🔑 How to get an AI API key & financial data

Practical 2026 guide — all keys supported by Alpha (14 AIs + 11 data providers). Direct links, steps, free tier flagged.

📌 TL;DR — 7 free AI providers let you use Alpha without spending a cent (GitHub Models, Cerebras, Mistral, NVIDIA, Cloudflare, HuggingFace, Cohere). One key is enough to start. For pro analyses (10-K, DCF, complex tax), upgrade to Claude / GPT-4o / Gemini Pro (~$0.005-0.10 per analysis).

🚀 Get started in 30 seconds

  1. Pick a free provider below (recommended: GitHub Models if you already have a GitHub account).
  2. Click the direct link, create an account or generate a token.
  3. Copy the key.
  4. Open Alpha → Settings → API Keys → paste the key. Encrypted locally (AES-GCM 256).
  5. Run your first analysis 🎉

🎁 Free AI providers (7)

These providers offer a free tier sufficient for casual to intensive usage. Ideal to start without commitment.

🐙 GitHub Models 100% free

Easiest if you already have a GitHub account. Reasonable rate-limit. Models available: GPT-4o, Phi-4, Llama 3, DeepSeek, Mistral.

https://github.com/settings/tokens
  1. Sign in to your GitHub account.
  2. Go to Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens → Fine-grained tokens (or Classic).
  3. Click Generate new token. Give it a name (e.g., "Alpha Terminal").
  4. No special scope needed for GitHub Models. Create it and copy the token (starts with ghp_ or github_pat_).

⚡ Cerebras free tier

Ultra-fast inference (Llama 3.3 70B at >2000 tok/s). Generous free tier: 1M tokens/day.

https://cloud.cerebras.ai/?tab=api-keys
  1. Go to cloud.cerebras.ai, sign up with your email.
  2. API Keys tab, click Create API Key.
  3. Copy the key (starts with csk-).

🇫🇷 Mistral AI experiment tier

European models. Free experimentation tier for Mistral Small/Medium. Codestral (code) included.

https://console.mistral.ai/api-keys/
  1. Go to console.mistral.ai, sign up.
  2. Activate the Experiment plan (free, soft rate-limit).
  3. API Keys → Create new key.

🟢 NVIDIA NIM 1,000 free credits

Catalog of open-source models hosted by NVIDIA (Llama, Nemotron, DeepSeek). 1,000 free credits at signup.

https://build.nvidia.com/explore/discover
  1. Sign up at build.nvidia.com with your email.
  2. Pick any model, click Get API Key.
  3. Copy the key (starts with nvapi-).

☁️ Cloudflare Workers AI 100K req/day

Open-source models hosted on Cloudflare's edge. 100,000 free requests/day.

https://dash.cloudflare.com/profile/api-tokens
  1. Create a Cloudflare account (free).
  2. Note your Account ID from the dashboard (right sidebar).
  3. Go to My Profile → API Tokens → Create Token. Choose the Workers AI template.
  4. Alpha asks for both the token AND the Account ID.

🤗 HuggingFace free (rate-limited)

Inference Providers: access hundreds of open-source models with a single key.

https://huggingface.co/settings/tokens
  1. Sign up at huggingface.co.
  2. Settings → Access Tokens → New Token. Type: Read.
  3. Copy the token (starts with hf_).

🟦 Cohere trial key

Good at classification, embeddings, and multilingual RAG. Free trial key at signup.

https://dashboard.cohere.com/api-keys
  1. Sign up at dashboard.cohere.com.
  2. API Keys → Trial Key (the default key created).
  3. Copy it.

💎 Premium AI providers (7) — top quality

For serious analyses (10-K Decoder, nuanced DCF, CEO Forensics, complex taxation), one of these 7 models makes the difference. Per-token pricing, ~$0.005-0.10 per Alpha analysis.

🤖 Anthropic Claude

Best for nuanced reasoning, long PDF analysis (10-K), financial writing. Flagship: Claude Sonnet 4.5. $5 free credit at signup.

https://console.anthropic.com/settings/keys
  1. Go to console.anthropic.com, sign up (no credit card required for free credit).
  2. API Keys → Create Key.
  3. Copy the key (starts with sk-ant-api03-).

🧠 OpenAI ChatGPT

GPT-4o, GPT-4 Turbo, o1, o3-mini. Excellent generalist, versatile, PDF support.

https://platform.openai.com/api-keys
  1. Sign up at platform.openai.com.
  2. Add a credit card in Billing (min $5 credit).
  3. API Keys → Create new secret key.
  4. Copy the key (starts with sk-).

