early and Often



Lower the compaction threshold to save tokens on long sessions:



```json
{
  "compaction": {
    "auto": true,
    "threshold_percent": 70
  }
}
```




### Use One-Shot Prompts



```bash
# Instead of interactive sessions, use one-shot:
arcana run "review the last 5 commits"
arcana run "explain src/utils.js"
arcana run "write tests for UserService"
```



One-shot prompts use fewer tokens than interactive sessions.




### Switch Models for Different Tasks



```bash
# Use cheap models for simple tasks
export ARCANA_MODEL=gemini-2.5-flash
arcana run "explain this error"

# Switch to powerful models only when needed
/providers
> select gpt-4o
> complex refactoring task
```




## Free Weekly Session Plan



A structured approach to using Arcana for free on a weekly basis:



| Day | Task | Provider | Est. Cost |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Mon | Weekly planning & review | Ollama (local) | Free |
| Tue | Coding & debugging | Gemini free tier | Free |
| Wed | Code review | DeepSeek | ~$0.005 |
| Thu | Documentation generation | Ollama (local) | Free |
| Fri | Complex analysis | Gemini free tier | Free |
| Weekend | Learning & experimentation | Ollama (local) | Free |



**Weekly total:** ~$0.005 (essentially free)




## Free Features



These Arcana features are always free:



- ✅ **Memory** — local SQLite, FTS5 search
- ✅ **Skills** — load, search, create custom skills
- ✅ **Session history** — browse, resume, search past sessions
- ✅ **Cron jobs** — scheduled automation
- ✅ **Theme customization** — dark/light themes
- ✅ **Workspace trust** — project-level permissions
- ✅ **Plugin system** — extend with custom plugins




## What Costs Money



- 💰 **API calls** — paid to your LLM provider
- 💰 **Proxy API** — optional hosted endpoint (requires license)
- 💰 **Gateway** — chat platform adapters (requires Pro/Enterprise)
- 💰 **Cloud sync** — memory sync across devices (requires license)




## How Free Tier Model Routing Works



The free tier proxy ([arcana-proxy](/docs/proxy)) provides access to Cloudflare Workers AI models through a multi-provider routing layer. Not every model listed in the catalog will always be available — here's why:




### Routing Layers



When you select a Cloudflare model (prefixed with `@cf/`), the proxy attempts providers in this order:



1. **Cloudflare AI Gateway** — preferred path. Routes through a caching and analytics layer. Model must exist on Workers AI.
2. **Direct Workers AI** — fallback if Gateway is unavailable. Same model requirements.
3. **OpenRouter** — safety net. Falls back to OpenRouter's model catalog if both Cloudflare paths fail.




### Why Available Models May Differ



- **Not all listed models are online.** Cloudflare's Workers AI catalog includes models that may be deprecated, beta, or temporarily unavailable. The proxy serves the full catalog from Cloudflare's docs, but individual models may return errors.
- **Gateway 400 errors fail over.** If the AI Gateway rejects a request (unsupported model, invalid parameters), the proxy automatically retries through the next provider rather than returning an error to you.
- **Model names can change.** Cloudflare occasionally updates model identifiers. The proxy refreshes its catalog every 24 hours from the official docs.
- **Rate limits apply.** Free tier has a 5,000 request daily soft ceiling and 60-minute session windows. Heavy usage may trigger temporary cooldowns.




### Checking What's Actually Routing



```bash
# See which models are available right now
arcana models

# Check proxy health and active routes
curl https://proxy-arcana.otnelhq.com/v1/models | jq '.data[].id'

# View your current rate-limit status
arcana usage
```




If a model returns an error, try another. The proxy handles provider failover automatically — a `cloudflare-ai-gateway/@cf/deepseek-ai/deepseek-r1-distill-qwen-32b` request that fails through Gateway will silently retry through OpenRouter.




## Getting Started for Free



```bash
# Option 1: Ollama (fully local)
ollama pull llama3.1:8b
arcana

# Option 2: Gemini free tier
export GEMINI_API_KEY=...
arcana

# Option 3: DeepSeek (very cheap)
export DEEPSEEK_API_KEY=...
arcana
```