Reskilll’s curated list of the best AI APIs and tools for hackathon builders in 2026. These are the tools winning teams actually use.
LLM APIs
| API | Best For | Free Tier |
|---|---|---|
| Google Gemini | Multimodal (text+image+video) | Free tier generous |
| OpenAI GPT-4o | General purpose, coding | $5 free credits |
| Anthropic Claude | Long context, reasoning | Free tier available |
| Meta Llama (via Groq) | Open-source, fast inference | Free on Groq |
| Mistral | European, multilingual | Free tier |
On-Device AI
- MediaPipe (Google) — Face, hand, pose detection on mobile
- Core ML (Apple) — iOS on-device inference
- ONNX Runtime Mobile — Cross-platform model deployment
- TensorFlow Lite — Lightweight models for Android
- llama.cpp — Run Llama models on phone/laptop CPU
AI Agent Frameworks
- LangChain — Most popular agent framework
- CrewAI — Multi-agent orchestration
- AutoGen (Microsoft) — Conversational agents
- Semantic Kernel — Enterprise agent framework
Image & Video AI
- Stable Diffusion (via Replicate) — Image generation
- DALL-E 3 (OpenAI) — Text-to-image
- Runway ML — Video generation
- Remove.bg API — Background removal
Voice & Speech
- Whisper (OpenAI) — Speech-to-text, multilingual
- ElevenLabs — Text-to-speech, voice cloning
- Deepgram — Real-time transcription
Hackathon-Specific Tips
- Use free tiers aggressively — Most APIs give enough for a hackathon demo
- Groq for speed — Fastest LLM inference, free tier, great for demos
- Gemini for multimodal — Image+text in one API call
- Don’t fine-tune during a hackathon — Use prompting and RAG instead
- Cache API responses — Save credits and reduce latency during demo
Free Credits at Reskilll Hackathons
Many hackathons on Reskilll provide free AI credits. For example, iQOO Hackathon gives $25/team in AI credits. Build with AI × Google Cloud provides Google Cloud credits.
Find hackathons with free AI credits at reskilll.com/discover.
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