✨ Google Gemini

Gemini 2.0 Flash, 1.5 Pro. Ultra-long context (1M tokens), native PDF, video. Generous free tier available.

https://aistudio.google.com/app/apikey
  1. Sign in with your Google account.
  2. Click Get API Key → Create API Key.
  3. Copy the key (starts with AIza).

🐦 xAI Grok

The only one with native real-time X (Twitter) sentiment access. Essential for the Sentiment Tracker module.

https://console.x.ai
  1. Sign up at console.x.ai.
  2. Add a card. API Keys → Create.
  3. Copy (starts with xai-).

🌀 OpenRouter

One key → access to 200+ models (Llama, DeepSeek, Mistral, Qwen, Anthropic, OpenAI...). Ideal if you want to test.

https://openrouter.ai/keys
  1. Sign up at openrouter.ai.
  2. Add credits (from $1).
  3. Keys → Create Key. Copy (starts with sk-or-v1-).

🔎 Perplexity

Native augmented web search. Each answer is sourced with URL citations. Excellent for macro and news.

https://www.perplexity.ai/settings/api
  1. Sign up at perplexity.ai, enable Pro or add API credits.
  2. Settings → API → Generate.
  3. Copy (starts with pplx-).

🟣 Together AI

Competitive open-source hosting (Llama, DeepSeek, Mixtral, Qwen). $1 free credit at signup.

https://api.together.xyz/settings/api-keys
  1. Sign up at together.ai.
  2. Settings → API Keys → Generate.
  3. Copy the key.

📊 Financial data providers (11)

Optional but recommended. They enrich modules with real-time prices, fundamentals, news, screeners. No additional AI cost. Several don't even need a key.

No key required (always active)

🦎 CoinGecko free

Crypto prices, market cap, top 100, history. No key needed for standard usage.

🦙 DefiLlama free

DeFi TVL, protocols, chains. No key required.

📜 SEC EDGAR free

10-K, 10-Q, 13F, proxy filings. US government public API. No key.

💱 Frankfurter (FX) free

USD/EUR/GBP/JPY/CHF... exchange rates. No key.

With key (free tier available)

📊 Financial Modeling Prep (FMP) free tier 250 req/day

Best for US stocks: prices, fundamentals, ratios, dividends, earnings. Ideal for Quick Analysis, DCF, screener.

https://site.financialmodelingprep.com/developer/docs
  1. Sign up at financialmodelingprep.com.
  2. Dashboard → API Keys.
  3. Free tier: 250 requests/day. Paid plans from $14/month.

📈 Polygon.io free tier 5 req/min

Pro real-time data (stocks, options, forex, crypto). Limited free tier but useful.

https://polygon.io/dashboard/api-keys

🎯 Finnhub free 60 req/min

Stocks + crypto + forex + earnings calendar + insider trading. Very good free tier.

https://finnhub.io/dashboard

📡 Tiingo free limited

EOD prices, news, fundamentals. Good complement to FMP.

https://api.tiingo.com/account/api/token

🔢 Twelve Data free tier 800 req/day

Stocks, ETF, forex, crypto. Real-time WebSocket available.

https://twelvedata.com/account/api-keys

📜 Alpha Vantage free 25 req/day

Limited free tier (25 req/day) but covers stocks, forex, crypto, technical indicators.

https://www.alphavantage.co/support/#api-key

🏛️ FRED (St-Louis Fed) free unlimited

US macro data: Fed rates, CPI, GDP, unemployment, M2... Essential for Macro Dashboard module.

https://fredaccount.stlouisfed.org/apikeys

⛓️ Etherscan free 5 req/sec

Ethereum on-chain data: addresses, transactions, contracts. For advanced crypto analysis.

https://etherscan.io/myapikey

🔒 Key security in Alpha

❓ FAQ

I have only one key — do all modules work?

Yes. Alpha's smart router automatically picks the best available provider per module. With a single key, all 46 modules run. The more you add, the smarter the routing (e.g., Grok for X sentiment, Claude for 10-Ks, Gemini for long PDFs).

How much does it cost per month?

With free providers only: €0. With a free + Claude/GPT mix for critical analyses: $2-15/month. Power user (3+ analyses/day, 10-K, research-agent): $15-50/month. Details on the API costs page.

What if I forget my master password?

No recovery possible (the price of 100% local security). You can reset the vault → you lose stored keys and need to re-paste them. Tip: export an encrypted backup regularly and keep the password safe (password manager).

Are API keys transmitted to Alpha?

No. Never. The app runs client-side: your keys live only in your browser's IndexedDB, and AI requests go directly from your browser to the provider. You can put the app offline (airplane mode) after loading and analyses will keep going normally.

Ready to launch your first analysis?

7 free providers are enough to explore Alpha. 30-second setup.

Launch Alpha →