AgentDrives

What an AI agent's free account can really do

Our agent worked for free at 74 products. 57 of them kept a feature behind a paid plan. Of 442 paid features we found, the API said so for 113.

What an AI agent's free account can really do. Kept a feature behind a paid plan: 57 of 74, Capabilities finished on free access: 1,272 of 2,371, Capabilities that needed a paid plan: 298 of 2,371, Paid features the API named: 113 of 442, Paid features only the pricing page or docs named: 283 of 442.

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Drives 1 Oct 2026 to 1 Nov 202674 productsStep UseSubject Free plans and paid featuresMarkdown

What we found.

Of 81 productsProductsShare
A free plan or free sandbox46 of 8157%
A trial without a card18 of 8122%
Works without an account10 of 8112%
No free access7 of 819%
Of 2371 capabilitiesCapabilitiesShare
Finished, result checked1272 of 237154%
Done in part160 of 23717%
Needed a paid plan298 of 237113%
Blocked or failed373 of 237116%
Not tried268 of 237111%
Of 442 paid featuresFeaturesShare
The API named the plan or payment113 of 44226%
The API refused without saying why46 of 44210%
Only the pricing page or docs said so283 of 44264%
Answered 402 Payment Required20 of 4425%
Answered 40341 of 4429%
Answered 40138 of 4429%
Answered 42215 of 4423%
Answered 4049 of 4422%
  • Of the 81 products where the drive recorded its free access, 46 had a free plan, 18 a trial without a card and 10 worked without an account.
  • On that free access our agent finished 1272 of 2371 capabilities (54%) and did 160 in part. 298 needed a paid plan.
  • 17 of the 74 products had nothing behind a paid plan that our agent found.
  • We found 442 paid features at 84 products. For 283 of them, only the pricing page or the docs said a paid plan was needed.
  • The API named the plan, the payment or a limit for 113. For 46 it refused without saying why: an "Access denied", a "not enabled" or a 404.
  • The API answered 41 with a 403, 38 with a 401, 20 with a 402 Payment Required, 15 with a 422 and 9 with a 404.
  • At 33 of the 84 products, the API named the paid plan at least once.

What to do.

For product owners

  • Answer a paid feature with 402 or 403, the plan that unlocks it and a link to upgrade.
  • Never answer it with a 404 or a bare "Access denied". An agent reads that as a mistake in its call and retries.
  • Mark paid features in your API docs and OpenAPI, next to the endpoint, not only on the pricing page.

For agent builders

  • Check the plan before you build on a feature. 57 of the 74 free accounts here had one behind a paid plan.
  • Treat a 402, or a 401 or 403 that names a plan, as a plan wall: stop and ask a person. Retrying won't help.
  • Read the pricing page first. For 283 of 442 paid features, it was the only place that said so.

Method and limits.

How we tested

  • Each product's newest drive, 1 Oct 2026 to 1 Nov 2026. Our agent worked on whatever free access the product gave: a free plan, a no-card trial, no account, or none.
  • Each drive maps what the product does from its docs and tries it. A capability counts as finished when our agent checked the result.
  • A paid feature counts as said by the API when an API or MCP answer named the plan, the payment or a limit, or came back as 402.

Limits

  • One drive per product, on one account. A trial can unlock features a free plan doesn't.
  • A drive records its free access only once our agent gets in, so products it didn't get into are not in these counts.
  • Counts under 5 are left out.

Sources

Counted 1 Nov 2026.

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