You can start using Kimi for free in about two minutes: go to kimi.com, sign up, and start chatting — no payment required. The free plan, called Adagio, covers unlimited basic chat, file uploads and web search, which is more than enough to use Kimi as a serious everyday assistant. Here's the step-by-step, what the free tier actually includes, and where its limits kick in. (New to Kimi entirely? Start with what is Kimi?)
Key takeaways
- Where: kimi.com (web) or the Kimi mobile app — sign up free, no card needed.
- Free plan (Adagio): unlimited basic chat, file uploads and web search.
- Best free uses: long-document Q&A, research with web search, drafting and brainstorming.
- The limit: heavy autonomous agents — Agent Swarm and the Kimi Code multiplier — need a paid plan ($19/mo+).
- Careful with data: Kimi trains on your input and hosts it in Singapore — keep sensitive info out.
Step 1 — Open kimi.com and Sign Up
Head to kimi.com in any browser, or install the Kimi mobile app. Create a free account — signing up automatically puts you on the free Adagio plan, and you won't be asked for payment details. Within seconds you're at a chat screen that will look familiar if you've used ChatGPT or Claude.
Step 2 — Start a Chat
Type into the message box and go. Ask questions, draft an email, brainstorm ideas, get something explained, translate text — all the standard assistant tasks. Basic chat is unlimited on the free plan, so you can lean on it as a daily driver without watching a meter.
Step 3 — Upload a Document
This is where Kimi shines and where the free tier earns its keep. Attach a file — a PDF, a Word doc, a spreadsheet — and ask Kimi to summarize it, extract the key points, or answer questions across the whole thing. Long-document handling has been Kimi's signature strength since its early versions, and it's fully available for free. Great for research papers, contracts, meeting transcripts or long reports.
Step 4 — Turn On Web Search
When your question depends on current information — recent news, today's prices, a fact that changes over time — enable web search so Kimi pulls from the live web instead of relying only on its training data. Combined with document upload, this makes the free plan genuinely useful for real research, not just chit-chat.
Step 5 — Try a Simple Agent Task
Kimi's headline feature is its autonomous agents, and you can get a taste of them on the free plan. Ask it to complete a small multi-step task and watch it work through the steps. Just know that the free plan includes only limited agent use — the heavy stuff (Agent Swarm running many agents in parallel, the Kimi Code coding-agent multiplier, high concurrency) is reserved for paid tiers.
What the Free Plan Includes — and What It Doesn't
Here's the honest boundary of the free Adagio tier:
| ✅ Free on Adagio | 🔒 Needs a paid plan |
|---|---|
| Unlimited basic chat | Agent Swarm (parallel agents) |
| File uploads & long-doc Q&A | Kimi Code multiplier (1×–30×) |
| Web search | Kimi Claw (browser/cloud automation) |
| Limited agent use | High concurrency & large agent quotas |
For most people that free column is a complete assistant. You'd only upgrade if you specifically want to run autonomous agents at scale — big research swarms or heavy coding fan-out. If that's you, our Kimi vs Claude breakdown walks through every paid tier and how they compare on price.
Tips to Get the Most From Free Kimi
- Upload, don't paste. For long content, attach the file rather than pasting it into the chat — Kimi's long-context handling works better on uploaded documents.
- Toggle web search deliberately. Turn it on for anything time-sensitive; leave it off for pure writing or reasoning to keep answers fast.
- Be specific about the output. Tell Kimi the format you want — a table, five bullet points, a one-paragraph summary — and you'll get far better results.
- Keep sensitive data out. See the safety note below — the free plan is not the place for confidential files.
Is Free Kimi Safe?
For everyday, non-sensitive tasks, yes. The one thing to know: Kimi's platform stores data on servers in Singapore and uses your input to train its models, with no clear opt-out — and this applies to the free plan too. So treat it like any free AI chatbot: great for research, learning, drafting and general questions, but don't paste confidential, client or regulated information into it. For sensitive work, use a Western assistant like Claude or self-host an open-weight model. The full picture is in are Chinese AI models safe?
That's it — you're set up. If you're still deciding whether Kimi is the right assistant for you versus the alternatives, our free picker narrows it down in about 30 seconds, and you can always read what Kimi is and does in full first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Kimi free to use?
Yes. The free Adagio plan needs no payment and covers unlimited basic chat, file uploads and web search. You only pay for autonomous-agent features at scale (Agent Swarm, Kimi Code), which start on Moderato at $19/month.
Do I need to pay or add a card to use Kimi?
No. Create a free account at kimi.com and start chatting with no payment details. You only add a card if you choose to upgrade to a paid tier.
What does the free Kimi plan include?
Unlimited basic chat, file uploads and web search, plus limited agent use. It does not include heavy agent features — Agent Swarm, the Kimi Code multiplier and high concurrency are paid-only.
Is there a Kimi app?
Yes — Kimi runs as a web app at kimi.com and as a mobile app, with the same free Adagio plan across both.
Is the free version of Kimi safe?
Fine for everyday, non-sensitive use, but Kimi stores data in Singapore and trains on your input with no clear opt-out — so keep confidential data out. For sensitive work, prefer Claude or a self-hosted open-weight model.