> SiliconFlow
SiliconFlow (SiliconCloud) is a premier Chinese AI model platform offering high-performance inference for a wide range of open-source models (Qwen, Llama, DeepSeek). It is notable for providing free, permanent API access to models with parameters under 9B, alongside competitive pay-as-you-go rates for larger flagship
// pros
- Legitimate company (Alibaba Cloud led its Series A; SiliconCloud has 3M+ users), credible and fairly stable
- <=9B open-source models are permanently free, OpenAI-compatible, direct within mainland China, low barrier
- Signup credit plus real-name voucher lets you use DeepSeek and other large models free for a while
// cons
- Permanent-free is limited to <=9B small models; DeepSeek etc. rely on credit and cost money once exhausted
- Free/low tiers hit 60s timeouts at peak, with noticeable rate fluctuation (recovers after IP change)
- Since 2026-05-15 unverified users are capped at 10 RPM, directly affecting GitHub-login-only light users
Good for domestic users to try small models free and briefly use DeepSeek-class large models on credit; for production or stability, verify identity and pay per usage, and mind peak-time throttling.
community_reputation
Positive reputation: Securities Times and iFeng confirm its 100M-yuan funding, Alibaba-Cloud-led round and 3M+ users; CSDN/SegmentFault tutorials widely recommend its free allowance and OpenAI-compatible ease. Negatives are mainly peak-time throttling/timeouts and tightened real-name requirements. A legitimate big-vendor first-party free tier, no run-away risk.
imported analysis — independent third party, not Uprouter editorial · verify before relying on it
How we estimated this: the free allowance is converted to a dollar value using the provider’s own pay-as-you-go rates for the models a typical developer would reach for. When the allowance is metered in requests, tokens or minutes rather than dollars, we assume median usage of the cheapest capable model. Because assumptions are involved, the figure carries the est. flag — treat it as an order of magnitude, not a quote.
note: Signup grants ~CNY 14 (≈$2.08) credit, plus ~CNY 16 (≈$2.38) voucher after real-name verification; many <=9B open-source models (Qwen2.5-7B, Llama3.1-8B, etc.) are permanently free; direct access within mainland China. Since 2026-05-15, unverified users are capped at 10 RPM and delinquent/unverified accounts are cut off.
| Plan | Type | Monthly | Input /1M | Output /1M | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free tier (source-reported) | free | — | — | — | Signup grants ~CNY 14 (≈$2.08) credit, plus ~CNY 16 (≈$2.38) voucher after real-name verification; many <=9B open-source models (Qwen2.5-7B, Llama3.1-8B, etc.) are permanently free; direct access within mainland China. Since 2026-05-15, unverified users are capped at 10 RPM and delinquent/unverified accounts are cut off. |
| Free Tier (Small Models) | free | — | — | — | Unlimited free access to models <9B parameters (e.g., Llama 3.1 8B, Qwen2.5 7B). |
| PAYG (Large Models) | payg | — | $1.11 | $3.89 | GLM-5.3 rate (converted from ¥8/¥28 at 7.2 rate). |
| Signup Bonus | free | — | — | — | ¥14 (approx. $2) credit for new users. |
Pricing normalized from public sources — always verify with the provider.
// model prices
| Model | Input /1M | Output /1M | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen2.5-7B-Instruct | — | — | — |
| Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct | — | — | 131k |
$ Does SiliconFlow have a free tier?
Yes — SiliconFlow offers a free tier that we value at roughly $2.38 in free credits (estimate — derived from rate-limited usage at pay-as-you-go prices). Always confirm current limits on SiliconFlow's official pricing page — free tiers change without notice.
$ How much does SiliconFlow cost per 1M tokens?
SiliconFlow does not publish simple per-1M-token pricing (it may bill per request, per output, or via a subscription plan). Check their official pricing page for exact figures.
$ Is SiliconFlow safe to use?
Uprouter rates SiliconFlow as low risk. Rated low risk. an official provider with a free tier with pricing, authentication and terms documented on its own site. The model coverage is consistent with a real upstream, so data and reliability risk are modest. Risk ratings are editorial, evidence-based, and never influenced by affiliate relationships.
Raw community sentiment, shown unblended. Votes never feed into objective data fields like price, risk, or status — and never into sort order.
No published reviews yet — be the first.
// more_informationprice history · live status · risk & confidence · code snippets
price_history
No recorded changes yet.
live_status
full history →best-effort probes · not a guarantee · last 15h ago
| Checked | Status | Latency |
|---|---|---|
| 15h ago | up | 995ms |
| 2d ago | up | 1180ms |
| 3d ago | up | 947ms |
| 4d ago | up | 1231ms |
| 6d ago | up | 1092ms |
| 7d ago | up | 1014ms |
| 9d ago | up | 943ms |
| 11d ago | up | 1212ms |
| 12d ago | up | 1230ms |
| 13d ago | up | 1068ms |
| 14d ago | up | 1074ms |
| 15d ago | up | 1210ms |
| 16d ago | up | 1242ms |
| 16d ago | up | 880ms |
| 17d ago | up | 1235ms |
| 18d ago | up | 1355ms |
| 19d ago | up | 1207ms |
| 19d ago | up | 1397ms |
| 20d ago | up | 1223ms |
| 21d ago | up | 1230ms |
| 22d ago | up | 1036ms |
| 22d ago | up | 1071ms |
| 23d ago | up | 1060ms |
| 24d ago | up | 1204ms |
| 25d ago | up | 1228ms |
| 26d ago | up | 1273ms |
| 27d ago | up | 1166ms |
| 27d ago | up | 1183ms |
| 28d ago | up | 1409ms |
| 29d ago | up | 1188ms |
Uprouter runs its own probes; best-effort, not a guarantee. Probe results depend on our network location and cadence — for production, always use the provider’s own status page.
risk_&_confidence
Rated low risk. an official provider with a free tier with pricing, authentication and terms documented on its own site. The model coverage is consistent with a real upstream, so data and reliability risk are modest.
Confidence reflects how much verifiable evidence (official docs, probe history, community reports) backs this entry. Risk is our editorial assessment of operator reliability and terms — not financial advice.
code_snippets
# SiliconFlow's own API — get a key from their dashboard
curl https://YOUR-PROVIDER-ENDPOINT/chat/completions \
-H "Authorization: Bearer THEIR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"model": "qwen2-5-7b-instruct",
"messages": [{ "role": "user", "content": "Hello" }]
}'Direct to the provider — Uprouter receives nothing; verify their current pricing before purchasing.
Ranked by neutral similarity signals only — live status, free-tier shape and free-credit proximity. Commercial relationships never influence this list.