Invalid Model (does not work with your current plan or api key)

[hugohamelcom (Hugo Hamel)]

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

When following the exact steps from OpenRouter (see OpenRouter tutorial) it keeps telling me "The model deepseek/deepseek-chat-3.1:free does not work with your current plan or api key

Steps to Reproduce

Follow OpenRouter steps with a Free account and try saying “Hi” in Ask mode

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 1.7.17 (system setup)
VSCode Version: 1.99.3
Commit: 34881053400013f38e2354f1479c88c9067039a0
Date: 2025-09-29T03:10:26.099Z
Electron: 34.5.8
Chromium: 132.0.6834.210
Node.js: 20.19.1
V8: 13.2.152.41-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26100

For AI issues: which model did you use?

deepseek/deepseek-chat-v3.1:free

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Yes - Cursor is unusable

[condor (Condor (Tee))]

hi @hugohamelcom just to note. BYOK requires a Pro plan.

[hugohamelcom (Hugo Hamel)]

Ah, noted! I was hoping to be able to still be able to use Cursor. I guess I’ll have to switch to Kilo Code or else for now until the Student Program issues are resolved.