The model page for deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash-1017 says Free AI Gateway Credit: Yes: https://vercel.com/ai-gateway/models/deepseek-v4.1-flash-1017

Its public page data also contains availableToFreeTier:true for this exact snapshot. However, both the API and Vercel's own Playground reject free-credit access.

Observed on October 17, 2026:

• API: HTTP 403, RestrictedModelsError, no_providers_available, with the message Free tier users do not have access to this model.
• Routing metadata: totalProviderAttemptCount: 0.
• Playground: Purchased AI Gateway Credit Required and This model isn't eligible for Free AI Gateway Credit.
• The same result occurs through standard Chat Completions, Responses, the coding-agent endpoint, and OpenCode on two computers.
• Restricting routing to the published deepseek provider does not change the result.

Minimal request, with an existing AI Gateway key supplied through the environment:

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curl https://ai-gateway.vercel.sh/v1/chat/completions \
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  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY" \
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  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
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  -d '{"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash-1017","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Reply only OK."}],"max_tokens":64,"reasoning":{"effort":"none"}}'

Could the AI Gateway team confirm the intended free-tier eligibility for this exact snapshot? If free credits are intended to work, please correct the access enforcement. If this snapshot is intentionally excluded, please correct the public eligibility flag and explain the discrepancy.

I need a solution that uses free credits only, without purchasing credits, upgrading, enabling auto-reload, or moving to another service. I am reporting the mismatch rather than asking how to purchase access.

No API keys, account names, payment information, or private request IDs are included in this post.