Kiro: CLI with 500 Free Credits (First Month)

One month of free AI coding. 500 credits to burn on capable models—note that Claude Opus 4.5 is no longer available on the free tier as of January 2026.

✅ VERIFIED

Why This Tool

Kiro gives you something rare: generous free credits usable on various models. New accounts get exactly 500 bonus credits valid for 30 days.

The math: 500 credits translates to substantial usage on Sonnet 4.5 and other capable models. Enough for a month of serious architecture work, complex debugging, or learning advanced patterns.

**CRITICAL UPDATE (Jan 30, 2026):** Claude Opus 4.5 is **NO LONGER AVAILABLE** on Kiro's free tier. As of January 2026, Opus 4.5 is paid-tier only. Free tier now includes: Auto, Sonnet 4.5, Haiku 4.5, and Sonnet 4.0.

What You Get

First Month (Free)

Exactly 500 bonus credits for new accounts (source)
30-day expiration—use them or lose them
Fractional consumption: Simple prompts use < 1 credit, complex prompts use more
Available models on free tier: Auto, Sonnet 4.5, Haiku 4.5, Sonnet 4.0

Ongoing (Limited)

50 credits/month after first month
Good for occasional queries
Same model restrictions apply

Available Models

Model	Type	Free Tier?	Credit Cost
Claude 4.5 Sonnet	Fast, capable	Yes	Standard
Claude 4 Sonnet	Reliable workhorse	Yes	Standard
Haiku 4.5	Speed-optimized	Yes	Standard
Claude Opus 4.5	Premium reasoning	NO (paid only)	N/A
GPT-4	OpenAI alternative	Paid	Standard
Gemini	Google models	Paid	Standard

The Setup

Install Kiro CLI:
1
npm install -g @kiro/cli
Run setup:
1
kiro init
Create account (credit card required)
Check your credits:
1
kiro credits

Use available models (Opus 4.5 requires paid tier):

1
kiro ask --model claude-4-5-sonnet "Your architecture question"

Time to first query: 3-5 minutes

The Catch

✅ VERIFIED Credit amounts: Exactly 500 credits for 30-day trial (source)

✅ VERIFIED Free tier models: Auto, Sonnet 4.5, Haiku 4.5, Sonnet 4.0 (source)

⚠️ UPDATED Opus 4.5 status: NO LONGER on free tier as of January 2026 (source, changelog)

Credit card required: Unlike Antigravity, you need a card to sign up.

30-day expiration: Credits don’t roll over. Use them within the first month.

Limited after month 1: 50 credits/month ongoing won’t sustain heavy usage. You’ll need to upgrade or switch tools.

Where Next

Need Claude Opus 4.5 for free? → AMP Ad-Supported - Daily Opus 4.5 with non-intrusive ads (no CC, no expiration) → Antigravity - Free Opus 4.5 during public preview (no credit card, no ads)

Want sustained Opus 4.5 without limits? → Claude Max ($200/month) - See Smart Spend Guide

Ready to pay $20 instead of $200? → Claude Code (now on Pro plan) - Official Anthropic CLI

Want 80% of Opus performance for free? → OpenCode Zen - Free Kimi k2.5 (76.8% SWE-bench)

Pro Tip: Credit Optimization

Don’t burn all 500 credits immediately. Instead:

Use Sonnet 4.5 for architecture decisions and complex debugging
Switch to Haiku 4.5 for routine coding (lower credit cost)
Reserve 100-150 credits for final week emergencies

Free Frontier Stack - Complete free tier guide
AMP Ad-Supported - Alternative free Opus 4.5 path
Antigravity - Another free Opus 4.5 option
Claude Opus 4.5 Data - Specifications and pricing
Smart Spend Guide - When Claude Max makes sense

Last verified: January 30, 2026. Sources: kiro.dev/pricing, GitHub issue #5037, changelog.